Title 44
Taxation

Chapter 5
Levy and Assessment of Local Taxes

R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-5-12.1

§ 44-5-12.1. Assessment of tangible personal property.

(a) All tangible personal property subject to taxation shall be assessed for taxation based on the original purchase price (new or used) including all costs such as freight and installation. Assets will be classified and depreciated as defined in this section.

(b) The following classification and depreciation table shall be used in determining the assessed value of tangible personal property.

State of Rhode Island Tangible Property Classification
  Class I Class II Class III
Class of Assets Short Life Mid-Life Long Life
Age 1-5 yrs 6-12 yrs 13+ yrs
1 95 95 95
2 80 90 90
3 60 80 85
4 30 70 80
5 20 60 75
6 20 50 70
7 20 40 65
8 20 30 60
9 20 30 55
10 20 30 50
11 20 30 45
12 20 30 40
13 20 30 35
14 20 30 30
15+ 20 30 30

Assets Shall Not be Trended

(c) Assets shall be classified on an annual basis by the Rhode Island Association of Assessing Officers’ Personal Property Committee based on the following table:

 INDUSTRY GROUP IN YEARS CLASS
 Agriculture machinery and equipment II
 Aircraft and all helicopters II
 Amusement and theme parks II
 Apparel and fabricated textile manufacturing II
 Automobile repair shops II
 Bakeries and confectionery production II
 Barber and beauty shops II
 Billboards III
 Brewery equipment not used directly in manufacturing II
 Cable television, headend facilities: II
  Microwave systems II
  Program origination II
  Service and test II
  Subscriber connection and distribution II
 Canneries and frozen food production II
 Cement processing III
 Chemical and allied production II
 Clay products processing III
 Cold storage and ice-making equipment III
 Cold storage warehouse equipment II
 Computers, personal computers (PC), laptops, tablets, cellphones,
 mainframe/servers, peripherals, keyboard, mouse I
 Condiments, processing II
 Construction equipment, general construction, backhoes,
 forklifts, loaders, cranes, unregistered vehicles II
 Dairy products processing II
 Data handling equipment, except computers II
  printers, copiers, bridges, routers and gateways II
 Distilling II
 Electrical equipment not used in manufacturing II
 Electronic equipment II
 Fabricated metal products/special tools II
 Fishing equipment, excluding boats and barges, lines, nets I
 Food and beverage production II
 Fur processing II
 Gas distribution, total distribution equipment III
 Glass and glass products/special tools II
 Grain and grain mill products processing III
 Gypsum products III
 Hand tools II
 Hospital furnishings and equipment II
 Hotel and motel furnishings and equipment II
 Jewelry products and pens II
 Knitwear and knit products, ex, work uniforms I
 Laundry equipment II
 Leather and leather products II
 Logging, timber cutting II
 Marine construction II
 Meatpacking II
 Medical and dental supply production II
 Metalworking machinery processing II
 Mining and quarrying II
 Motion picture and television production II
 Motor vehicle and parts/special tools II
 Office furniture and equipment II
 Optical lenses and instrument processing II
 Paints and varnishes I
 Petroleum refining III
  pipeline transportation III
 Plastics manufacturing I/II
 Plastic products processing/special tools II
 Primary metals production, nonferrous and foundry products III
  special tools III
 Primary steel mill products III
 Printing and publishing II
 Professional and scientific instruments II
 Radio and television, broadcasting II
 Railroad transportation equipment II
  locomotive II
 Recreation and amusement II
 Retail trades, fixtures and equipment II
 Residential furniture II
 Restaurant and bar equipment II
 Restaurant equipment, fast foods II
 Rubber products processing/special tools II
 Sawmills, permanent/portable II
 Service establishments II
 Ship and boat building equipment/special tools II
 Soft drink processing and bottling II
 Stone products processing III
 Telecommunications, local and interstate II
  analog switching II
  circuit, digital, analog, optic II
  information/origination equipment I/II
  smart phones I
  metallic cable III
  fiber cable, poles, conduit III
  all other equipment II
 Telecommunications, cellular
  analog/digital switching II
  radio frequency channel and control II
  power equipment II
  antennae II
  towers III
  transmission equipment II
  cellular phones I
 Textile products, including finishing and dyeing II
  yarn, thread and woven fabrics II
 Theater equipment II
 Utilities/power production III
  generation, transmission, or distribution equipment III
 Waste reduction and resource recovery II
 Water transportation III
  vessels, barges and tugs III
 Water utilities III
 Wharves, docks and piers III
 Wholesale trade fixtures and equipment II
 Wood products and furniture manufacturing II

(d) Any industry, group, or asset not enumerated in subsection (c) of this section, shall be categorized as class II.

History of Section.
P.L. 2006, ch. 383, § 2; P.L. 2006, ch. 434, § 2; P.L. 2018, ch. 315, § 1; P.L. 2018, ch. 352, § 1; P.L. 2021, ch. 422, § 1, effective July 17, 2021.