Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (2026)
Definitions
✓ current as of May 2026
For purposes of classification and assessment of property:
- (1) "All other tangible personal property" includes all tangible personal property, including that used in agriculture, except public utility tangible personal property and commercial and industrial tangible personal property;
- (2) "Commercial and industrial tangible personal property" includes personal property, such as goods, chattels and other articles of value that are capable of manual or physical possession, and machinery and equipment that are:
- (A) Used essentially and principally for the commercial or industrial purposes or processes for which they are intended; and
- (B) If affixed or attached to real property, can be detached without material injury to such real property;
- (3) "Farm property" includes all real property that is used, or held for use, in agriculture as defined in §§ 1-3-105 and 43-1-113, including, but not limited to, growing crops, pastures, orchards, nurseries, plants, trees, timber, raising livestock or poultry, or the production of raw dairy products, and acreage used for recreational purposes by clubs, including golf course playing hole improvements;
- (4) "Industrial and commercial property" includes all property of every kind used, directly or indirectly, or held for use, for any commercial, mining, industrial, manufacturing, trade, professional, club whether public or private, nonexempt lodge, business, or similar purpose, whether conducted for profit or not. All real property that is used, or held for use, for dwelling purposes that contains two (2) or more rental units is hereby defined and shall be classified as "industrial and commercial property";
- (5) "Intangible personal property" includes personal property, such as money, any evidence of debt owed to a taxpayer, any evidence of ownership in a corporation or other business organization having multiple owners, and all other forms of property, the value of which is expressed in terms of what the property represents rather than its own intrinsic worth. "Intangible personal property" includes all personal property not defined as "tangible personal property";
- (6) "Modern market telecommunications provider" means:
- (A) An incumbent local exchange telephone company that elects market regulation pursuant to § 65-5-109;
- (B) A telephone cooperative organized pursuant to § 65-29-102; or
- (C) A nongovernmental entity or separate operating division within the entity if the business activity of the entity or division is limited to providing:
- (i) Competitive local exchange telephone services; or
- (ii) Interconnected voice over internet protocol services;
- (7) "Movable structure" includes a mobile home or such other movable structure that is constructed as a trailer or semitrailer and designed to either be towed along the highways or to be parked off the highways, and that may be used, temporarily or permanently, as a residence, apartment, office, storehouse, warehouse, or for any other commercial or industrial purpose;
- (8) "Personal property" includes every species and character of property that is not classified as real property;
- (9) "Public utility property" includes all property of every kind, whether owned or leased, and used, or held for use, directly or indirectly in the operation of a public utility, which includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following business entities, whether corporate or otherwise:
- (A) Railroad companies;
- (B) Telephone companies other than the following:
- (i) Companies providing cellular telephone service as defined in § 65-4-101(6)(A)(vi);
- (ii) Companies providing radio common carrier service as defined in § 65-30-103;
- (iii) Companies providing long distance telephone service; and
- (iv) Modern market telecommunications providers;
- (C) Freight and private car companies that are defined as any business, other than a railroad company, that owns, uses, furnishes, leases, rents or operates to, from, through, in or across this state or any part thereof any kind of railroad car, including, but not necessarily limited to, flat, tank, refrigerator, or similar type cars;
- (D) Street car companies;
- (E) Power companies, whether hydroelectric, steam, atomic, or other kinds for the transmission of power;
- (F) Express companies;
- (G) Pipeline companies;
- (H) Gas companies;
- (I) Electric light companies;
- (J) Water and/or sewerage companies;
- (K) Motor bus and/or truck companies holding a certificate of convenience and necessity or contract hauler's permit from the department of safety or the federal highway administration and domiciled in this state and/or owning or leasing real or personal property located in this state;
- (L) Taxicab, transit and limousine companies;
- (M) Commercial air carrier companies holding a certificate of convenience and necessity from the department of transportation, civil aeronautics board, federal aviation administration, or any other federal or state regulatory agency; excepting those companies whose operations are solely chartered operations; and
- (N) Water transportation carrier companies which operate boats and barges over the waterways of this state for hire, which are registered for these purposes with the United States army corps of engineers or any other federal or state agency and which are domiciled in this state or own or lease real or personal property located in this state; provided, that the portion of property of these companies used for water carriage that was exempt from regulation by the interstate commerce commission under federal law in effect on November 1, 1995, shall not be considered public utility property for classification and assessment purposes;
- (10)
- (A) "Real property" includes lands, tenements, hereditaments, structures, improvements, movable property assessable under § 67-5-802, or machinery and equipment affixed to realty, except as otherwise provided for in this section, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal;
- (B) Real property includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- (i) Surface, underground or elevated railroads, and railroad structures, substructures and superstructures, tracks and the metal thereon, branches, switches and other improvements or structures permitted or authorized to be made in, upon, or under any public or private property;
- (ii) Telephone, broadcast, transmission and telegraph poles, supports, conduits, towers and enclosures for electrical conductors upon, above and underground and pipes and conduits used for wire, cables and lines buried underground, except for underground conduits and enclosures for wire, cables, lines and similar facilities owned, leased or used to provide services pursuant to the terms and authority of a franchise license issued by an appropriate franchising authority in accordance with § 7-59-102. This subdivision (10)(B) shall not operate to change the classification of any radio or television broadcast property that was assessed as tangible personal property for the tax year 2003;
- (iii) Mains, pipes, pipelines and tanks permitted or authorized to be built, laid or placed in, upon, or under any public or private street or place for conducting steam, heat, water, oil, electricity or any property, substance or product capable of transportation or conveyance therein or that is protected thereby, excluding propane tanks for residential use and above ground storage tanks that can be moved without disassembly and are not affixed to the land; and
- (iv) Bridges, wharves, piers, boat docks, boat houses, marinas and other similar structures that are attached to real property by anchors, cables, wires, ramps, pillars, poles, foundation, or connected with any one (1) utility service, such as electricity, natural gas, water or telephone; provided, that nothing in this subdivision (10)(B) shall be construed to include boats temporarily connected with any utility service, or floating dry-dock equipment or boat lifts;
- (11) "Residential property" includes all real property that is used, or held for use, for dwelling purposes and that contains not more than one (1) rental unit. All real property that is used, or held for use, for dwelling purposes, but that contains two (2) or more rental units, is defined and shall be classified as "industrial and commercial property";
- (12) "Revised assessment" means the correction of an error or omission in the assessment roll so long as the trustee or the municipal collector retains control of the tax roll book; and
- (13) "Tangible personal property" includes personal property such as goods, chattels, and other articles of value that are capable of manual or physical possession, and certain machinery and equipment, separate and apart from any real property, and the value of which is intrinsic to the article itself.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 781,s 2, eff. 4/23/2024.
Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 490, Secs.s 1, s 2 eff. 6/6/2017.
Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 351, s 1, eff. 5/11/2017.
Acts 1973, ch. 226, § 6; 1974, ch. 467, §§ 2, 3; 1982, ch. 774, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 67-601; Acts 1984, ch. 832, § 5; 1989, ch. 312, § 3; 1995, ch. 305, § 121; 1997 , ch. 109, § 1; 1999, ch. 198, § 1; 2000, ch. 571, § 2; 2004, ch. 719, § 1; 2006, ch. 521, § 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 18
cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1984–2025 · leading case: Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827 (Tenn. 2008).
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827 (Tenn. 2008). “On May 18, 2004, the General Assembly, by the enactment of chapter 719 of the 2004 Public Acts, amended Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-501, modifying the definition of real property to include [mjains, pipes, pipelines and tanks permitted or authorized to be built, laid…”
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 231 F.R.D. 518 (M.D. Tenn. 2005). “Plaintiff seeks to enjoin permanently: (1) the allegedly unconstitutional application or enforcement of Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee State Constitution and Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (9), as amended by Act of May 18, 2004, ch.”
Fed. Express Corp. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization, 717 S.W.2d 873 (Tenn. 1986). “Thus a company transporting packages on an expedited basis as a common carrier must be deemed to be an express company which falls within the definition of a “public utility” for purposes of T.C.A. § 67-5-501. Federal Express also argues that to assess its property for ad…”
Union Carbide Corp. v. Alexander, 679 S.W.2d 938 (Tenn. 1984). “We granted Defendants’ Rule 11 application to consider the taxability, under Tennessee’s real property taxation statutes, T.C.A. § 67-5-501 et seq., of property owned by the United States in Anderson County, Tennessee.”
Castlewood, Inc. v. Anderson Cnty., 969 S.W.2d 908 (Tenn. 1998). “” Tenn.Code Ann. § 67-5-501(10)(1994). Neither the constitution, these statutes, nor the Horizontal Property Act makes any specific reference to the classification of condominium property for taxation purposes.”
Dan Bennett v. CMH Homes, Inc., 770 F.3d 511 (6th Cir. 2014). “Tenn. Code § 67-5-501(9)(A) (defining “real property” to include fixtures).”
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. TN State Bd. Of Equalization (Tenn. Ct. App. 2021). “Having considered the company’s arguments that Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (10)(B)(iii) has been inconsistently applied, we affirm the Board’s decision.”
In Re Est. of James A. Price (Tenn. Ct. App. 2025). “” Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (5) (emphases added).”
Fam. Trust Servs. LLC v. Green Wise Homes LLC (Tenn. Ct. App. 2022). “” Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (13) (2022) (within chapter respecting property taxes).”
Throneberry Props. v. Allen, 987 S.W.2d 37 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998). “Tenn.Code Ann. § 67-5-501 also furthers the constitutional purpose by providing: All real property which is used, or held for use, for dwelling purposes which contains two (2) or more rental units is hereby defined and shall be classified as "industrial and commercial property-””
CMH Homes, Inc. v. Darrell McEachron (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005). “Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (6). The term “assess” has two meanings: (1) “to value for taxation” and (2) “to determine and impose a tax”.”
Malco Theaters, Inc. v. Richard H. Roberts, Comm'r of Revenue, State of Tennessee (Tenn. Ct. App. 2011). “” Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (12) (2006). The court reasoned movie license fees were intangible because “their value does not arise from the ‘article,’ i.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(10)(1994): 1 case
Castlewood, Inc. v. Anderson Cnty., 969 S.W.2d 908 (Tenn. 1998). “” Tenn.Code Ann. § 67-5-501(10)(1994). Neither the constitution, these statutes, nor the Horizontal Property Act makes any specific reference to the classification of condominium property for taxation purposes.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(10)(B)(iii): 1 case
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. TN State Bd. Of Equalization (Tenn. Ct. App. 2021). “Having considered the company’s arguments that Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (10)(B)(iii) has been inconsistently applied, we affirm the Board’s decision.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(2): 1 case
Gen. Oils Co., Div. of Ashland Oil, Inc. v. Claude Ramsey, Assessor of Prop. for Hamilton Cnty., Tennessee & TN State Bd. of Equalization (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996).
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(4)(1994): 1 case
Castlewood, Inc. v. Anderson Cnty., 969 S.W.2d 908 (Tenn. 1998). “” Tenn.Code Ann. § 67-5-501(10)(1994). Neither the constitution, these statutes, nor the Horizontal Property Act makes any specific reference to the classification of condominium property for taxation purposes.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(5): 1 case
In Re Est. of James A. Price (Tenn. Ct. App. 2025). “” Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (5) (emphases added).”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(8): 1 case
Fed. Express Corp. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization, 717 S.W.2d 873 (Tenn. 1986). “Thus a company transporting packages on an expedited basis as a common carrier must be deemed to be an express company which falls within the definition of a “public utility” for purposes of T.C.A. § 67-5-501. Federal Express also argues that to assess its property for ad…”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(8)(F): 1 case
Fed. Express Corp. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization, 717 S.W.2d 873 (Tenn. 1986). “Thus a company transporting packages on an expedited basis as a common carrier must be deemed to be an express company which falls within the definition of a “public utility” for purposes of T.C.A. § 67-5-501. Federal Express also argues that to assess its property for ad…”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(8)(G): 2 cases
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827 (Tenn. 2008). “On May 18, 2004, the General Assembly, by the enactment of chapter 719 of the 2004 Public Acts, amended Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-501, modifying the definition of real property to include [mjains, pipes, pipelines and tanks permitted or authorized to be built, laid…”
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 231 F.R.D. 518 (M.D. Tenn. 2005). “Plaintiff seeks to enjoin permanently: (1) the allegedly unconstitutional application or enforcement of Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee State Constitution and Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (9), as amended by Act of May 18, 2004, ch.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(8)(M): 1 case
Fed. Express Corp. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization, 717 S.W.2d 873 (Tenn. 1986). “Thus a company transporting packages on an expedited basis as a common carrier must be deemed to be an express company which falls within the definition of a “public utility” for purposes of T.C.A. § 67-5-501. Federal Express also argues that to assess its property for ad…”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(9): 3 cases
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827 (Tenn. 2008). “On May 18, 2004, the General Assembly, by the enactment of chapter 719 of the 2004 Public Acts, amended Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-501, modifying the definition of real property to include [mjains, pipes, pipelines and tanks permitted or authorized to be built, laid…”
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 231 F.R.D. 518 (M.D. Tenn. 2005). “Plaintiff seeks to enjoin permanently: (1) the allegedly unconstitutional application or enforcement of Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee State Constitution and Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501 (9), as amended by Act of May 18, 2004, ch.”
Gen. Oils Co., Div. of Ashland Oil, Inc. v. Claude Ramsey, Assessor of Prop. for Hamilton Cnty., Tennessee & TN State Bd. of Equalization (Tenn. Ct. App. 1996).
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(9)(A): 2 cases
Dan Bennett v. CMH Homes, Inc., 770 F.3d 511 (6th Cir. 2014). “Tenn. Code § 67-5-501(9)(A) (defining “real property” to include fixtures).”
In re Young, 471 B.R. 715 (Bankr. E.D. Tenn. 2012).
Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-501(9)(B)(iii): 1 case
Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Morgan, 263 S.W.3d 827 (Tenn. 2008). “On May 18, 2004, the General Assembly, by the enactment of chapter 719 of the 2004 Public Acts, amended Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-501, modifying the definition of real property to include [mjains, pipes, pipelines and tanks permitted or authorized to be built, laid…”
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