ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 3074
(By Delegate Miley)
(Passed April 11, 2009; in effect ninety days from passage.)
AN ACT to amend and reenact §11-6-23 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to notice of delinquent taxes by
certified mail.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-6-23 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE BUSINESSES.
§11-6-23. Lien of taxes; notice; collection by suit.
(a) The amount of taxes and levies assessed under this article
shall constitute a debt due the state, county, district or
municipal corporation entitled thereto, and shall be a lien on all
property and assets of the taxpayer within the state.
(b) The lien shall attach December 31, following the
commencement of the assessment year, and shall be prior to all
other liens and charges.
(c) The auditor shall, between May 1 and May 15 of each year,
prepare a list of the taxpayers delinquent in the payment of the
taxes and levies, setting forth their respective addresses and the
amount of state, county, district and municipal taxes due from each, which list shall be certified by the Auditor to the Board of
Public Works and filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
(d) The Secretary of State shall preserve the list in his or
her office, and a certificate from him or her that any taxpayer
mentioned in the list is delinquent in the amount of taxes assessed
under this article shall be prima facie evidence thereof.
(e) Within ten days after the filing of the list, the
Secretary of State shall give written notice of the delinquency by
registered or certified mail to each of the delinquent taxpayers
at his or her, or its, last known post-office address; and upon the
failure of any delinquent taxpayer to pay the taxes within thirty
days from the mailing of the notice.
(f) The Attorney General shall enforce the collection of the
taxes and levies, and for that purpose he or she may distrain upon
any personal property of the delinquent taxpayer, or a sufficient
amount thereof to satisfy the taxes, including accrued interest,
penalties and costs.
(g) The Attorney General may also enforce the lien created by
this section on the real estate of the delinquent taxpayer by
instituting a suit, or suits, in equity in the Circuit Court of
Kanawha County.
(h) In the bill filed in the suit it shall be sufficient to
allege that the defendant or defendants have failed to pay the
taxes and that each of them justly owes the amount of property
taxes, levies and penalties, which amount shall be computed up to
the first day of the month in which the bill was filed.
(i) No defendant may plead that the Secretary of State failed
to give notice as prescribed by this section.
(j) If, upon the hearing of the suit, it shall appear to the
court that any defendant has failed to pay the taxes and accrued
penalties, the court shall enter a decree against the defendant for
the amount due, and if the decree is not paid within ten days, the
court shall enter a decree directing a sale of the real estate
subject to the lien, or so much as may be necessary to satisfy the
taxes, including interest, penalties and costs.
(k) When two or more taxpayers are included in one suit, the
court shall apportion the cost among them as it may deem just.