Printable Format79-2109. Sale of personalty before tax paid; liens; liability. (a) On and after January 1, 2015, if any owner of personal property sells or transfers such property to another after the date such property is assessed and before the tax thereon is paid, then the taxes on the personal property of such taxpayer which is being sold or transferred shall fall due immediately, and a lien shall attach to the property so sold or transferred. The lien shall be for an amount equal to the tax assessment for the year in which the sale or transfer is made and shall become due and payable immediately. The lien shall attach to the property and is not a personal debt of the purchaser or transferee. In no circumstance shall the purchaser or transferee be liable for any taxes owed by the seller or transferor prior to the year in which the sale or transfer occurred. Such lien shall be in preference to all other claims against such property. The county treasurer, after receiving knowledge of any such surrender or transfer, shall issue immediately a tax warrant for the collection thereof and the sheriff shall collect it as in other cases. The lien shall remain on the property and any person taking possession of the property does so subject to the lien. The one owing such tax shall be liable civilly to any person taking possession of such property for any taxes owing thereon, but the property shall be liable in the hands of the person taking possession thereof for such tax. If the property is sold in the ordinary course of retail trade it shall not be liable in the hands of the purchasers. No personal property which has been transferred in any manner after it has been assessed shall be liable for the tax in the hands of the transferee after the expiration of three years from the time such tax originally became due and payable.
(b) If, at the time of the sale, taxes on the personal property remain due and unpaid for any tax year or years prior to the year of the sale, then such unpaid taxes shall be a personal debt of the seller, subject to collection under K.S.A. 79-2017 or 79-2101, and amendments thereto, as the case may be. The county treasurer of the county where such personal property taxes remain due and unpaid shall update the records of the county treasurer to show that the seller or transferor is delinquent and owes personal property taxes levied against the seller or transferor for such previous year or years for the purposes of vehicle registration under K.S.A. 8-173, and amendments thereto.
History: L. 1943, ch. 301, § 5; L. 2014, ch. 81, § 5; July 1.
Source or prior law:
79-317.
Revisor's Note:
See Revisor's Note under 79-2110.
Law Review and Bar Journal References:
"Survey of Kansas Law: Taxation," Sandra Craig McKenzie and Virginia Ratzlaff, 33 K.L.R. 71, 76 (1984).
"Survey of Kansas Law: Taxation," Sandra Craig McKenzie, 41 K.L.R. 727, 745 (1993).
Attorney General's Opinions:
Listing property for taxation; issuance of advanced tax notices and warrants. 81-11.
Voluntary transfer of personal property before tax paid; collection of tax. 87-82.
Taxation on property transferred to federal land bank before payment of taxes; collection. 87-135.
Collection and cancellation of personal property taxes; transfer before tax payment. 88-40.
Voluntary transfer of personal property before tax paid; lien. 90-121.
CASE ANNOTATIONS
1. Voluntarily surrendered secured property not obtained through legal process; tax lien does not attach to buyer of same. Robbins-Leavenworth Floor Covering, Inc. v. Leavenworth Nat'l Bank & Trust Co., 229 Kan. 511, 512, 513, 514, 625 P.2d 494.
2. Bank/creditor acquired secured property from bankruptcy estate after January 1 and subsequently sold it; owner (estate) not seller. Palmer v. First Nat'l Bank of Kingman, 10 Kan. App. 2d 84, 87, 88, 692 P.2d 386 (1984).
3. Statute inapplicable to personal property that passed to estate upon filing bankruptcy; board of county commissioner's remedies examined. In re White Hat Feed, Inc., 67 B.R. 851, 853 (1986).
4. K.S.A. 79-2020 enacted as response to tax loophole herein examined. In re Knights Athletic Goods, Inc., 98 B.R. 553, 555 (1989).
5. Kansas law governs distribution of debtor's interest in oil and gas lease sale proceeds after bankruptcy court lifts automatic stay. High Plains Oil, Ltd. v. National City Bank of Cleveland, 22 Kan. App. 2d 968, 971, 974, 925 P.2d 846 (1996).
6. Partition action satisfied definition of seized by any legal process; county has priority in proceeds over lienholders. High Plains Oil, Ltd. v. High Plains Drilling Program-1981, Ltd., 263 Kan. 1, 6, 9, 946 P.2d 1382 (1997).