Title 1. Property Tax Code
Subtitle E. Collections and Delinquency
Chapter 31. Collections
Sec. 31.01. Tax Bills
Notes:
Where bank paid taxes on its stock value under mistaken belief that tax was legal, bank could not recover refund under this section because the payment was neither erroneous nor an overpayment. The refund is barred under the voluntary payment rule. First Bank of Deer Park v. Deer Park Independent School District, 770 S.W.2d 849 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 1989, writ denied).
Where school board refused to waive penalties and interest, taxpayer had no claim for refund under Sec. 31.01. Even if penalty and interest were illegally assessed, the voluntary payment rule barred right to refund. Sheldon v. Jasper Independent School District, 768 S.W.2d 884 (Tex. App.-Beaumont 1989, writ denied).
Assessing taxes in dollars does not deprive a taxpayer of due process. Barclay v. Ochiltree Appraisal Review Board, 730 S.W.2d 878 (Tex. App.-Amarillo 1987, no writ).
Description of property in tax assessments must furnish within itself, or by reference to some other existing writing, means or data by which particular land may be identified with reasonable certainty. Hart v. Northside Independent School District, 498 S.W.2d 459 (Tex. Civ. App.-San Antonio 1973, writ ref'd n.r.e.).
The tax collector has no authority to collect the tax before he has obtained the proper assessment rolls and if he collects tax before the time set by law and fails to turn the taxes over, the taxpayer may still be liable. Orange County v. Texas & N.O.R. Co., 80 S.W. 670 (Tex. Civ. App. 1904).
Legislation effective September 1, 1995, expressly authorized car rental companies to disclose registration fees and property taxes to renters as a separate, identified charge. There is no legal prohibition prior to September 1, 1995 against the collection of a reimbursement charge by car rental companies. Tex. Att'y Gen. LO-97-013 (1997).
Sec. 31.015. Redesignated as Tax Code § 33.011(b) to (g) by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 579, § 11, effective January 1, 1996
Sec. 31.031. Installment Payments of Certain Homestead Taxes.
Notes:
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 1274, § 1 also provides:
Section 31.031(b), Tax Code, as amended by this Act, applies only to the penalty for a failure to make a timely installment payment of taxes that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. The penalty for a failure to make a timely installment payment of taxes that occurred before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the failure occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
Sec. 31.04. Postponement of Delinquency Date.
Notes:
Construction of Section 33.07 that allows the penalty to be imposed against taxes delinquent on or after July 1 is contrary to the legislative will expressed by the plain language of Section 33.07 and ignores the rule that a statute imposing penalties must be strictly construed. A notice of delinquency must be sent no later than June 1 (30 days before July 1) to meet the 30-day notice requirement. Section 33.07 additional penalty may not be imposed against taxes that become delinquent on or after June 1 under Tax Code Sections 31.03, 31.031, 31.032, or 31.04. Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. DM-491 (1998). (In 1999, the 76th Texas Legislature enacted Texas Tax Code, sec. 33.08 to provide for the penalty on taxes that go delinquent on or after June 1.)
Sec. 31.06. Medium of Payment.
Notes:
When the appraisal district failed to send notices of appraised value to a taxpayer for a number of years after the recording of deeds on purchased property, that failure of notice constituted a denial of due process, thus making the assessment of penalties and interest void. The fact that the taxpayer later paid the void taxes did not cause them to be unrecoverable. The voluntary payment rule cannot be applied to taxes imposed without due process. The award of attorney fees to the taxpayer was upheld as within the guidelines concerning declaratory judgments and was supported by evidence. Appraisal Review Board of the El Paso Central Appraisal District v. Fisher, 88 S.W.3d 807 (Tex. App.-El Paso 2002, pet. denied).
Trial court was correct in deciding as a matter of law, not as a question of fact, that federal reserve notes are dollars and are an acceptable unit of value and legal tender for payment of all debts where a taxpayer sought to enjoin the appraisal district from appraising his property in dollars or from collecting taxes based on such appraisal. Rothacker v. Rockwall County Appraisal District, 703 S.W.2d 235 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1985, writ ref'd n.r.e.).
Sec. 31.08. Tax Certificate.
Notes:
The 2005 amendment to Subsection (b), Section 31.08, Tax Code, applies only to a tax certificate issued on or after the September 1, 2005. A tax certificate issued before said effective date is covered by the law in effect on the date of issuance, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
The statutory liability for property taxes imposed on a purchaser of a business is not limited to a pro-rata amount. Instead, the tax liability cannot exceed the total value of the property; with the purchaser still being liable for all taxes imposed for the year, including penalties and interest assessed. Dan's Big & Tall Shop, Inc. v. County of Dallas, 160 S.W.3d 307 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2005, pet denied).
The chief appraiser has the responsibility to correct appraisal rolls for erroneously granted homestead exemptions. A tax lien is created based on back appraisal, even though the party who benefited from the erroneously granted exemption had sold the property. The liens would be extinguished, however, if tax certificates were issued at the time of the property transfer. Dallas Central Appraisal District v. Wang, 82 S.W.3d 697 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2002, pet. denied).
Tax Code Section 31.08(a) neither requires nor permits the appraisal district's chief appraiser to retain tax certificate fees. An appraisal district is not a taxing unit because it is not authorized to impose and is not imposing property taxes. An appraisal district authorized to collect taxes for taxing units by contract does not transform the district into a taxing unit - it does not have the authority to impose taxes but rather merely to collect them. Because Section 31.08 refers to the treasury of the taxing unit, the chief appraiser deposits the tax certificate fees to the treasury of the taxing unit or units for which the appraisal district collects. A taxing unit that contracts to have the appraisal district collect property taxes may compensate the district in part with tax certificate fees. The contract must clearly express that intent. Tex. Att'y Gen. LO-97-041 (1997).
In an instance in which a tax certificate showing no taxes due on a property was issued in error, there is no lien against the property purchased by a new property owner. The amount of taxes, penalty, and interest due remains a personal liability of the original owner. The statute which imposed a liability on the tax assessor's bond for issuing an erroneous tax certificate was repealed. Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JM-679 (1987).
Sec. 31.10. Reports and Remittances of Other Taxes.
Note:
County tax funds may be electronically transferred from the county tax assessor's account in the county depository to the county treasury, but only the county tax assessor-collector is authorized to initiate electronic transfer of the funds. Op. Tex. Att'y Gen. No. JC-231 (2000).
Sec. 31.11. Refunds of Overpayments or Erroneous Payments.
Notes:
A lawsuit protesting denial of refund must be brought under the requirements of Chapter 42, Tax Code. First Bank of Deer Park v. Harris County, 804 S.W.2d 588 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1991, no writ).
A person who voluntarily pays an illegal tax has no claim for repayment. The public policy reason for the voluntary payment rule is to prevent a taxing entity from using funds paid by taxpayers in a given budget year and subsequently being required to refund that amount. In this case, however, the court found taxpayer's payment was not made voluntarily. City of Laredo v. South Texas National Bank, et al. 775 S.W.2d 729 (Tex. App.-San Antonio 1989, writ denied).
"Voluntary payment rule" prevents taxpayers from recovering repayment of Sec. 33.07 penalties, even if the penalties are illegally imposed. Salvaggio v. Houston ISD, 752 S.W.2d 189 (Tex. App.-Houston 1988, writ denied).