Indiana Code 6-1.1-24-7. Payment of sale price; application of payment; tax sale surplus fund; claims procedure; fund transfers; invalidity of sale
(1) First, to the taxes, special assessments, penalties, and costs described in section 5(e) of this chapter.
Terms Used In Indiana Code 6-1.1-24-7
- Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Property: includes personal and real property. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- real property: include lands, tenements, and hereditaments. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Verified: when applied to pleadings, means supported by oath or affirmation in writing. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
- Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
(3) Third, to a separate “tax sale surplus fund”.
(b) A county treasurer shall pay taxes or special assessments, or both, as follows:
(1) For any tract or item of real property located in a county containing a consolidated city for which a tax sale certificate is sold under this chapter, if taxes or special assessments, or both, become due on the tract or item of real property during the period of redemption specified under IC 6-1.1-25-4, the county treasurer may pay the taxes or special assessments, or both, on the tract or item of real property from the tax sale surplus held in the name of the taxpayer, if any, after the taxes or special assessments become due.
(2) For any tract or item of real property not located in a county containing a consolidated city for which a tax sale certificate is sold under this chapter, if taxes or special assessments, or both, accrue on the tract or item of real property through and including the year in which the owner of record is divested of title to the real property, the county treasurer shall pay all taxes or special assessments, or both, on the tract or item of real property from the tax sale surplus held in the name of the taxpayer, if any, after the tax bills are mailed. The county auditor must freeze the tax sale surplus until all payments required under this subdivision are paid.
(c) The:
(1) owner of record of the real property at the time the real property was certified for sale under this chapter and before the issuance of a tax deed; or
(2) tax sale purchaser or purchaser’s assignee, upon redemption of the tract or item of real property;
may file a verified claim for money which is deposited in the tax sale surplus fund. If the claim is approved by the county auditor and the county treasurer, the county auditor shall issue a warrant to the claimant for the amount due.
(d) If the person who claims money deposited in the tax sale surplus fund under subsection (c) is:
(1) a person who has a contract or agreement described under section 7.5 of this chapter with a person described in subsection (c)(1); or
(2) a person who acts as an executor, attorney-in-fact, or legal guardian of a person described in subsection (c)(1);
the county auditor may issue a warrant to the person only as directed by the court having jurisdiction over the tax sale of the parcel for which the surplus claim is made.
(e) A court may direct the issuance of a warrant only:
(1) on petition by the claimant;
(2) within three (3) years after the date of sale of the parcel in the tax sale; and
(3) in the case of a petitioner to whom subsection (d)(1) applies, if the petitioner has satisfied the requirements of section 7.5 of this chapter.
(f) Unless the redemption period specified under IC 6-1.1-25 has been extended under federal bankruptcy law, an amount deposited in the tax sale surplus fund shall be transferred by the county auditor to the county general fund and may not be disbursed under subsection (c) if it is not claimed within the three (3) year period after the date of its receipt.
(g) If an amount applied to taxes under this section is later paid out of the county general fund to the purchaser or the purchaser’s successor due to the invalidity of the sale, all the taxes shall be reinstated and recharged to the tax duplicate and collected in the same manner as if the property had not been offered for sale.
(h) When a refund is made to any purchaser or purchaser’s successor by reason of the invalidity of a sale, the county auditor shall, at the December settlement immediately following the refund, deduct the amount of the refund from the gross collections in the taxing district in which the land lies and shall pay that amount into the county general fund.
[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation: 6-1-56-7.]
Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by P.L.50-1990, SEC.11; P.L.88-1995, SEC.2; P.L.56-1996, SEC.5; P.L.139-2001, SEC.6; P.L.1-2003, SEC.28; P.L.97-2004, SEC.22; P.L.73-2010, SEC.3; P.L.56-2012, SEC.9; P.L.251-2015, SEC.16; P.L.187-2016, SEC.7; P.L.85-2017, SEC.17; P.L.66-2021, SEC.6.