22. (a) Whenever any person required to collect tax shall fail to collect or pay over any tax, penalty or interest imposed by this act as therein provided, or whenever any customer shall fail to pay any such tax, penalty or interest, the Attorney General shall, upon the request of the director, bring or cause to be brought an action to enforce the payment of the same on behalf of the State of New Jersey in any court of the State of New Jersey or of any other State or of the United States.

(b) As an additional or alternate remedy, the director may issue a warrant, directed to the sheriff of any county commanding him to levy upon and sell the real and personal property of any person liable for the tax, which may be found within his county, for the payment of the amount thereof, with any penalties and interest, and the cost of executing the warrant, and to return such warrant to the director and to pay to him the money collected by virtue thereof within 60 days after the receipt of such warrant. The sheriff shall within 5 days after the receipt of the warrant file with the county clerk a copy thereof, and thereupon such clerk shall enter in the judgment docket the name of the person mentioned in the warrant and the amount of the tax, penalties and interest for which the warrant is issued and the date when such copy is filed. Thereupon the amount of such warrant so docketed shall become a lien upon the title to and interest in real and personal property of the person against whom the warrant is issued. The sheriff shall then proceed upon the warrant, in the same manner, and with like effect, as that provided by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgments of a court of record and for services in executing the warrant he shall be entitled to the same fees, which he may collect in the same manner. In the discretion of the director a warrant of like terms, force and effect may be issued and directed to any officer or employee of the Division of Taxation, and in the execution thereof such officer or employee shall have all the powers conferred by law upon sheriffs, but shall be entitled to no fee or compensation in excess of the actual expenses paid in the performance of such duty. If a warrant is returned not satisfied in full, the director may from time to time issue new warrants and shall also have the same remedies to enforce the amount due thereunder as if the State had recovered judgment therefor and execution thereon had been returned unsatisfied.

(c) Whenever a person required to collect tax shall make a sale, transfer, or assignment in bulk of any part or the whole of his business assets, otherwise than in the ordinary course of business, the purchaser, transferee or assignee shall at least 10 days before taking possession of the subject of said sale, transfer or assignment, or paying therefor, notify the director by registered mail of the proposed sale and of the price, terms and conditions thereof whether or not the seller, transferrer or assignor, has represented to, or informed the purchaser, transferee or assignee that he owes any tax pursuant to this act, and whether or not the purchaser, transferee, or assignee has knowledge that such taxes are owing, and whether any such taxes are in fact owing.

Whenever the purchaser, transferee or assignee shall fail to give notice to the director as required by the preceding paragraph, or whenever the director shall inform the purchaser, transferee or assignee that a possible claim for such tax or taxes exists, any sums of money, property or choses in action, or other consideration, which the purchaser, transferee or assignee is required to transfer over to the seller, transferrer or assignor shall be subject to a first priority right and lien for any such taxes theretofore or thereafter determined to be due from the seller, transferrer or assignor to the State, and the purchaser, transferee or assignee is forbidden to transfer to the seller, transferrer or assignor any such sums of money, property or choses in action to the extent of the amount of the State’s claim. For failure to comply with the provisions of this section the purchaser, transferee or assignee, in addition to being subject to the liabilities and remedies imposed under the provisions of the uniform commercial code, Title 12A of the New Jersey Statutes, shall be personally liable for the payment to the State of any such taxes theretofore or thereafter determined to be due to the State from the seller, transferrer or assignor, and such liability may be assessed and enforced in the same manner as the liability for tax under this act.

(d) Subsection (c) of this section shall not apply to the sale, transfer, or assignment of a grant, tax credit, or tax credit transfer certificate that has been awarded, issued, or otherwise made available to a person required to collect tax in connection with a State or local business assistance or incentive program or activity authorized by law in effect on the effective date of P.L.2017, c.12.

For purposes of this subsection, “State or local business assistance or incentive program or activity” includes but shall not be limited to: the corporation business tax credit and insurance premiums tax credit certificate transfer program established by section 17 of P.L.2004, c.65 (C. 34:1B-120.2); the Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Program established by P.L.1996, c.25 (C. 34:1B-112 et seq.); the Business Employment Incentive Program established by P.L.1996, c.26 (C. 34:1B-124 et al.); the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit Program established by P.L.2007, c.346 (C. 34:1B-207 et seq.); the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program established by section 3 of P.L.2011, c.149 (C. 34:1B-244); and the State or local Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant program established by section 4 or section 5 of P.L.2009, c.90 (C. 52:27D-489d or C. 52:27D-489e).

L.1966, c.30, s.22; amended 2017, c.12, s.2.