Sec. 7. (a) The county executive may cancel any property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, and penalties assessed against real property owned by a county, a township, a city, a town, or a body corporate and politic established under IC 8-10-5-2(a), regardless of whether the county, township, city, town, or body corporate and politic established under IC 8-10-5-2(a) owned the property on the assessment date for which the property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, or penalties are imposed and regardless of when the county, township, city, town, or body corporate and politic established under IC 8-10-5-2(a) acquired the property, if a petition requesting that the county executive cancel the taxes is submitted by the auditor, assessor, and treasurer of the county in which the real property is located. However, the cancellation of any property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, or penalties under this subsection does not affect the liability of any person that is personally liable for the property taxes before the date the county, township, city, town, or body corporate and politic established under IC 8-10-5-2(a) acquired the property. For purposes of this subsection, in a county containing a consolidated city, “county executive” refers to the board of commissioners of the county as provided in IC 36-3-3-10.

     (b) The department of local government finance may cancel any property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, and penalties assessed against real property owned by this state, regardless of whether the state owned the property on the assessment date for which the property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, or penalties are imposed and regardless of when the state acquired the property, if a petition requesting that the department cancel the taxes is submitted by:

(1) the governor; or

(2) the chief administrative officer of the state agency which supervises the real property.

However, if the petition is submitted by the chief administrative officer of a state agency, the governor must approve the petition. In addition, the cancellation of any property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, or penalties under this subsection does not affect the liability of any person that is personally liable for the property taxes before the date the state acquired the property.

     (c) If property taxes are canceled under subsection (a) or (b), any lien on the real property shall be released and canceled to the extent the lien covers any property taxes, delinquencies, fees, special assessments, or penalties that were assessed against the real property before or after the county, township, city, town, body corporate and politic established under IC 8-10-5-2(a), or state became the owner of the real property.

     (d) The department of local government finance may compromise the amount of property taxes, together with any interest or penalties on those taxes, assessed against the fixed or distributable property owned by a bankrupt railroad, which is under the jurisdiction of:

(1) a federal court under 11 U.S.C. § 1163;

(2) Chapter X of the Acts of Congress Relating to Bankruptcy (11 U.S.C. §§ 701-799); or

(3) a comparable bankruptcy law.

     (e) After making a compromise under subsection (d) and after receiving payment of the compromised amount, the department of local government finance shall distribute to each county treasurer an amount equal to the product of:

(1) the compromised amount; multiplied by

(2) a fraction, the numerator of which is the total of the particular county’s property tax levies against the railroad for the compromised years, and the denominator of which is the total of all property tax levies against the railroad for the compromised years.

     (f) After making the distribution under subsection (e), the department of local government finance shall direct the auditors of each county to remove from the tax rolls the amount of all property taxes assessed against the bankrupt railroad for the compromised years.

     (g) The county auditor of each county receiving money under subsection (e) shall allocate that money among the county’s taxing districts. The auditor shall allocate to each taxing district an amount equal to the product of:

(1) the amount of money received by the county under subsection (e); multiplied by

(2) a fraction, the numerator of which is the total of the taxing district’s property tax levies against the railroad for the compromised years, and the denominator of which is the total of all property tax levies against the railroad in that county for the compromised years.

     (h) The money allocated to each taxing district shall be apportioned and distributed among the taxing units of that taxing district in the same manner and at the same time that property taxes are apportioned and distributed.

     (i) The department of local government finance may, with the approval of the attorney general, compromise the amount of property taxes, together with any interest or penalties on those taxes, assessed against property owned by a person that has a case pending under state or federal bankruptcy law. Property taxes that are compromised under this section shall be distributed and allocated at the same time and in the same manner as regularly collected property taxes. The department of local government finance may compromise property taxes under this subsection only if:

(1) a petition is filed with the department of local government finance that requests the compromise and is signed and approved by the assessor, auditor, and treasurer of each county and the assessor of each township (if any) that is entitled to receive any part of the compromised taxes;

(2) the compromise significantly advances the time of payment of the taxes; and

(3) the compromise is in the best interest of the state and the taxing units that are entitled to receive any part of the compromised taxes.

     (j) A taxing unit that receives funds under this section is not required to include the funds in its budget estimate for any budget year which begins after the budget year in which it receives the funds.

     (k) A county treasurer, with the consent of the county auditor and the county assessor, may compromise the amount of property taxes, interest, or penalties owed in a county by an entity that has a case pending under Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) by accepting a single payment that must be at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the total amount owed in the county.

[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation: 6-1-39-8.]

Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by Acts 1977, P.L.75, SEC.1; P.L.69-1983, SEC.9; P.L.5-1988, SEC.45; P.L.30-1994, SEC.6; P.L.90-2002, SEC.260; P.L.146-2008, SEC.288; P.L.172-2011, SEC.48; P.L.187-2016, SEC.12; P.L.257-2019, SEC.65.