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Terms Used In Alabama Code 40-5-20

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • property: includes both real and personal property. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • tax collecting official: means the elected or appointed official charged with collecting ad valorem taxes and other prescribed fees on real and personal property in the county. See Alabama Code 40-5-1
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
  • year: means a calendar year; but, whenever the word "year" is used in reference to any appropriations for the payment of money out of the treasury, it shall mean fiscal year. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(1) If the tax upon assessed tangible personal property of a taxpayer remains unpaid after January 1 in any year, the county tax collecting official shall present the account for taxes to any person or entity who the collecting official ascertains or has just cause to believe may be indebted to the delinquent taxpayer, or has in his or her possession or under his or her control any money, property, or choses in action belonging to any delinquent taxpayer in the county, and demand the payment of the taxes and fees due from the taxpayer. The demand shall operate as a levy upon any assets of the delinquent taxpayer in the possession or control of the third party indebted to the delinquent taxpayer and shall have the force and effect of a writ of garnishment. The tax collecting official shall also immediately give the delinquent taxpayer, if in the county, written notice of the service of the garnishment. If the delinquent taxpayer resides in the state but is not in the county, and his or her address is known or can be ascertained, the tax collecting official shall give notice to the delinquent taxpayer and return the executed garnishment and notice to the court before which the garnishee is cited to appear.
(2) The person to which the account for delinquent taxes is presented shall pay over to the county tax collecting official the amount of the taxes and fees that the delinquent taxpayer owes and shall take the tax collecting official’s receipt for the payment. The receipt shall be taken in all courts of this state as payment on the delinquent taxpayer’s indebtedness to the full amount expressed on the receipt.
(b) If, on demand, the person fails or refuses to pay over the amount of the tax that the delinquent taxpayer owes to the tax collecting official, the tax collecting official shall file a statement of the amount of the tax and fees with the person so refusing. The statement shall operate as a garnishment upon the person so served. The tax collecting official shall proceed to collect the taxes in the manner fixed by law in cases of garnishment.
(c) It shall be the duty of the tax collecting official to ascertain what persons are indebted to or have in their possession any money, property, or choses in action belonging to any delinquent taxpayer.
(d) A delinquent taxpayer may not be compelled to pay any debt before the debt is due, nor be compelled to pay a greater amount than is owed.
(e) The cost of garnishment shall be paid by the party refusing to pay the taxes when so requested.
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