April 23, 1982
Subject:
Motor Vehicles; G.S. 20-50.2; G.S. 105-358; Motor Vehicle Registration; Payment of Delinquent Ad Valorem Taxes.
Requested By:
Mr. E. Ray Etheridge County Attorney Camden County
Question:
Where the owner of a motor vehicle owes delinquent ad valorem tax on the vehicle and wishes to pay only the tax allocable to the vehicle, must the county or municipal tax collector accept payment of a sum sufficient to satisfy only the tax owed on the vehicle?
Conclusion:
Yes.
The question posed above arises as a consequence of the enactment by the 1981 General Assembly of G.S. 20-50.2, which provides in part as follows:
"(a) Every owner of a vehicle when applying for registration shall, in addition to comply with any other requirements of this Article, provide the following information on the application form:
"(1) A certification statement setting forth the month the year and the name of the county in which the vehicle is listed for property taxes, if the applicant owned the vehicle on the most recent January 1 preceding the date on which the application is made; and
(2) A certification statement that no delinquent county or municipal property taxes are owed on the vehicle in the name of the applicant."
The obvious purpose of the new statute is to promote the payment of ad valorem taxes on motor vehicles. Where a taxpayer owns no taxable property other than his vehicle, the statute will pose no problem. The property owner will simply pay the tax collector the entire balance owing on his account, all of which will represent tax on the value of his vehicle. The difficulty arises where a taxpayer who owes delinquent tax on his vehicle and also on other property wishes to pay the minimum necessary to permit him to certify that there is no tax owed on the vehicle. Payment of a sum representing tax on the vehicle alone would constitute a partial payment with respect to the total delinquency. Partial payments are governed by G.S. 105-358:
"Unless otherwise directed by the governing body, the tax collector shall accept partial payments on taxes and issue partial payment receipts therefor.
"When a payment is made on the tax for any year or on any installment, it shall first be applied to accrued penalties, interest, and costs and then to the principal amount of the tax or installment. In its discretion, the governing body may prescribe by uniform regulation the minimum amount or percentage of tax liability that may be accepted as a partial payment."
In the case of a property owner residing in a taxing jurisdiction whose governing body has elected to decline partial payments altogether or has prescribed a minimum payment in excess of the tax owed on his vehicle, the combined operation of the two quoted statutes would appear to deny him the right to register his vehicle where he can pay only the tax allocable to that vehicle. We do not believe such result was intended. By its terms, G.S. 20-50.2 is directed only to the payment of delinquent taxes on motor vehicles. It is a more recent and more specific expression of legislative intent than is G.S. 105-358. Only if the two provisions are read together to require that local tax collectors accept partial payments representing tax owed on vehicles can the purpose of the newer registration statute be carried out. Moreover, there is no need to construe them to permit the collector to deny a taxpayer the use of his vehicle to enforce collection of taxes owed on other property, since there is already a statutory mechanism by which a vehicle may be made to stand for taxes on other property, including realty. G.S. 105-355(b) provides that "(t)axes levied on real and personal property (including penalties, interest, and costs allowed by law) shall be a lien on personal property from and after levy or attachment and garnishment of the personal property levied upon or attached."
To compel local tax collectors to accept payment of taxes on vehicles would impose no undue administrative burden. The amount of tax owed on the vehicle will already have been calculated in computing the taxpayer’s total liability. Further, the Machinery Act already contemplates this kind of allocation. See, for example, G.S. 105-356(b) which gives priority to a G.S. 105-355(b) lien on personalty to the extent it represents tax owed on the particular item of property to which the lien has attached. Typically, that item will be the taxpayer’s vehicle, since it will be the single most valuable item of personal property which he owns.
For the reasons discussed above we conclude that county and municipal tax collectors must accept payment of tax owed on motor vehicles even where the taxpayer also owes delinquent tax on other property.
Rufus L. Edmisten Attorney General
Marilyn R. Rich Assistant Attorney General