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PRINTER'S NO. 50
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
61
Session of
2023
INTRODUCED BY MERCURI, SCHLEGEL CULVER, MOUL AND PICKETT,
MARCH 7, 2023
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MARCH 7, 2023
AN ACT
Amending the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), entitled "An
act relating to tax reform and State taxation by codifying
and enumerating certain subjects of taxation and imposing
taxes thereon; providing procedures for the payment,
collection, administration and enforcement thereof; providing
for tax credits in certain cases; conferring powers and
imposing duties upon the Department of Revenue, certain
employers, fiduciaries, individuals, persons, corporations
and other entities; prescribing crimes, offenses and
penalties," in general provisions, providing for electronic
tax lien filing and centralized repository; and making a
repeal.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of March 4, 1971 (P.L.6, No.2), known as
the Tax Reform Code of 1971, is amended by adding a section to
read:
Section 3003.26. Electronic Tax Lien Filing and Centralized
Repository.--(a) Commonwealth taxes administered by the
Department of Revenue shall be a lien upon the property,
franchises and rights to property, real and personal, tangible
and intangible, including after-acquired property, of a
corporation, association or person upon the posting of the
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liability under subsection (g), and shall be considered
recorded, and, unless otherwise provided in this act, have
priority from that point in time. The lien shall be a statutory
lien, encumbering the property, franchises and rights to the
property throughout this Commonwealth, without the need for the
lien to be reduced to judgment, filed with a county
prothonotary, or revived.
(b) If the property, franchises and rights to property of a
corporation, association or person are sold at a judicial sale,
all taxes due the Commonwealth shall be allowed and fully paid
out of the proceeds of the sale before any other obligation,
judgment, mortgage, claim or lien, including real estate taxes
and local and municipal claims, and excepting costs of the sale
and of the writ upon which the sale was made, but shall be
subordinate to mortgages or other liens, including real estate
taxes and local and municipal claims which had already been
established by statute, or existing and duly recorded or entered
of record prior to the posting of the tax lien on the
repository.
(c) A judicial sale from a senior priority claim shall
divest a Commonwealth tax lien from the property actually sold
at that sale only to the extent the Commonwealth tax lien
remains unpaid after all distributions have been made, but the
Commonwealth tax lien shall, in all other respects, continue to
encumber any and all property the corporation, association or
person owns that was not included in the judicial sale,
including after-acquired property, until such time as the
Commonwealth tax lien is satisfied in its entirety.
(d) All liens filed by the Department of Revenue shall be
Commonwealth tax liens, and nothing in this section shall be
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construed to prohibit the Department of Revenue, at its
discretion, from releasing a Commonwealth tax lien upon receipt
of adequate consideration.
(e) Inheritance tax liens shall arise as of the date of
death and attach to the decedent's real property and need not be
included in the repository established under this section. The
lien shall remain until the taxes and interest are paid in full
or until the lien is released under Article XXI.
(f) The Department of Revenue shall not be required to file
a Commonwealth tax lien with a prothonotary of this Commonwealth
in order for the department to collect on the lien, via any
method available at law, except for a writ of execution filed by
the Commonwealth.
(g) The Department of Revenue shall maintain a searchable
centralized repository of all Commonwealth tax liens due and
owing to the Commonwealth. The repository shall be posted to the
Department of Revenue's publicly accessible Internet website.
Liabilities due to the Commonwealth for taxes administered by
the Department of Revenue may be posted to the repository within
seven days of the settlement, determination or assessment
becoming final. The Department of Revenue shall not be required
to refile or revive a Commonwealth tax lien. The repository
shall be updated no less than once every seven days. The
publication of the repository and disclosure of information
contained in the repository shall be used only for official
purposes under section 731 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343,
No.176), known as The Fiscal Code.
(h) (1) In order for the Commonwealth to collect on a
Commonwealth tax lien by executing on property, unless otherwise
provided by law, the Commonwealth tax lien must be filed of
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record with the prothonotary of the respective county where the
property or rights to property the Department of Revenue seeks
to execute upon is located. The Department of Revenue may, at
any time, transmit to the prothonotary of the applicable county,
where the property the department seeks to execute upon is
located, a certified copy of the lien posted on the repository,
to be entered of record by the prothonotary and indexed as
judgments are now indexed, upon which record is lawful for writs
of execution to be directly issued without the issuance and
prosecution to judgment of writs of scire facias: Provided, that
not less than ten days before the issuance of execution on the
lien, notice of the filing and effect of the lien shall be sent
by first class and registered or certified mail to the
taxpayer's last known post office address.
(2) No prothonotary shall require as a condition precedent
to the entry of the lien, payment of the costs incident to the
entry.
(3) The indexing and filing of the Commonwealth tax lien by
the prothonotary shall not change or otherwise affect the
priority status of the lien, unless otherwise provided in this
act.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require
the Department of Revenue to file a Commonwealth tax lien in
order to proceed with a wage garnishment under section 3003.15
or a bank attachment under section 3003.22.
(i) A prothonotary who wilfully fails to carry out a duty
imposed by this section commits a misdemeanor and shall, upon
conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars ($1,000) and costs of prosecution, or to
undergo imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both.
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Section 2. Repeals are as follows:
(1) The General Assembly declares that the repeal under
paragraph (2) is necessary to effectuate the addition of
section 3003.26 of the act.
(2) Section 213 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343,
No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, is repealed.
Section 3. A tax lien of the Commonwealth created prior to
January 1, 2024, shall not be impaired, shall remain in full
force and effect and shall retain the priority under the
provision of law imposing the tax lien, without the necessity of
refiling or revival.
Section 4. This act shall take effect January 1, 2024.
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