Rossville Vending Machine Corp. v. Comptroller of Treasury

689 A.2d 1295, 114 Md. App. 346, 1997 Md. App. LEXIS 29
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 3, 1997
DocketNo. 920
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 689 A.2d 1295 (Rossville Vending Machine Corp. v. Comptroller of Treasury) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rossville Vending Machine Corp. v. Comptroller of Treasury, 689 A.2d 1295, 114 Md. App. 346, 1997 Md. App. LEXIS 29 (Md. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

EYLER, Judge.

This case of first impression requires us to determine the period of limitations applicable to enforcement of a recorded tax lien.

On September 25, 1985, the Comptroller of the Treasury, appellee (Comptroller), levied an assessment against Rossville Vending Machine Corporation, appellant (taxpayer), for unpaid admission and amusement taxes in the amount of $859,-560.581 for the period of December 15, 1982 through March 6, 1985. On September 27, 1985, the Comptroller filed a notice of tax lien in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for the amount of the assessment. On September 30 of that year, the circuit court recorded and indexed the lien in its judgment docket at Liber 41, page 329. Taxpayer appealed the assessment to the Maryland Tax Court, the Circuit Court for [348]*348Baltimore County, and to this Court. The assessment was upheld in Rossville Vending Machine Corporation v. Comptroller, 97 Md.App. 305, 629 A.2d 1283, cert. denied, 333 Md. 201, 634 A.2d 62 (1993). Taxpayer appealed the denial of its refund claim which ultimately was affirmed by this Court in Comptroller v. Rossville Vending Machine Corporation, No. 1872, 84 Md.App. 760, Sept. Term, 1989 (unreported opinion filed September 27, 1990), cert. denied, 321 Md. 639, 584 A.2d 68 (1991). The resolution of the assessment case was delayed because the Maryland Tax Court held it in abeyance until after resolution of the refund case, which occurred in early 1991.

On September 5, 1995, the Comptroller filed a request for writ of garnishment of property, referencing the tax lien at Liber 41, page 329, and caused it to be served on garnishee, Mercantile Safe Deposit & Trust Company. On that same date, the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County filed in the garnishment action a notice of recorded judgment in the amount of the tax lien plus interest. Taxpayer filed a motion to quash the writ of garnishment on the grounds that the Comptroller had not obtained a judgment pursuant to Title 13, Subtitle 8, Part III of the Tax-General Article of the Maryland Annotated Code and that the recorded tax lien was no longer effective. The Comptroller filed a response, and on April 12, 1996, the trial court denied, taxpayer’s motion. On May 8, 1996, judgment was entered against garnishee in the amount of the assets confessed. Taxpayer noted this appeal.

Question Presented

Did the Circuit Court for Baltimore County err in denying Rossville’s motion to quash attachment of writ of garnishment because the tax lien underlying the writ of garnishment was unenforceable by reason of lapsed time?

Discussion

Taxpayer argues that the filing of the writ of garnishment was barred by the seven year statute of limitations set [349]*349forth in the Tax-General Art., § 13-1103.2 That section provides in pertinent part as follows:

(a) 7-year limit — Except as otherwise provided in this section, a tax imposed under this article may not be collected after 7 years from the date the tax is due.
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(c) Collection action after timely assessment — If the assessment of any tax has been made within the period of limitations applicable to the assessment, a tax may not be collected after 7 years from the date of the assessment. Any judgment entered may be enforced or renewed as any other judgment.

Taxpayer asks us to conclude that the subsections constitute a bar to the Comptroller’s action to collect taxes, ie., the filing of the writ of garnishment, because the writ was filed more than seven years after the date of the assessment. Taxpayer acknowledges that, under the terms of § 13 — 1103(c), the Comptroller could have expanded its time for collection by obtaining a judgment, enforceable for twelve years and renewable for twelve year periods, see Cts. & Jud.Proc. Art., § 5-102 and Rule 2-625, but asserts that the Comptroller failed to do so.

Relying upon § 13-808 and the last sentence of § 13-1108, the Comptroller argues that § 13-1103 does not apply to the enforcement of a notice of tax lien that has been filed in the appropriate circuit court. The Comptroller maintains that the filing of a notice of tax lien gives to the State a judgment lien that, at the very least, has a twelve year life renewable for twelve year periods. Section 13-808 provides as follows:

From the date on which a tax lien is filed under § 13-807[3] of this subtitle, the lien has the full force and effect of a judgment lien.

[350]*350The Comptroller further argues that § 13-1103(c) expressly exempts enforcement of judgment liens from the seven year statute of limitations governing collections. By contrast, taxpayer maintains that § 13-808 only gives tax liens the same priority as judgment liens and does not vitiate the statute of limitations set forth in § 13-1103. Taxpayer argues that any other reading of § 13-808 renders nugatory the terms of § 13-806, entitled “Duration of lien.” That section provides in pertinent part as follows:

(a) In general. — Unless another date is specified by law and except for a lien under subsection (b) [ (relating to inheritance tax liens) ] of this section, a lien arises on the date of notice that the tax is due and continues to the date on which the lien is:
(1) satisfied; or
(2) released by the tax collector because the lien is:
(i) unenforceable by reason of lapse of time; or
(ii) uncollectible.

Taxpayer argues that, under the Comptroller’s theory, a tax lien never would become “unenforceable by reason of lapse of time,” thus rendering subsection (a)(2)® meaningless. While the Comptroller takes the position that the twelve year statute of limitations governing judgments may not even apply to tax liens, see § 5-102(c), Cts. & Jud.Proc. Art.,4 it responds that [351]*351unrecorded liens are subject to the seven year statute of limitations and may become unenforceable by reason of lapse of time if not recorded within the statute of limitations.

Alternatively, the Comptroller argues that the limitations period set forth in § 13-1103 applies only once the taxpayer’s liability for the tax is finally determined by the appropriate administrative or judicial body, a process which, in this case, took eight years.

We begin our analysis by noting that the object of our interpretation is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the legislature. Ford Motor Land Dev. Corp. v. Comptroller, 68 Md.App. 342, 346, 511 A.2d 578, cert. denied, 307 Md. 596, 516 A.2d 567 (1986). As an aid to that task, we repeat a few of the basic concepts governing statutory construction that we set forth in Ford Motor Land Dev. Corp.:

“Where the language [of the statute] is clear and free from doubt the Court has no power to evade it by forced and unreasonable construction.” State Tax. Comm.

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689 A.2d 1295, 114 Md. App. 346, 1997 Md. App. LEXIS 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rossville-vending-machine-corp-v-comptroller-of-treasury-mdctspecapp-1997.