(a)When real property is sold under this
chapter, the purchaser at the sale shall immediately pay the amount of
the bid to the county treasurer. The county treasurer shall apply the
payment in the following manner:
(1)First, to the taxes, special assessments, penalties, and costs
described in section 5(e) of this chapter.
(2)Second, to other delinquent property taxes in the manner
provided in IC 6-1.1-23-5(b).
(3)Third, to a separate "tax sale surplus fund".
(b)A county treasurer shall pay taxes or special assessments, or both,
as follows:
(1)For any tract or item of real property located in a county
containing a consolidated city for which a tax sale certificate is
sold under this chapter, if taxes or special assessments, or both,
become due on the tract or item of real property dur
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(a) When real property is sold under this
chapter, the purchaser at the sale shall immediately pay the amount of
the bid to the county treasurer. The county treasurer shall apply the
payment in the following manner:
(1) First, to the taxes, special assessments, penalties, and costs
described in section 5(e) of this chapter.
(2) Second, to other delinquent property taxes in the manner
provided in IC 6-1.1-23-5(b).
(3) Third, to a separate "tax sale surplus fund".
(b) A county treasurer shall pay taxes or special assessments, or both,
as follows:
(1) For any tract or item of real property located in a county
containing a consolidated city for which a tax sale certificate is
sold under this chapter, if taxes or special assessments, or both,
become due on the tract or item of real property during the period
of redemption specified under IC 6-1.1-25-4, the county treasurer
may pay the taxes or special assessments, or both, on the tract or
item of real property from the tax sale surplus held in the name of
the taxpayer, if any, after the taxes or special assessments become
due.
(2) For any tract or item of real property not located in a county
containing a consolidated city for which a tax sale certificate is
sold under this chapter, if taxes or special assessments, or both,
accrue on the tract or item of real property through and including
the year in which the owner of record is divested of title to the real
property, the county treasurer shall pay all taxes or special
assessments, or both, on the tract or item of real property from the
tax sale surplus held in the name of the taxpayer, if any, after the
tax bills are mailed. The county auditor must freeze the tax sale
surplus until all payments required under this subdivision are paid.
(c) The:
(1) owner of record of the real property at the time the real property
was certified for sale under this chapter and before the issuance of
a tax deed; or
(2) tax sale purchaser or purchaser's assignee, upon redemption of
the tract or item of real property;
may file a verified claim for money which is deposited in the tax sale
surplus fund. If the claim is approved by the county auditor and the
county treasurer, the county auditor shall issue a warrant to the
claimant for the amount due.
(d) If the person who claims money deposited in the tax sale surplus
fund under subsection (c) is:
(1) a person who has a contract or agreement described under
section 7.5 of this chapter with a person described in subsection
(c)(1); or
(2) a person who acts as an executor, attorney-in-fact, or legal
guardian of a person described in subsection (c)(1);
the county auditor may issue a warrant to the person only as directed
by the court having jurisdiction over the tax sale of the parcel for which
the surplus claim is made.
(e) A court may direct the issuance of a warrant only:
(1) on petition by the claimant;
(2) within three (3) years after the date of sale of the parcel in the
tax sale; and
(3) in the case of a petitioner to whom subsection (d)(1) applies, if
the petitioner has satisfied the requirements of section 7.5 of this
chapter.
(f) Unless the redemption period specified under IC 6-1.1-25 has
been extended under federal bankruptcy law, an amount deposited in
the tax sale surplus fund shall be transferred by the county auditor to
the county general fund and may not be disbursed under subsection (c)
if it is not claimed within the three (3) year period after the date of its
receipt.
(g) If an amount applied to taxes under this section is later paid out
of the county general fund to the purchaser or the purchaser's successor
due to the invalidity of the sale, all the taxes shall be reinstated and
recharged to the tax duplicate and collected in the same manner as if
the property had not been offered for sale.
(h) When a refund is made to any purchaser or purchaser's successor
by reason of the invalidity of a sale, the county auditor shall, at the
December settlement immediately following the refund, deduct the
amount of the refund from the gross collections in the taxing district in
which the land lies and shall pay that amount into the county general
fund.
[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation:
6-1-56-7.]
Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by
P.L.50-1990, SEC.11; P.L.88-1995, SEC.2; P.L.56-1996, SEC.5;
P.L.139-2001, SEC.6; P.L.1-2003, SEC.28; P.L.97-2004, SEC.22;
P.L.73-2010, SEC.3; P.L.56-2012, SEC.9; P.L.251-2015, SEC.16;
P.L.187-2016, SEC.7; P.L.85-2017, SEC.17; P.L.66-2021,
SEC.6.