§ 67-5-1808 — Prepayment and partial payment of property taxes

(a) Notwithstanding any general law or any private act to the contrary, the county trustee may accept prepayments and partial payments of property taxes, including, but not limited to, payment by electronic transfers, bank customer preauthorized payments, wire transfers or ACH credits, for the current tax year prior to the date the tax rate is established for the current tax year. Any prepayment or partial payment of property taxes for the current tax year that is received before the later of July 1 or the date the property tax rate for the current year is established shall be held by the trustee in a designated revenue account established to hold undistributed taxes and then transferred to the revenue account established for the current year's taxes after the later of July 1 or the date the property tax rate for the current year is adopted by the county legislative body. (b) Prior to any county trustee accepting prepayment or partial payment of property taxes in accordance with this section, the county trustee shall file a plan with the comptroller of the treasury at least thirty (30) days prior to the acceptance of the payments. The comptroller of the treasury must acknowledge the receipt of the plan and provide written comments regarding the plan to the trustee prior to implementation. The plan should contain the following: (1) A description of the accounting system technology or manual processes to be used to record prepayments and partial payments of property taxes for the current tax year prior to the date the tax rate is established; (2) A statement indicating whether such a process of collecting property taxes will be implemented within the existing operating resources of the office or an indication of prior approval by the county legislative body if accounting system upgrades or additional operating resources are needed; and (3) Documentation of the internal controls that will ensure all property tax payments are being recorded and accounted for as required by law. (c) (1) The delinquent date for property taxes and interest applicable to delinquent property taxes is not affected by application of a prepayment or partial payment system established in such county. (2) Interest applies only to the amount of delinquent property taxes remaining due as of the date property taxes become delinquent. (d) If a prepayment or partial payment of property taxes is accepted, such prepayment or partial payment does not release the tax lien on the property upon which the taxes were assessed and such prepayment or partial payment is non-refundable. (e) This section is known and may be cited as the "Representative Mike Carter Preservation Act."

Legislative History

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 848, Secs.s1, s2, s3, s4 eff. 4/20/2022. Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 220, s 7, eff. 7/1/2019. Acts 1990, ch. 922, § 1; 2008 , ch. 698, § 1; 2009 , ch. 71, § 1.