Bill Text: MI SB0972 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Property tax; payment and collection; tax bills; require to include past due amounts owed. Amends sec. 44 of 1893 PA 206 (MCL 211.44).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2012-12-31 - Assigned Pa 0482'12 With Immediate Effect [SB0972 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2011-SB0972-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 972
February 16, 2012, Introduced by Senator HILDENBRAND and referred to the Committee on Finance.
A bill to amend 1893 PA 206, entitled
"The general property tax act,"
by amending section 44 (MCL 211.44), as amended by 2011 PA 126.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 44. (1) Upon receipt of the tax roll, the township
treasurer or other collector shall proceed to collect the taxes.
The township treasurer or other collector shall mail to each
taxpayer at the taxpayer's last known address on the tax roll or to
the taxpayer's designated agent a statement showing the description
of the property against which the tax is levied, the taxable value
of
the property, and the amount of the tax on the property, and
notice of any unpaid taxes returned as delinquent on the property
together with contact information for more information regarding
those unpaid taxes. If a tax statement is mailed to the taxpayer, a
tax statement sent to a taxpayer's designated agent may be in a
summary form or may be in an electronic data processing format. If
the tax statement information is provided to both a taxpayer and
the taxpayer's designated agent, the tax statement mailed to the
taxpayer may be identified as an informational copy. A township
treasurer or other collector electing to send a tax statement to a
taxpayer's designated agent or electing not to include an
itemization in the manner described in subsection (10)(d) in a tax
statement mailed to the taxpayer shall, upon request, mail a
detailed copy of the tax statement, including an itemization of the
amount of tax in the manner described by subsection (10)(d), to the
taxpayer without charge.
(2) The expense of preparing and mailing the statement shall
be paid from the county, township, city, or village funds. Failure
to send or receive the notice does not prejudice the right to
collect or enforce the payment of the tax. The township treasurer
shall remain in the office of the township treasurer at some
convenient place in the township from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to receive
taxes on the following days:
(a) At least 1 business day between December 25 and December
31 unless the township has an arrangement with a local financial
institution to receive taxes on behalf of the township treasurer
and to forward that payment to the township on the next business
day. The township shall provide timely notification of which
financial institutions will receive taxes for the township and
which days the treasurer will be in the office to receive taxes.
(b) The last day that taxes are due and payable before being
returned as delinquent under section 78a(2).
(c) For the collection of a summer tax levy, the last day
taxes are due and payable before interest is added under section
44a(5).
(3) Except as provided by subsection (7), on a sum voluntarily
paid before February 15 of the succeeding year, the local property
tax collecting unit shall add a property tax administration fee of
not more than 1% of the total tax bill per parcel. However, unless
otherwise provided for by an agreement between the assessing unit
and the collecting unit, if a local property tax collecting unit
other than a village does not also serve as the local assessing
unit, the excess of the amount of property tax administration fees
over the expense to the local property tax collecting unit in
collecting the taxes, but not less than 80% of the fee imposed,
shall be returned to the local assessing unit. A property tax
administration fee is defined as a fee to offset costs incurred by
a collecting unit in assessing property values, in collecting the
property tax levies, and in the review and appeal processes. The
costs of any appeals, in excess of funds available from the
property tax administration fee, may be shared by any taxing unit
only if approved by the governing body of the taxing unit. Except
as provided by subsection (7), on all taxes paid after February 14
and before taxes are returned as delinquent under section 78a(2)
the governing body of a city or township may authorize the
treasurer to add to the tax a property tax administration fee to
the extent imposed on taxes paid before February 15 and the day
that taxes are returned as delinquent under section 78a(2) a late
penalty charge equal to 3% of the tax. The governing body of a city
or township may waive interest from February 15 to the last day of
February on a summer property tax that has been deferred under
section 51 or any late penalty charge for the homestead property of
a senior citizen, paraplegic, quadriplegic, hemiplegic, eligible
serviceperson, eligible veteran, eligible widow or widower, totally
and permanently disabled person, or blind person, as those persons
are defined in chapter 9 of the income tax act of 1967, 1967 PA
281, MCL 206.501 to 206.532, if the person makes a claim before
February 15 for a credit for that property provided by chapter 9 of
the income tax act of 1967, 1967 PA 281, MCL 206.501 to 206.532, if
the person presents a copy of the form filed for that credit to the
local treasurer, and if the person has not received the credit
before February 15. The governing body of a city or township may
waive interest from February 15 to the day taxes are returned as
delinquent under section 78a(2) on a summer property tax deferred
under section 51 or any late penalty charge for a person's property
that is subject to a farmland development rights agreement recorded
with the register of deeds of the county in which the property is
situated as provided in section 36104 of the natural resources and
environmental protection act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.36104, if the
person presents a copy of the development rights agreement or
verification that the property is subject to a development rights
agreement before February 15. A 4% county property tax
administration fee, a property tax administration fee to the extent
imposed on and if authorized under subsection (7) for taxes paid
before taxes are returned as delinquent under section 78a(2), and
interest on the tax at the rate of 1% per month shall be added to
taxes collected by the township or city treasurer after the last
day taxes are payable before being returned as delinquent under
section 78a(2) and before settlement with the county treasurer, and
the payment shall be treated as though collected by the county
treasurer. If the statements required to be mailed by this section
are not mailed before December 31, the treasurer shall not impose a
late penalty charge on taxes collected after February 14.
(4) The governing body of a local property tax collecting unit
may waive all or part of the property tax administration fee or the
late penalty charge, or both. A property tax administration fee
collected by the township treasurer shall be used only for the
purposes for which it may be collected as specified by subsection
(3) and this subsection. If the bond of the treasurer, as provided
in section 43, is furnished by a surety company, the cost of the
bond may be paid by the township from the property tax
administration fee.
(5) If apprehensive of the loss of personal tax assessed upon
the roll, the township treasurer may enforce collection of the tax
at any time, and if compelled to seize property or bring an action
in December may add, if authorized under subsection (7), a property
tax administration fee of not more than 1% of the total tax bill
per parcel and 3% for a late penalty charge.
(6) Along with taxes returned delinquent to a county
treasurer, the amount of the property tax administration fee
prescribed by subsection (3) that is imposed and not paid shall be
included in the return of delinquent taxes and, when delinquent
taxes are distributed by the county treasurer under this act, the
delinquent property tax administration fee shall be distributed to
the treasurer of the local unit who transmitted the statement of
taxes returned as delinquent. Interest imposed upon delinquent
property taxes under this act shall also be imposed upon the
property tax administration fee and, for purposes of this act other
than for the purpose of determining to which local unit the county
treasurer shall distribute a delinquent property tax administration
fee, any reference to delinquent taxes shall be considered to
include the property tax administration fee returned as delinquent
for the same property.
(7) The local property tax collecting treasurer shall not
impose a property tax administration fee, collection fee, or any
type of late penalty charge authorized by law or charter unless the
governing body of the local property tax collecting unit approves,
by resolution or ordinance adopted after December 31, 1982, an
authorization for the imposition of a property tax administration
fee, collection fee, or any type of late penalty charge provided
for by this section or by charter, which authorization shall be
valid for all levies that become a lien after the resolution or
ordinance is adopted. However, unless otherwise provided for by an
agreement between the assessing unit and the collecting unit, a
local property tax collecting unit that does not also serve as the
assessing unit shall impose a property tax administration fee on
each parcel at a rate equal to the rate of the fee imposed for city
or township taxes on that parcel.
(8) The annual statement required by 1966 PA 125, MCL 565.161
to 565.164, or a monthly billing form or mortgagor passbook
provided instead of that annual statement shall include a statement
to the effect that a taxpayer who was not mailed the tax statement
or a copy of the tax statement by the township treasurer or other
collector shall receive, upon request and without charge, a copy of
the tax statement from the township treasurer or other collector
or, if the tax statement has been mailed to the taxpayer's
designated agent, from either the taxpayer's designated agent or
the township treasurer or other collector. A designated agent who
is subject to 1966 PA 125, MCL 565.161 to 565.164, and who has been
mailed the tax statement for taxes that became a lien in the
calendar year immediately preceding the year in which the annual
statement may be required to be furnished shall mail, upon request
and without charge to a taxpayer who was not mailed that tax
statement or a copy of that tax statement, a copy of that tax
statement.
(9) For taxes levied after December 31, 2001, if taxes levied
on qualified real property remain unpaid on February 15, all of the
following shall apply:
(a) The unpaid taxes on that qualified real property shall be
collected in the same manner as unpaid taxes levied on personal
property are collected under this act.
(b) Unpaid taxes on qualified real property shall not be
returned as delinquent to the county treasurer for forfeiture,
foreclosure, and sale under sections 78 to 79a.
(c) If a county treasurer discovers that unpaid taxes on
qualified real property have been returned as delinquent for
forfeiture, foreclosure, and sale under sections 78 to 79a, the
county treasurer shall return those unpaid taxes to the appropriate
local tax collection unit for collection as provided in subdivision
(a).
(10) As used in this section:
(a) "Designated agent" means an individual, partnership,
association, corporation, receiver, estate, trust, or other legal
entity that has entered into an escrow account agreement or other
agreement with the taxpayer that obligates that individual or legal
entity to pay the property taxes for the taxpayer or, if an
agreement has not been entered into, that was designated by the
taxpayer on a form made available to the taxpayer by the township
treasurer and filed with that treasurer. The designation by the
taxpayer shall remain in effect until revoked by the taxpayer in a
writing filed with the township treasurer. The form made available
by the township treasurer shall include a statement that submission
of the form allows the treasurer to mail the tax statement to the
designated agent instead of to the taxpayer and a statement
notifying the taxpayer of his or her right to revoke the
designation by a writing filed with the township treasurer.
(b) "Qualified real property" means buildings and improvements
located upon leased real property that are assessed as real
property under section 2(1)(c), except buildings and improvements
exempt under section 9f, if the value of the buildings or
improvements is not otherwise included in the assessment of the
real property.
(c) "Taxpayer" means the owner of the property on which the
tax is imposed.
(d) When describing in subsection (1) that the amount of tax
on the property must be shown in the tax statement, "amount of tax"
means an itemization by dollar amount of each of the several ad
valorem property taxes and special assessments that a person may
pay under section 53 and an itemization by millage rate, on either
the tax statement or a separate form accompanying the tax
statement, of each of the several ad valorem property taxes that a
person may pay under section 53. The township treasurer or other
collector may replace the itemization described in this subdivision
with a statement informing the taxpayer that the itemization of the
dollar amount and millage rate of the taxes is available without
charge from the local property tax collecting unit.
