Sec. 12-420. Collection of taxes. Delinquent taxes. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 12-420. Collection of taxes. Delinquent taxes. The amount of any tax, penalty or interest due and unpaid under the provisions of this chapter may be collected under the provisions of section 12-35. The warrant therein provided for shall be signed by the commissioner or his authorized agent. The amount of any such tax, penalty and interest shall be a lien, from the last day of the month next preceding the due date of such tax until discharged by payment, against all real estate of the taxpayer within the state, and a certificate of such lien signed by the commissioner may be filed for record in the office of the clerk of any town in which such real estate is situated, provided no such lien shall be effective as against any bona fide purchaser or qualified encumbrancer of any interest in any such property. When any tax with respect to which a lien has been recorded under the provisions of this section has been satisfied, the commissioner, upon request of any interested party, shall issue a certificate discharging such lien, which certificate shall be recorded in the same office in which the lien was recorded. Any action for the foreclosure of such lien shall be brought by the Attorney General in the name of the state in the superior court for the judicial district in which the property subject to such lien is situated, or, if such property is located in two or more judicial districts, in the superior court for any one such judicial district, and the court may limit the time for redemption or order the sale of such property or pass such other further decree as it judges equitable.

      (1949 Rev., S. 2104; Dec. Sp. Sess. P.A. 75-1, S. 8, 12; P.A. 78-280, S. 2, 4, 127; P.A. 85-501, S. 5.)

      History: Dec. Sp. Sess. P.A. 75-1 deleted "quarterly" with reference to tax periods, effective January 1, 1976, and applicable to taxes imposed by chapter 219 on or after that date; P.A. 78-280 substituted "judicial district(s)" for "county(ies)"; P.A. 85-501 provided that lien shall be effective from the last day of the month next preceding the due date of the tax, rather than from filing day of a period for which the taxpayer is delinquent, and that such lien shall not be effective against a qualified encumbrancer as defined in Sec. 12-35b, deleting reference to purchasers or encumbrancers to whom property is transferred between last day of period and date of recording lien.

      The statute operates as an automatic lien whether or not state has fulfilled filing requirements. 183 C. 117.

      Cited. 5 Conn. Cir. Ct. 403.