Read 1st time February 23, 2000, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
ANNE C. WALKER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 140.160, RSMo 1994, and section 140.110, RSMo Supp. 1999, relating to delinquent real estate taxes, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Section 140.160, RSMo 1994, and section 140.110, RSMo Supp. 1999, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 140.110 and 140.160, to read as follows:
140.110. 1. The collectors of the respective counties shall collect the taxes contained in the back tax book. Any person interested in or the owner of any tract of land or lot contained in the back tax book may redeem the tract of land or town lot, or any part thereof, from the state's lien thereon, by paying to the proper collector the amount of the original taxes, as charged against the tract of land or town lot described in the back tax book together with interest from the day upon which the tax first became delinquent at the rate specified in section 140.100.
2. Any payment for personal [or real] property taxes received by the county collector shall first be applied to any back delinquent personal taxes [and to each individual parcel of real estate] on the back tax book before a county collector accepts any payment for all or any part of [real or] personal property taxes due and assessed on the current tax book.
3. Any payment for real property taxes received by the county collector may first be applied to delinquent taxes on the same individual parcel of real estate on the back tax book before a county collector accepts payment for real property taxes due and assessed on the current book.
4. Subsection 3 of this section shall not apply to payment for real property taxes by financial institutions as defined in section 381.410, RSMo, which pay tax obligations they service from escrow account as defined in Title 24, Part 3500, Section 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
140.160. 1. No proceedings for the sale of land and lots for delinquent taxes [under the provisions of] pursuant to this chapter, relating to the collection of delinquent and back taxes and providing for foreclosure sale and redemption of land and lots therefor, shall be valid unless initial proceedings therefor shall be commenced within three years after delinquency of such taxes, and any sale held pursuant to initial proceedings commenced within such period of three years shall be deemed to have been in compliance with the provisions of said law insofar as the time at which such sales are to be had is specified therein; provided further, that in suits or actions to collect delinquent drainage and/or levee assessments on real estate such suits or actions shall be commenced within three years after delinquency, otherwise no suit or action therefor shall be commenced, had or maintained, except that the three-year limitation described in this subsection shall not be applicable if any written instrument conveys any real estate having a tax-exempt status, if such instrument causes such real estate to again become taxable real property and if such instrument has not been recorded in the office of the recorder in the county in which the real estate has been situated. Such three-year limitation shall only be applicable once the recording of the title has occurred.
2. In order to enable county and city collectors to be able to collect delinquent and back taxes, the county auditor in all
counties having a county auditor shall annually audit and list all delinquent and back taxes and provide a copy of such
audit and list to the county collector and to the governing body of the county. A copy of the audit and list may be
provided to city collectors within the county at the discretion of the county collector.
Missouri House of Representatives