Tax lien on personal property

1. Lien. The legal assessment of taxes upon personal property as defined in section 601 against a particular taxpayer creates and constitutes a lien upon all of the property assessed to secure payment of the resulting taxes, provided that the inventory and valuation upon which the assessment is made contains a description of the personal property taxed that meets the requirements of Title 11, section 9-1504 . Except as otherwise provided in this section, the lien takes precedence over all other claims on the personal property and continues in force until the taxes are paid or until the lien is otherwise terminated by law. 2. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the terms used in this section have the same meanings as in Title 11 . 3. Perfection of lien. The lien established by subsection 1 attaches on the date of assessment and must be perfected as against all lien creditors, as defined in Title 11, section 9-1102, subsection (52) , without the necessity of further action by the municipality or any other party. The lien becomes perfected as against parties other than lien creditors at the time when a notice of the lien is communicated, pursuant to the provisions of Title 11, section 9-1516 , to the office identified in Title 11, section 9-1501, subsection (1), paragraph (b) . Any filing is ineffective to perfect a lien as against parties that are not lien creditors to the extent that the filing covers taxes upon property whose status for those taxes was fixed pursuant to section 502 or 611 more than 2 years prior to the filing date. The lien does not have priority against any interest as to which it is unperfected during the period in which it is not so perfected. If the lien is perfected as to some interests in the property subject to the tax, but not as to other interests, and the interests as to which it is perfected are superior in priority to the interests against which the lien is unperfected, then the lien has priority over the interests against which it has not been perfected to the extent of the superior interests against which it has been perfected. 4. Notice of lien. Each notice of lien, which may be in the form of a financing statement, must: 5. Effective period of lien; limitation period. Perfection of any lien by the filing of a notice of lien is effective for a period of 5 years from the date of filing, unless discharged as provided in this section or unless a continuation statement is filed prior to the lapse. A continuation statement may be filed on behalf of the municipality within 6 months prior to the expiration of the 5-year period provided in this section in the same manner and to the same effect as provided in Title 11, section 9-1515 . 6. Rights and remedies of municipality and taxpayer. A municipality that has filed a notice of tax lien has the rights and remedies of a secured party, the taxpayer and the owner of the property against whom the lien has been filed have the rights and remedies of a debtor, all parties to whom the municipality is required to provide a copy of the lien notice pursuant to subsection 4 have the rights and remedies of a junior secured party and all lien creditors have the rights of lien creditors, as provided for in Title 11, Article 9-A, Part 6 , except that: 7. Personal property liens; discharge. If any lien created under this section is discharged, then a certificate of discharge must promptly be filed by the tax collector of the municipality which originally filed the notice of lien, or by that tax collector's successor, in the same manner as termination statements are filed under Title 11, section 9-1513 . The municipal officer who has filed the notice of lien shall file a notice of discharge of the lien in the manner provided in this section, if: 8. Consumer goods. In the case of consumer goods, a buyer in the ordinary course of business takes free of the lien created by this section, even though the lien is perfected and even though the buyer knows of its existence. 9. Liens subordinate to security interests. The lien authorized by subsection 1 is subordinated to security interests that were perfected before September 23, 1983 and that have remained perfected thereafter, except to the extent that such perfected security interests would be subordinate to the rights of the municipality if the municipality were considered, whether or not such is actually the case, to be a lien creditor under Title 11, section 9-1323 by virtue of its rights pursuant to the lien authorized by subsection 1 . 10. Collection procedure. The collection procedure authorized by this section is optional and does not affect in any way alternate collection procedures authorized by law. 11. Limitation of this section. The lien authorized by this section applies to taxes assessed on or after April 1, 1984. The procedures of this section as amended effective July 1, 2001 or October 1, 2003 apply only to liens authorized in this section that are perfected by a filing made on or after July 1, 2001, or for which a continuation statement is filed on or after that date. 12. Location of filing. A tax lien filed on or after July 1, 2001 with the office identified in Title 11, section 9-1501, subsection (1), paragraph (b) is not invalid or otherwise ineffectual by reason of filing with that office. 13. Application of state law. The law of this State governs the following without recourse to this State's choice of law provisions, including those provisions found in Title 11, sections 9-1301 to 9-1307 :