Georgia Code
Article 2 - Administration
§ 48-2-56. Liens for Taxes; Priority

where the rights of such mortgagee, holder, or transferee of a deed to secure debt, pledgee, judgment creditor, or purchaser have attached prior to the time the lien has been filed by the commissioner in the office of the clerk of superior court of the county in which the principal place of business is located.
Before the lien provided for in this subsection shall attach to real property, an execution shall be filed with the clerk of superior court in the county where the real property is located.
Before the lien provided for in this subsection shall attach to real property, an execution shall be filed with the clerk of superior court in the county where the real property is located.
The term includes, but is not limited to, sales and use taxes, corporate net worth taxes, estate taxes, real estate transfer taxes, taxes on financial institutions, alcohol and tobacco taxes, road taxes on motor carriers, excise taxes, license fees, tax liabilities of corporate officers and business successors, and tax collections of a person who is a dealer under Chapter 8 of this title relating to sales and use taxation.
History. Ga. L. 1873, p. 42, § 2; Code 1873, § 1973; Code 1882, § 1973; Civil Code 1895, § 2791; Civil Code 1910, § 3333; Code 1933, § 92-5708; Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 42; Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 156, § 10; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 168, §§ 2, 3; Ga. L. 1968, p. 360, § 15; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1778, § 1; Code 1933, § 91A-252, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1979, p. 5, § 13; Ga. L. 1983, p. 1834, § 4; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 48; Ga. L. 1988, p. 13, § 48; Ga. L. 1993, p. 768, § 1; Ga. L. 2017, p. 723, § 2/HB 337; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1, § 1/HB 661.
The 2017 amendment, effective January 1, 2018, in the ending undesignated paragraph of subsection (c), in the middle, deleted “notice of” preceding “the lien has been filed”, inserted “clerk of”, and deleted “or in the county where property of the person liable for payment of the motor fuel tax is located” following “is located” at the end; rewrote subsections (e), (f), and (g); and added subsection (i).
The 2018 amendment, effective February 20, 2018, deleted “within the state” following “property of the taxpayer” in paragraph (e)(1); substituted the present provisions of paragraph (e)(2) for the former provisions, which read: “Not attach to the interest of a prior bona fide purchaser where a certificate of clearance is required and has been obtained or where a certificate of clearance is not required pursuant to Code Section 44-1-18, nor be superior to the lien of a prior recorded instrument securing a bona fide debt.”; added the undesignated paragraph in subsection (e); deleted “attach to the interest of a prior bona fide purchaser where a certificate of clearance is required and has been obtained or where a certificate of clearance is not required pursuant to Code Section 44-1-18, nor” following “Not” in paragraph (f)(2); in paragraph (f)(3), deleted “where a certificate of clearance is required and has been obtained or where a certificate of clearance is not required pursuant to Code Section 44-1-18,” following “bona fide purchaser” in the first sentence; and added the undesignated paragraph in subsection (f).
Cross references.
Registration of federal tax liens, § 44-14-570 et seq.
Priority of claims against decedents’ estates, § 53-7-40.
Code Commission notes.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1987, a semicolon was deleted following “title” in paragraph (c)(2) and a comma was inserted following “subsection” in paragraph (g)(2).
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 2017, p. 723, § 1/HB 337, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘State Tax Execution Modernization Act.’ ”
Law reviews.
For comment on Brown v. Nash, 216 Ga. 303 , 116 S.E.2d 227 (1960), see 12 Mercer L. Rev. 425 (1961).
For article surveying recent legislative and judicial developments in Georgia’s real property laws, see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 187 (1979).
For annual survey of state and local tax law, see 35 Mercer L. Rev. 281 (1983).
For note on the 1993 amendment of this Code section, see 10 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 218 (1993).
For annual survey of real property law, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 395 (2004).
For annual survey on bankruptcy law, see 69 Mercer L. Rev. 1033 (2018).