Tennessee § 67-4-110 - Action by commissioner against business in violation.

§ 67-4-110. Action by commissioner against business in violation.

The commissioner is authorized, and it is the commissioner's duty, to issue a distress warrant for the collection of the tax, interest and penalty due from each taxpayer who is delinquent in payment of privilege taxes, collectible by the commissioner. Distress warrants may be addressed and delivered to the sheriff of the county in which such delinquent taxpayer has an office or principal place of business, or to the sheriff of any county in which the commissioner has reason to believe property of such delinquent taxpayer may be found. The sheriff into whose hands such warrant may come, or the sheriff's deputy, may execute the warrant by distraint and sale of personal property belonging to such delinquent taxpayer, and the proceedings in respect to the warrant shall be the same as are provided by law for proceedings under an execution at law from a court of record; and the executing officer shall be entitled to the same fees, commissions, and necessary expenses of removing and keeping property distrained as in case of an execution from a court of record. If the officer cannot find personal property to satisfy the distress warrant, the officer may levy the warrant upon any real estate in the officer's county belonging to such delinquent taxpayer; and if levied on land, the distress warrant, together with the officer's return on the distress warrant, shall be returned to the circuit court of the county in which the land lies, and the land shall be condemned and sold under the orders of the circuit court in the same manner as in case of the levy on land of an execution issued by a general sessions court. The remedy or procedure prescribed in subsections (a)-(c) is cumulative to any other remedies or procedures now prescribed with reference to any particular privilege tax or taxes. No other remedy prescribed by any particular taxing statute shall be held to be exclusive or to prevent the commissioner from proceeding with the collection of the privilege tax under subsections (a)-(c). Distress warrants issued under subsection (a) for the collection of state taxes, interest or penalty due from a taxpayer may, in the discretion of the commissioner, be addressed to and delivered to an employee or representative of the department for purposes of execution, who shall first make the same amount and kind of bond now required of deputy sheriffs, and such employee or representative shall have the same powers and authority as a sheriff under chapter 1, part 12 of this title and subsections (b)-(d) for purposes of levying and executing such distress warrants. Such employee or representative shall be entitled to the same fees and costs as would accrue to a sheriff for such services, which fees and costs shall be paid to the department and deposited in the general fund of the state treasury. Acts 1937, ch. 200, §§ 1-4; C. Supp. 1950, §§ 1613.2-1613.5 (Williams, §§ 1613.7-1613.10); Acts 1955, ch. 317, § 1; impl. am. Acts 1959, ch. 9, § 14; impl. am. Acts 1979, ch. 68, § 3; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 67-5316 — 67-5319, 67-5321. Attorney General Opinions. Sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, constables, and the commissioner of revenue have the authority to serve and execute distress warrants for unpaid business taxes, OAG 02-053 (4/26/02).