O.C.G.A. § 48-2-61 (2019)
Effect of actions taken to avoid payment of taxes; liability
(a) All deeds of gift, mortgages, sales, transfers of titles to motor vehicles, and assignments of property of any kind made to avoid payment of taxes and all judgments procured for the purpose of avoiding payment of taxes shall be null and void.
(b) The person holding such property or the person to whom such conveyance has been made and the property also, wherever found and no matter in whose possession it may be, shall be liable for taxes.
History
Laws 1804, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 1050; Code 1863, §§ 743, 744; Code 1868, §§ 810, 811; Code 1873, §§ 813, 814; Code 1882, §§ 813, 814; Civil Code 1895,
§§ 885, 886; Civil Code 1910, §§ 1142, 1143; Code 1933, §§ 92-5710, 92-5711; Code 1933, § 91A-261, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1997, p. 419, § 33.
Annotations
Law reviews. For article commenting on the 1997
amendment of this Code section, see 14 Georgia St. U.L. Rev. 215 (1997).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Effect as between parties to contract voided hereunder. - Statute condemns transactions of the character mentioned, which transactions are made to avoid payment of taxes and are asserted to prevent collection of taxes, but does not void such contracts as between individual parties thereto. Smith v. Johnson, 187 Ga. 584, 1 S.E.2d 650, 1939 Ga. LEXIS 751 (1939). Execution valid against land even if issued against one who is no longer owner. - An execution issued by the tax
collector for the unpaid taxes against the land, which has not been returned by any one, describing it as the property of the persons who last returned it, is valid against the land, although such persons may no longer be the owners of the land, and may not have owned the land at the time the law fixes the liability for taxes. Stokes v. State, 46 Ga. 412, 1872 Ga. LEXIS 80 (1872).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Effect on tax lien of transfer to bona fide purchaser for value. - Ad valorem tax lien attaches to property, and a mobile home is no exception; the lien follows the property even into the hands of a bona fide purchaser for value. Attempted transfer of a mobile home to evade the tax is void. 1970 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U70-208.
Mere fact that property is transferred to another who resides beyond tax jurisdiction on tax day will not be effective when the transfer is made to defeat collection of taxes. 1967 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 67-24.
RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 71 Am. Jur. 2d, State and Local Taxation, § 6. ALR. Taking mortgage in name of, or assigning it to, third person to evade taxation, as affecting its validity and enforceability, 21 A.L.R. 396. Constitutionality, construction, application and effect of specific provisions of state corporate income tax law in respect to tax evasion, 92 A.L.R. 1073. Assignment of right to future earnings, commissions, or benefits as affecting in-
come tax of assignor, 131 A.L.R. 661; 151 A.L.R. 1401. Validity, construction, and effect of a provision of a trust instrument or will which attempts to withdraw property or interest otherwise passing thereunder, in event that it be held subject to tax, 154 A.L.R. 1222. Construction, application, and effect, with respect to withholding, social security, and unemployment compensation taxes, of statutes imposing penalties for tax evasion or default, 22 A.L.R.3d 8.