Kansas Statutes Annotated

K.S.A. § 79-2109 (2026)

Sale of personalty before tax paid; liens; liability

✓ current as of May 2026

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79-2109. Sale of personalty before tax paid; liens; liability. (a) On and after January 1, 2015, if any owner of personal property sells or transfers such property to another after the date such property is assessed and before the tax thereon is paid, then the taxes on the personal property of such taxpayer which is being sold or transferred shall fall due immediately, and a lien shall attach to the property so sold or transferred. The lien shall be for an amount equal to the tax assessment for the year in which the sale or transfer is made and shall become due and payable immediately. The lien shall attach to the property and is not a personal debt of the purchaser or transferee. In no circumstance shall the purchaser or transferee be liable for any taxes owed by the seller or transferor prior to the year in which the sale or transfer occurred. Such lien shall be in preference to all other claims against such property. The county treasurer, after receiving knowledge of any such surrender or transfer, shall issue immediately a tax warrant for the collection thereof and the sheriff shall collect it as in other cases. The lien shall remain on the property and any person taking possession of the property does so subject to the lien. The one owing such tax shall be liable civilly to any person taking possession of such property for any taxes owing thereon, but the property shall be liable in the hands of the person taking possession thereof for such tax. If the property is sold in the ordinary course of retail trade it shall not be liable in the hands of the purchasers. No personal property which has been transferred in any manner after it has been assessed shall be liable for the tax in the hands of the transferee after the expiration of three years from the time such tax originally became due and payable.

(b) If, at the time of the sale, taxes on the personal property remain due and unpaid for any tax year or years prior to the year of the sale, then such unpaid taxes shall be a personal debt of the seller, subject to collection under K.S.A. 79-2017 or 79-2101, and amendments thereto, as the case may be. The county treasurer of the county where such personal property taxes remain due and unpaid shall update the records of the county treasurer to show that the seller or transferor is delinquent and owes personal property taxes levied against the seller or transferor for such previous year or years for the purposes of vehicle registration under K.S.A. 8-173, and amendments thereto.

History: L. 1943, ch. 301, § 5; L. 2014, ch. 81, § 5; July 1.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases, 1981–1997 · leading case: High Plains Oil, Ltd. v. High Plains Drilling Prog.-1981, Ltd., 946 P.2d 1382 (Kan. 1997).

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High Plains Oil, Ltd. v. High Plains Drilling Prog.-1981, Ltd., 946 P.2d 1382 (Kan. 1997). · cites it 18× “National City Bank is not an owner under the law, but is merely a lienholder; therefore K.S.A. 79-2109 and K.S.A. 79-2110 are operative and Ness County has a priority status for its personal property tax lien.”

Palmer v. First Nat'l Bank of Kingman, 692 P.2d 386 (Kan. Ct. App. 1984). · cites it 7× “79-2109, 79-2110, nor 79-2111 entitle Palmer and McCoy to reimbursement of the delinquent property taxes paid for 1980 and 1981. The trial court did not rule on the applicability of K.”

Robbins-Leavenworth Floor Covering, Inc. v. Leavenworth Nat'l Bank & Trust Co., 625 P.2d 494 (Kan. 1981). · cites it 4× “The question presented is whether K.S.A. 79-2109 or 79-2110 imposed a tax lien on the personal property which is the subject of this lawsuit.”

In Re White Hat Feed, Inc., 67 B.R. 851 (Bankr. D. Kan. 1986). · cites it 5× “The only issue remaining is the objection of the Marion County Board of County Commissioners, hereinafter referred to as “the Board”, and the responses in opposition to the Board’s objection, filed by Northwestern National Life, the First National Bank & Trust Company of El…”

Bd. of Cnty. Commissioners of Saline Cnty. v. Knights Athletic Goods, Inc. (In Re Knights Athletic Goods, Inc.), 98 B.R. 553 (D. Kan. 1989). · cites it 2× “The Kansas Supreme Court, in Robbins, first reviewed K.S.A. 79-2109 and 79-2110, two statutes existing at that time which created liens against the owner’s personal property for unpaid taxes, and determined that neither of these statutes applied to the facts before the court.”

Baer v. Bd. of Cnty. Commissioners (In Re Prairie Mining, Inc.), 194 B.R. 248 (Bankr. D. Kan. 1996). “See KS.A 79-2109, -2110, and -2111. The Court disagrees; § 362(a)(4) prohibits the imposition of such liens against property of the estate.”

High Plains Oil, Ltd. v. High Plains Drilling Prog.-1981, Ltd., 925 P.2d 846 (Kan. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 9× “60-1003, and statutes concerning the sale of personal property for taxes, specifically, K.S.A. 79-2109, K.S.A. 79-2110, and K.S.A.”

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