Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title IX Chapter 60
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 60, § 16 (2026)

Demand for payment of tax prior to sale of land or distraining of goods; statement of amount

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 16. The collector shall, before selling the land of a resident or non-resident or distraining the goods of any person, serve on the person a statement of the amount thereof with a demand for its payment. If 2 or more parcels of land are assessed in the name of a resident, or non-resident, the statement of the aggregate amount of the taxes thereon may be made in 1 demand. Such demand may also include taxes due on account of tangible personal property and any motor vehicle excise tax. If the heirs of a deceased person, co-partners or 2 or more persons are jointly assessed, service shall be required for only 1 of the persons. Such demand for the tax upon land may be made upon the person occupying the same on January first of the year in which the tax is assessed. No demand shall be required to be made on a mortgagee, unless the mortgagee has given notice under section 38, in which case no demand shall be required to be made on the owner or occupant. Demand shall be made by the collector by mailing the same to the taxpayer at taxpayer's last known residence and usual place of abode or place of business or to the address best known by the collector; provided, however, that failure to receive the demand notice shall not invalidate a tax or any proceedings for the enforcement or collection of the same; provided further, that if the land is Class one, residential property, as defined in section 2A of chapter 59, the demand shall include a uniform notice prepared by the department of revenue, in language understandable by a least sophisticated consumer, together with a notice in the 7 most commonly spoken languages in the commonwealth that this notice affects important legal rights and should be translated immediately, and providing clear notice that the nonpayment of property taxes can result in the taking of the property and that the property owner may be eligible for exemptions, abatements and tax deferrals and other assistance and should contact the local assessor's office, together with the address, telephone number, email address, if available, and internet address for further information.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases, 1939–2010 · leading case: Bartevian v. Cullen, 343 N.E.2d 851 (Mass. 1976).
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Bartevian v. Cullen, 343 N.E.2d 851 (Mass. 1976). · cites it 4× “The plaintiff argues that the collector failed to comply with the requirement of G. L. c. 60, § 16, that a demand for payment of taxes must be sent “by mailing the same to the last or usual place of business or abode, or to the address best known to.”
Johnson v. McMahon, 182 N.E.2d 507 (Mass. 1962). · cites it 5× “On November 29, 1955, the tax collector of Bourne pursuant to G. L. c. 60, § 16, mailed a demand for the payment of the taxes.”
Pass v. Town of Seekonk, 351 N.E.2d 219 (Mass. App. Ct. 1976). · cites it 3× “That deed recites the assessment of the 1931 real estate taxes applicable to the locus to “Joseph McCormick Estate as owner or occupant,” 2 a demand for the unpaid taxes (and certain other assessments) made by the collector on “said Joseph McCormick Estate” on November 19, 1932…”
City of Worcester v. AME Realty Corp., 928 N.E.2d 656 (Mass. App. Ct. 2010). “60, §§ 16 and 43; and (b) that the city and the Land Court failed to furnish Venetis, as a recorded mortgagee, notice of the tax title foreclosure proceedings and so deprived him of procedural and (impliedly) substantive due process.”
Hilde v. Dixon, 453 N.E.2d 1232 (Mass. App. Ct. 1983). · cites it 2× “A demand for the taxes (in accordance with G. L. c. 60, § 16) mailed October 2, 1934, was similarly addressed to Marks F.”
City of Boston v. Lynch, 23 N.E.2d 466 (Mass. 1939). “G. L. c. 60, §§ 16, 45. Conners v. Lowell, 209 Mass.”
Lamontagne v. Knightly, 572 N.E.2d 1375 (Mass. App. Ct. 1991). “G. L. c. 60, § 16 (as then and now in effect), provided, in pertinent part, that “[i]f the heirs of a deceased person, co-partners or two or more persons are jointly assessed, service need be made on only one of them.”
Vee Jay Realty Trust Co. v. DiCroce, 277 N.E.2d 690 (Mass. 1972). “” G. L. c. 60, § 16, as appearing in St. 1933, c.”
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