57-40.3-07.1. Lien for failure to pay tax

57-40.3-07.1. Lien for failure to pay tax 1. Whenever any taxpayer liable to pay a tax or penalty imposed refuses or neglects to pay it, the amount, including any interest, penalty, or addition to such tax, together with the costs that may accrue, is a lien in favor of the state upon all property and rights to property, whether real or personal, belonging to the taxpayer. In the case of property in which a deceased taxpayer held an interest as joint tenant or otherwise with right of survivorship at the time of death, the lien continues as a lien against the property of the survivor or survivors to the extent of the deceased taxpayer's interest therein, which interest must be determined by dividing the value of the entire property at the time of the taxpayer's death by the number of joint tenants or persons interested therein. The lien attaches at the time the tax becomes due and payable and continues until the liability for such amount is satisfied. 2. Any mortgagee, purchaser, judgment creditor, or lien claimant acquiring any interest in, or lien on, any property situated in the state, prior to the commissioner filing in the central indexing system maintained by the secretary of state, a notice of the lien provided for in this section, takes free of, or has priority over, the lien. 3. The commissioner shall index in the central indexing system the following data: a. The name of the taxpayer. b. The name "State of North Dakota" as claimant. c. The date and time the notice of lien was indexed. d. The amount of the lien. e. The internal revenue service taxpayer identification number or social security number of the taxpayer. The notice of lien is effective as of eight a.m. next following the indexing of the notice. Any notice of lien filed by the commissioner may be indexed in the central indexing system without changing its original priority as to property in the county where the lien was filed. The commissioner is exempt from the payment of fees otherwise provided by law for the indexing or the satisfaction of the lien. 4. Upon payment of the tax relative to which the commissioner has indexed notice in the central indexing system, the commissioner shall index a satisfaction of the lien in the central indexing system. 5. The attorney general, upon the request of the tax commissioner, shall bring an action at law or in equity without bond to enforce payment of any taxes and any penalties, or to foreclose the lien in the manner provided for mortgages on real or personal property, and in such action shall have the assistance of the state's attorney of the county in which the action is pending. The foregoing remedies of the state are cumulative and no action taken by the tax commissioner or attorney general may be construed to be an election on the part of the state or any of its officers to pursue any remedy hereunder to the exclusion of any other remedy provided by law.