Sec. 7. (a) When real property is sold under this chapter, the purchaser at the sale shall immediately pay the amount of the bid to the county treasurer. The county treasurer shall apply the payment in the following manner:

(1) First, to the taxes, special assessments, penalties, and costs described in section 5(e) of this chapter.

(2) Second, to other delinquent property taxes in the manner provided in IC 6-1.1-23-5(b).

(3) Third, to a separate "tax sale surplus fund".

(b) For any tract or item of real property for which a tax sale certificate is sold under this chapter, if taxes or special assessments, or both, become due on the tract or item of real property during the period of redemption specified under IC 6-1.1-25-4, the county treasurer may pay the taxes or special assessments, or both, on the tract or item of real property from the tax sale surplus held in the name of the taxpayer, if any, after the taxes or special assessments become due.

(c) The:

(1) owner of record of the real property at the time the real property was certified for sale under this chapter and before the issuance of a tax deed; or

(2) tax sale purchaser or purchaser's assignee, upon redemption of the tract or item of real property;

may file a verified claim for money which is deposited in the tax sale surplus fund. If the claim is approved by the county auditor and the county treasurer, the county auditor shall issue a warrant to the claimant for the amount due.

(d) If the person who claims money deposited in the tax sale surplus fund under subsection (c) is:

(1) a person who has a contract or agreement described under section 7.5 of this chapter with a person described in subsection (c)(1); or

(2) a person who acts as an executor, attorney-in-fact, or legal guardian of a person described in subsection (c)(1);

the county auditor may issue a warrant to the person only as directed by the court having jurisdiction over the tax sale of the parcel for which the surplus claim is made.

(e) A court may direct the issuance of a warrant only:

(1) on petition by the claimant;

(2) within three (3) years after the date of sale of the parcel in the tax sale; and

(3) in the case of a petitioner to whom subsection (d)(1) applies, if the petitioner has satisfied the requirements of section 7.5 of this chapter.

(f) Unless the redemption period specified under IC 6-1.1-25 has been extended under federal bankruptcy law, an amount deposited in the tax sale surplus fund shall be transferred by the county auditor to the county general fund and may not be disbursed under subsection (c) if it is not claimed within the three (3) year period after the date of its receipt.

(g) If an amount applied to taxes under this section is later paid out of the county general fund to the purchaser or the purchaser's successor due to the invalidity of the sale, all the taxes shall be reinstated and recharged to the tax duplicate and collected in the same manner as if the property had not been offered for sale.

(h) When a refund is made to any purchaser or purchaser's successor by reason of the invalidity of a sale, the county auditor shall, at the December settlement immediately following the refund, deduct the amount of the refund from the gross collections in the taxing district in which the land lies and shall pay that amount into the county general fund.

[Pre-1975 Property Tax Recodification Citation: 6-1-56-7.]

Formerly: Acts 1975, P.L.47, SEC.1. As amended by P.L.50-1990, SEC.11; P.L.88-1995, SEC.2; P.L.56-1996, SEC.5; P.L.139-2001, SEC.6; P.L.1-2003, SEC.28; P.L.97-2004, SEC.22; P.L.73-2010, SEC.3; P.L.56-2012, SEC.9; P.L.251-2015, SEC.16; P.L.187-2016, SEC.7; P.L.85-2017, SEC.17.