A. Any person in possession of or obligated with respect to property or rights to property subject to levy upon which a levy has been made shall surrender the property or rights, or discharge such obligation, to the secretary or the secretary's delegate, except that part of the property or right as is, at the time of such demand, the subject of a bona fide attachment, execution, levy or other similar process, unless the person is entitled to and does redeem it according to the provisions of Section 7-1-47 NMSA 1978.

B. Upon demand of the secretary or the secretary's delegate, any employer owing a taxpayer wages or salary subject to levy upon which a levy has been made shall surrender to the secretary or the secretary's delegate each subsequent pay period that portion of the taxpayer's wages or salary not exempted under Section 7-1-36 NMSA 1978 and not subject to a prior bona fide attachment, execution, levy, garnishment or similar process, until the amount of the levy is satisfied in full or until notified by the secretary or the secretary's delegate. The secretary or secretary's delegate shall notify the employer promptly when the levy has been satisfied.

C. Any person who wrongfully fails or refuses to surrender or redeem, as required by this section, any property or rights to property levied upon, upon demand by the secretary or the secretary's delegate, is liable for a civil penalty in an amount equal to the lesser of the value of the property or rights not so surrendered or the amount of the taxes for the collection of which such levy has been made.

D. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the surrender by a person in possession of or obligated with respect to property, rights to property or proceeds from the sale or other disposition of property subject to levy upon which a levy has been made by the secretary or the secretary's delegate of such property or rights to property, discharges such obligation to the department. A surrender by a person shall be a defense against the assertion of any obligation or liability to the delinquent taxpayer or any other person with respect to such property or rights to property arising from a surrender or payment.

E. The term "person", as used in this section, includes an officer or employee of a corporation or a member or employee of a partnership, who, as such officer, employee or member, is under a duty to surrender the property or rights to property or to discharge the obligation.

History: 1953 Comp., § 72-13-48, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 248, § 36; 1979, ch. 144, § 31; 1986, ch. 20, § 20; 1993, ch. 242, § 4.

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, deleted "upon demand of the secretary or the secretary's delegate" preceding "surrender the property" in Subsection A; added current Subsections B and D; redesignated former Subsections B and C as Subsections C and E; substituted "is liable for a civil penalty in an amount equal to the lesser of" for "shall be liable in his own person and estate to the state of New Mexico in a sum equal to", substituted "or the amount" for "but not exceeding the amount" and deleted "together with costs and interests on such sum at the rate specified in Section 7-1-67 NMSA 1978 from the date of such levy" at the end, in Subsection C; and deleted "Subsections A and B of" preceding "this section" in Subsection E.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 85 C.J.S. Taxation §§ 1033 to 1040.