§ 2-201. Payment of taxes under protest.
(a)
Duty of taxpayer. Whenever any payment under protest is offered for general property taxes, special taxes or license taxes, before such taxes are delinquent, the city treasurer shall accept such payment only when the tender of payment is for the full amount of the taxes billed and is accompanied by a written statement from the taxpayer setting forth his protest, his grounds for the protest, a declaration as to the portion of the total payment being protested, supported by the assessment and tax rate factors involved, and a statement as to the nature of the proceedings he intends to institute or has instituted to resolve the question in issue.
(b)
Duty of treasurer. Upon receipt of a properly submitted payment under protest, the city treasurer shall issue to the taxpayer a qualified receipt acknowledging the payment and protest and shall also make appropriate entries on the tax books indicating payment of the tax bill involved. By appropriate means, except for license taxes which are paid under protest, the city treasurer shall cause the proceeds of such tax collections to be divided in two parts: that part not protested and that part protested. The unprotested portion of the payment shall be distributed to the proper tax revenue accounts, and in the case of license taxes paid under protest the entire amount of the taxes paid under protest shall be distributed to the proper tax revenue accounts. The protested portion of any payment, except in the case of license taxes, shall be placed in a special trust fund, in accordance with section 2-202, for retention pending final determination of the issue prompting the protest.
(c)
Refunds. Upon final determination of the issue involved, the protesting taxpayer may request refund of all or any part of the protested portion of the original tax payment, and the payment may be refunded without interest to the taxpayer without appropriation by the city council. If, by the final determination of the issue, no refund or partial refund is due the taxpayer, then the commissioner of accounts will distribute the amount remaining in the special trust fund after refund, if any, to the proper tax revenue accounts. The director of finance shall report to the city council each month the number of such refunds made, the amounts involved and the identity of the taxpayer.
(d)
Review of payments. On the first day of the last month of each fiscal year, the commissioner of accounts shall review all such tax payments held in special trust and release for distribution into appropriate revenue accounts all those items upon which the taxpayer has failed to institute the intended proceedings; and if the taxpayer, within four months after payment, has failed to institute administrative or legal proceedings to determine the validity of the tax or thereafter has failed to prosecute diligently to conclusion his administrative and legal remedies, or if the taxpayer has failed by such date to notify the city treasurer of the status of such proceedings, no refund shall be made.
(Admin. Code 1967, § A5.25; Ord. No. 36717, 4-18-69)