Second Regular Session of the 122nd General Assembly (2022)
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between statutes enacted by the 2021 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
SENATE ENROLLED ACT No. 357
AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning local government.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
SECTION 1. IC 6-1.1-5-4 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2022]: Sec. 4. (a) Except as
provided in section 9 of this chapter, the county auditor shall keep a
transfer book, arranged by townships, cities, and towns. In the transfer
book he the county auditor shall enter a description, for the purpose
of taxation, of land that is conveyed by deed or partition, the date of the
conveyance, the names of the parties, and the post office address of the
grantee.
(b) In addition, the county auditor shall endorse on the deed or
instrument of conveyance the words "duly entered for taxation subject
to final acceptance for transfer", "not taxable", "has already been listed
for taxation", or "duly entered for taxation". The deed or instrument
must include on its face the post office address of the grantee.
(c) After December 31, 2023, a county auditor may not refuse to
endorse a deed or instrument of conveyance because the deed or
instrument is an electronic document.
SECTION 2. IC 6-1.1-5.5-3, AS AMENDED BY P.L.159-2020,
SECTION 8, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
JULY 1, 2022]: Sec. 3. (a) For purposes of this section, "party"
includes:
(1) a seller of property that is exempt under the seller's ownership;
or
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(2) a purchaser of property that is exempt under the purchaser's
ownership;
from property taxes under IC 6-1.1-10.
(b) Subject to subsections (g) and (h), before filing a conveyance
document with the county auditor under IC 6-1.1-5-4, all the parties to
the conveyance must do the following:
(1) Complete and sign a sales disclosure form as prescribed by the
department of local government finance under section 5 of this
chapter. All the parties may sign one (1) form, or if all the parties
do not agree on the information to be included on the completed
form, each party may sign and file a separate form. For
conveyance transactions involving more than two (2) parties, one
(1) transferor and one (1) transferee signing the sales disclosure
form is sufficient.
(2) Before filing a sales disclosure form with the county auditor,
submit the sales disclosure form to the county assessor. The
county assessor must review the accuracy and completeness of
each sales disclosure form submitted immediately upon receipt of
the form and, if the form is accurate and complete, stamp or
otherwise approve the form as eligible for filing with the county
auditor and return the form to the appropriate party for filing with
the county auditor. If multiple forms are filed in a short period,
the county assessor shall process the forms as quickly as possible.
For purposes of this subdivision, a sales disclosure form is
considered to be accurate and complete if:
(A) the county assessor does not have substantial evidence
when the form is reviewed under this subdivision that
information in the form is inaccurate; and
(B) both of the following conditions are satisfied:
(i) The form contains the information required by section
5(a)(1) through 5(a)(16) of this chapter as that section
applies to the conveyance transaction, subject to the
obligation of a party to furnish or correct that information in
the manner required by and subject to the penalty provisions
of section 12 of this chapter. The form may not be rejected
for failure to contain information other than that required by
section 5(a)(1) through 5(a)(16) of this chapter.
(ii) The form is submitted to the county assessor in a format
usable to the county assessor.
(3) File the sales disclosure form with the county auditor.
(4) After December 31, 2023, a county assessor or county
auditor may not refuse to accept a sales disclosure form for
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filing because the sales disclosure form is an electronic
document.
(c) The auditor shall review each sales disclosure form and process
any deduction for which the form serves as an application under
IC 6-1.1-12-44. The auditor shall forward each sales disclosure form
to the county assessor. The county assessor shall verify the assessed
valuation of the property for the assessment date to which the
application applies and transmit that assessed valuation to the auditor.
The county assessor shall retain the forms for five (5) years. The county
assessor shall forward the sales disclosure form data to the department
of local government finance in an electronic format specified by the
department of local government finance on or before April 1 in a year
ending before January 1, 2016, and on or before February 1 in a year
beginning after December 31, 2015. The county assessor shall forward
a copy of the sales disclosure forms to the township assessors in the
county. The department of local government finance shall make sales
disclosure form data received from a county assessor available to the
legislative services agency. The forms may be used by the county
assessing officials, the department of local government finance, and the
legislative services agency for the purposes established in
IC 6-1.1-4-13.6, sales ratio studies, equalization, adoption of rules
under IC 6-1.1-31-3 and IC 6-1.1-31-6, and any other authorized
purpose.
(d) In a county containing a consolidated city, the auditor shall
review each sales disclosure form and process any deduction for which
the form serves as an application under IC 6-1.1-12-44. The auditor
shall forward the sales disclosure form to the appropriate township
assessor (if any). The township assessor shall verify the assessed
valuation of the property for the assessment date to which the
application applies and transmit that assessed valuation to the auditor.
The township or county assessor shall forward the sales disclosure form
to the department of local government finance in an electronic format
specified by the department of local government finance. The
department of local government finance shall make sales disclosure
form data received from a township or county assessor available to the
legislative services agency. The forms may be used by the county
assessing officials, the county auditor, the department of local
government finance, and the legislative services agency for the
purposes established in IC 6-1.1-4-13.6, sales ratio studies,
equalization, adoption of rules under IC 6-1.1-31-3 and IC 6-1.1-31-6,
and any other authorized purpose.
(e) If a sales disclosure form includes the telephone number or
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Social Security number of a party, the telephone number or Social
Security number is confidential.
(f) County assessing officials, county auditors, and other local
officials may not establish procedures or requirements concerning sales
disclosure forms that substantially differ from the procedures and
requirements of this chapter.
(g) Except as provided in subsection (h), a separate sales disclosure
form is required for each parcel conveyed, regardless of whether more
than one (1) parcel is conveyed under a single conveyance document.
(h) Only one (1) sales disclosure form is required for the
conveyance under a single conveyance document of two (2) or more
contiguous parcels located entirely within a single taxing district.
SECTION 3. IC 6-1.1-25-20, AS AMENDED BY P.L.247-2015,
SECTION 26, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
JULY 1, 2022]: Sec. 20. A county auditor who executes a tax deed
under this chapter shall provide a copy of the tax deed to the grantee.
The county auditor shall may collect from the grantee the appropriate
recording fee set forth in IC 36-2-7-10 on behalf of the county recorder
and submit the tax deed directly to the county recorder for recording.
The county recorder shall record the tax deed in the deed records and
provide the recorded tax deed to the grantee in the normal course of
business. If the recording fee has not been collected by the county
auditor, the county recorder shall collect the recording fee set forth
in IC 36-2-7-10 when the tax deed is recorded.
SECTION 4. IC 29-1-7-23, AS AMENDED BY P.L.56-2020,
SECTION 2, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
JULY 1, 2022]: Sec. 23. (a) When a person dies, the person's real and
personal property passes to persons to whom it is devised by the
person's last will or, in the absence of such disposition, to the persons
who succeed to the person's estate as the person's heirs; but it shall be
subject to the possession of the personal representative and to the
election of the surviving spouse and shall be chargeable with the
expenses of administering the estate, the payment of other claims and
the allowances under IC 29-1-4-1, except as otherwise provided in
IC 29-1.
(b) A person may sign and record an affidavit to establish prima
facie evidence of the passage of real estate title to distributees under
this section. An affidavit under this section may contain the following
information:
(1) The decedent's name and date of death.
(2) A statement of the affiant's relationship to the decedent.
(3) A description of how the following deeds or other instruments
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vested in the decedent an ownership or leasehold interest in real
property, with a cross-reference if applicable, under
IC 36-2-7-10(l) to each deed or other instrument:
(A) Deeds or other instruments recorded in the office of the
recorder where the real property is located.
(B) Deeds or other instruments that disclose a title transaction
(as defined in IC 32-20-2-7).
(4) The legal description of the conveyed real property as it
appears in instruments described in subdivision (3).
(5) The names of all distributees known to the affiant.
(6) An explanation of how each interest in the real property
passed upon the decedent's death to each distributee by:
(A) intestate succession under IC 29-1-2-1; or
(B) the decedent's last will and testament that has been
admitted to probate under section 13 of this chapter, with
references to:
(i) the name and location of the court that issued the order
admitting the will to probate; and
(ii) the date when the court admitted the decedent's will to
probate.
(7) An explanation of how any fractional interests in the real
property that may have passed to multiple distributees were
calculated and apportioned.
(c) Upon presentation of an affidavit described in subsection (b), the
auditor of the county where the real property described in the affidavit
is located must endorse the affidavit as an instrument that is exempt
from the requirements to file a sales disclosure form and must enter the
names of the distributees shown on the affidavit on the tax duplicate on
which the real property is transferred, assessed, and taxed under
IC 6-1.1-5-7. After December 31, 2023, an auditor may not refuse
to endorse an affidavit because the affidavit is an electronic
document.
(d) Upon presentation of an affidavit described in subsection (b), the
recorder of the county where the real property described in the affidavit
is located must:
(1) record the affidavit; and
(2) index the affidavit as the most recent instrument responsible
for the transfer of the real property described in subsection (b)(4).
(e) Any person may rely upon an affidavit recorded with the county
recorder:
(1) made in good faith; and
(2) under this section;
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as prima facie evidence of an effective transfer of the decedent's title
to the real property interest under subsection (a) to the distributee
described in the affidavit.
(f) If:
(1) at least seven (7) months have elapsed since the decedent's
death;
(2) the clerk of the court described in subsection (b)(6)(B) has not
issued letters testamentary or letters of administration to the court
appointed personal representative for the decedent within the time
limits specified under section 15.1(d) of this chapter; and
(3) the court described in subsection (b)(6)(B) has not issued
findings and an accompanying order preventing the limitations in
section 15.1(b) of this chapter from applying to the decedent's real
property;
any person may rely upon the affidavit described in subsection (e) as
evidence that the real property may not be sold by an executor or
administrator of the decedent's estate to pay a debt or obligation of the
decedent, which is not a lien of record in the county in which the real
property is located, or to pay any costs of administration of the
decedent's estate.
SECTION 5. IC 32-21-2.5-8, AS AMENDED BY P.L.185-2021,
SECTION 47, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
JULY 1, 2022]: Sec. 8. (a) As used in this section, "paper document"
or "paper documents" means a tangible record that is received by a
county recorder in a form that is not electronic.
(b) On or before July 1, 2022, a county recorder shall receive for
recording, indexing, storage, archiving, access to, searching of,
retrieval, and transmittal all electronic documents proper for recording.
A county recorder shall also accept electronically any fee or tax that the
county recorder is authorized to collect under applicable laws. A
county recorder shall implement the processing of electronic
documents proper for recording in compliance with:
(1) this article;
(2) IC 33-42;
(3) IC 36-2-7.5;
(4) IC 36-2-11; and
(5) IC 36-2-13; and
the standards adopted by the electronic recording commission created
under section 9 of this chapter.
(c) This section does not apply to the following documents:
(1) A military discharge under IC 10-17-2.
(2) A survey of real property.
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(3) A plat of real property.
(c) (d) A recorder who accepts electronic documents for recording
shall:
(1) continue to accept paper documents as authorized by state
law; and
(2) place entries for paper documents and electronic documents
in the same index.
(d) (e) A recorder who accepts electronic documents for recording
may:
(1) convert paper documents accepted for recording into
electronic form;
(2) convert into electronic form information recorded before the
county recorder began to accept and index electronic documents;
or
(3) agree with other officials of a state or a political subdivision
of a state, or of the United States, on procedures or processes to
facilitate the electronic satisfaction of prior approvals and
conditions precedent to recording and the electronic payment of
fees and taxes.
SECTION 6. IC 36-2-9-18, AS AMENDED BY P.L.257-2019,
SECTION 105, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS
[EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2022]: Sec. 18. (a) Before the auditor makes the
endorsement required by IC 36-2-11-14, the auditor may require that
a tax identification number identifying the affected real property be
placed on an instrument that conveys, creates, encumbers, assigns, or
otherwise disposes of an interest in or a lien on real property. The tax
identification number may be established by the auditor with the
approval of the state board of accounts. If the tax identification number
is affixed to the instrument or if a tax identification number is not
required, the auditor shall make the proper endorsement on demand.
(b) On request, a county auditor shall provide assistance in
obtaining the proper tax identification number for instruments subject
to this section.
(c) The tax administration number established by this section is for
use in administering statutes concerning taxation of real property and
is not competent evidence of the location or size of the real property
affected by the instrument.
(d) After December 31, 2023, a county auditor may not refuse
to endorse a deed or instrument required by IC 36-2-11-14 because
the deed or instrument is an electronic document.
(d) (e) The legislative body of a county shall adopt an ordinance
requiring the auditor to collect a fee in the amount of ten dollars ($10)
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for each:
(1) deed; or
(2) legal description of each parcel contained in the deed;
for which the auditor makes a real property endorsement. This fee is in
addition to any other fee provided by law. The auditor shall place the
revenue received under this subsection in a dedicated fund for use in
maintaining plat books, property tax records, in traditional or
electronic format.
SEA 357 — Concur President of the Senate
President Pro Tempore
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Governor of the State of Indiana
Date: Time:
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