§ 105-360.  Due date; interest for nonpayment of taxes; discounts for prepayment; interest on overpayment of tax.

(a)        Taxes levied under this Subchapter by a taxing unit are due and payable on September 1 of the fiscal year for which the taxes are levied. Taxes are payable at par or face amount if paid before January 6 following the due date. Taxes paid on or after January 6 following the due date are subject to interest charges. Interest accrues on taxes paid on or after January 6 as follows:

(1)        For the period January 6 to February 1, interest accrues at the rate of two percent (2%).

(2)        For the period February 1 until the principal amount of the taxes, the accrued interest, and any penalties are paid, interest accrues at the rate of three-fourths of one percent (3/4%) a month or fraction thereof.

§ 105-366.  Remedies against personal property.

(a)        Authority to Proceed against Personal Property; Relation between Remedies against Personal Property and Remedies against Real Property. - All tax collectors shall have authority to proceed against personal property to enforce the collection of taxes as provided in this section and in G.S. 105-367 and 105-368. Any tax collector may, in his discretion, proceed first against personal property before employing the remedies for enforcing the lien for taxes against real property, and he shall proceed first against personal property:

(1)        When directed to do so by the governing body of the taxing unit; or

(2)        When requested to do so by the taxpayer or by a mortgagee or other person holding a lien upon the real property subject to the lien for taxes if the person making the request furnishes the tax collector with a written statement describing the personal property to be proceeded against and giving its location.

No foreclosure of a tax lien on real property may be attacked as invalid on the ground that payment of the tax should have been procured from personal property.

(b)        Remedies after Taxes Are Delinquent. - At any time after taxes are delinquent and before the filing of a tax foreclosure complaint under G.S. 105-374 or the docketing of a judgment for taxes under G.S. 105-375, and subject to the provisions of G.S. 105-356 governing the priority of liens, the tax collector may levy upon and sell or attach the following property for failure to pay taxes:

(1)        Any personal property owned by the taxpayer, regardless of the time at which it was acquired and regardless of the existence or date of creation of mortgages or other liens thereon.

(2)        Any personal property transferred by the taxpayer to a relative (which shall mean any parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew, or their spouses, of the taxpayer or his spouse).

(3)        Personal property in the hands of a receiver for the taxpayer. (It shall not be necessary for the tax collector to apply for an order of the court directing payment or authorizing the levy or attachment, but he may proceed as though the property were not in the hands of the receiver, and the tax collector's filing of a claim in a receivership proceeding shall not preclude him from proceeding to levy under G.S. 105-367 or to attach under G.S. 105-368.)

(4)        Personal property of a deceased taxpayer if the levy or attachment is made before final settlement of the estate.

(5)        The stock of goods or fixtures of a wholesale merchant or retailer, as defined in G.S. 105-164.3, in the hands of a purchaser or transferee thereof, or any other personal property of the purchaser or transferee of the property, if the taxes on the goods or fixtures remain unpaid 30 days after the date of the sale or transfer. In the case of other personal property of the purchaser or transferee, the levy or attachment must be made within six months of the sale or transfer.

(6)        Personal property of the taxpayer that has been repossessed by one having a security interest therein so long as the property remains in the hands of the person who has repossessed it or the person to whom it has been transferred other than by bona fide sale for value.

(7)        Personal property due the taxpayer or to become due to him within the calendar year.

(8)        Personal property of a partner in satisfaction of taxes on partnership property, but only after the tax collector:

a.         Has sold the taxing unit's lien for taxes against the partnership real property, if any; and

b.         Exhausted the partnership's personal property through the use of levy and attachment and garnishment; and

c.         Exercised the authority granted him by G.S. 105-364 in an effort to collect the tax due on the partnership's property.

(9)        Personal property transferred by the taxpayer by any type of transfer other than those mentioned in this subsection (b) and other than by bona fide sale for value if the levy or attachment is made within six months of the transfer.