Section 40-5-34 Assessment and Collection of Escaped Taxes.

(a) It is the duty of the tax collecting official, when engaged in the collection of taxes for any year, upon discovering that any person or property within the county has not been assessed with any taxes lawfully chargeable to the person or property for that year, or any preceding year, not more than five years before the time of discovery, to notify the tax assessing official that certain property has escaped taxation. (b) The tax assessing official shall prepare an assessment up to five prior years at the time of discovery with an assessment to the person with ownership of the property. The assessment shall be made with other like property and shall charge a 10 percent penalty on the total assessed value, plus one five dollar ($5) fee. The tax assessing official shall notify the tax collecting official in writing of the total amount of taxes, fees, and costs to be collected. The tax assessing official shall enter the same in the tax collecting official’s abstract, provided the escape exists prior to final settlement for the tax collecting official. If the escape occurs after final settlement, the tax collecting official shall make a report to the state and disburse the proceeds to each agency, withholding the commission at the rate that was applicable prior to final settlement.