§ 48-657. Combined tax or interest; default; lien; contracts for public works; requirements.

(1)(a) If any employer defaults in any payment of combined tax or interest, the commissioner may make in any manner feasible and cause to be filed as a secured transaction as provided in article 9, Uniform Commercial Code, and in the real estate mortgage records of any county in which such employer is engaged in business or owns real or personal property, a statement, under oath, showing the amount of combined tax and interest in default, which statement, when filed for record, shall operate as a lien and mortgage on all of the real and personal property of the employer, subject only to the liens of prior record, and the property of such employer shall be subject to seizure and sale for the payment of such combined taxes and interest. Such lien on personal property may be enforced or dissolved in the manner provided by article 9, Uniform Commercial Code, and such liens on real estate may be enforced or dissolved in the manner provided by Chapter 25, article 21, in the enforcing and dissolving of real estate mortgages. This subdivision shall only apply to liens filed prior to May 1, 1999. (b) A lien for unpaid combined taxes filed or recorded pursuant to subdivision (a) of this subsection shall lapse at the earlier of its expiration date or the fifth anniversary of the filing or recording date, unless the commissioner files a notice of continuation in the place of the original filing or recording and with the appropriate filing officer in the manner provided for in the Uniform State Tax Lien Registration and Enforcement Act before such lien lapses. A notice of continuation shall include all of the information required by the act, the date of the filing or recording of the original lien, and a statement that the original lien is to be continued for ten years. Thereafter, such lien shall be enforced and notices of continuation filed in accordance with the act. (c) On and after May 1, 1999, if any employer defaults in any payment of combined tax or interest, the commissioner may file a lien against such employer in accordance with the Uniform State Tax Lien Registration and Enforcement Act. Such liens shall set forth the amount of combined tax and interest in default and shall be continued and enforced as provided in the Uniform State Tax Lien Registration and Enforcement Act. (2) It shall be the duty of the State of Nebraska, or any department or agency thereof, county boards, the contracting board of all cities, villages, and school districts, all public boards empowered by law to enter into a contract by public bidding for the erecting and finishing or the repairing of any public building, bridge, highway, or other public structure or improvement, and any officer or officers so empowered by law to enter into such contract to provide in such contract that the person, persons, firm, or corporation to whom the contract is awarded will pay to the Unemployment Compensation Fund of the State of Nebraska, the Business Innovation Cash Fund, and the Workforce Development Program Cash Fund unemployment combined tax and interest due under the Employment Security Law on wages paid to individuals employed in the performance of such contract. (3) No contract referred to in subsection (2) of this section shall be entered into by the State of Nebraska, a department or agency thereof, an officer or officers, or a board referred to in such subsection unless the contract contains the proviso mentioned in such subsection. (4) Before final payment may be made on the final three percent of any such contract awarded on or after June 1, 1957, the State of Nebraska, department or agency thereof, officer or officers, or board awarding the contract must have received from the contractor a written clearance from the commissioner certifying that all payments then due of combined tax or interest which may have arisen under such contract have been made by the contractor or his or her subcontractor to the Unemployment Compensation Fund. (5) The final three percent of any such contract referred to in subsection (4) of this section may be paid if the contractor has supplied a bond with a satisfactory surety company guaranteeing full payment to the Unemployment Compensation Fund, the Business Innovation Cash Fund, and the Workforce Development Program Cash Fund of all combined tax and interest due under the Employment Security Law. History: Laws 1937, c. 108, § 14, p. 398; Laws 1939, c. 56, § 11, p. 250; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-713; R.S.1943, § 48-657; Laws 1957, c. 208, § 8, p. 735; Laws 1969, c. 404, § 1, p. 1401; Laws 1969, c. 405, § 1, p. 1403; Laws 1985, LB 339, § 39; Laws 1993, LB 604, § 1; Laws 1994, LB 1337, § 15; Laws 1999, LB 165, § 1; Laws 1999, LB 550, § 10; Laws 2001, LB 192, § 13; Laws 2025, LB265, § 15; Laws 2026, LB847, § 15.