2023 Delaware Code › Title 30 - State Taxes › Chapter 52. MOTOR CARRIERS FUEL PURCHASE LAW › § 5219. Manner of payment and recovery of penalties and interest; debt of motor carrier; lien; preference.

§ 5219. Manner of payment and recovery of penalties and interest; debt of motor carrier; lien; preference.
(a) All penalties and interest when imposed under this chapter shall be payable to and recoverable by the Secretary of Transportation in the same manner as if they were part of the tax imposed.
(b) The taxes, fees, interest and penalties imposed under this chapter from the time the same shall be due shall be a debt of a motor carrier which does not maintain premises for the transaction of business within Delaware, recoverable in the Superior Court of this State in an action in the name of the State. Such debt, whether sued upon or not, shall be a lien on all the property of the debtor, except as against an innocent purchaser for value without notice thereof, and shall have priority both in lien and distribution of the assets of the motor carrier, whether in bankruptcy, insolvency or otherwise. The proceeds of any judgment or order obtained under this section shall be paid to the Secretary of Transportation. The service of all papers in the action shall be upon the Secretary of Transportation of the State, with a copy mailed by certified mail, to the last known address of the defendant.
(c) Any tax determined to be due from any person who maintains premises for the conduct of business in Delaware and remaining unpaid after demand for the same, and all penalties and interest thereon, shall be a lien in favor of the State upon the property, both real and personal, of such person but only after the lien has been entered and docketed of record by the Prothonotary of the county where such property is situated. The Secretary of Transportation may at any time transmit to the Prothonotaries of the respective counties certified copies of all liens for such taxes, penalties and interest and it shall be the duty of each Prothonotary receiving the lien to enter and docket the same of record in the Prothonotary's office, which lien shall be indexed as judgments are now indexed. A writ of execution may directly issue upon such lien, without the issuance and prosecution to judgment of a writ of scire facias; provided, that no less than 10 days before issuance of any execution on the lien, notice of the filing and the effect of the lien shall be sent by registered mail to the taxpayer at the last known post-office address. No Prothonotary shall require as a condition precedent to the entry of such liens, the payment of any costs incident thereto.
(d) The lien imposed hereunder, shall have priority from the date of its recording as aforesaid, and shall be fully paid and satisfied out of the proceeds of any judicial sale of property subject thereto, before any other obligation, judgment, claim, lien or estate to which said property may subsequently become subject, except costs of the sale and of the writ upon which the sale was made, and real estate taxes and municipal claims against such property, but shall be subordinate to mortgages and other liens existing and duly recorded or entered of record prior to the recording of the tax lien. In the case of a judicial sale of property subject to a lien imposed hereunder upon a lien or claim over which the lien imposed hereunder has priority, as aforesaid, such sale shall discharge the lien imposed hereunder to the extent only that the proceeds are applied to its payment, and such lien shall continue in full force and effect as to the balance remaining unpaid.
(e) The lien imposed hereunder shall continue for 5 years from the date of its entry of record, and may be renewed and continued in the manner now or hereafter provided for the renewal of judgments.
30 Del. C. 1953, §  5219;  57 Del. Laws, c. 496, §  1;  58 Del. Laws, c. 467, §  3;  59 Del. Laws, c. 216, §  5;  68 Del. Laws, c. 290, §  184;  70 Del. Laws, c. 186, §  1;