Opinion ID: 1917346
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appeal From a Final Assessment

Text: Act No. 194 also provided for a refund in the event of a successful appeal from any final assessment made by the [department of revenue] under any assessment required by law to be made by the [department of revenue]. Act No. 194, § 103, 1935 Ala. Acts 256, codified as amended at Ala.Code 1940, Tit. 51, § 140; Ala.Code 1975, § 40-2-22; repealed, Act No. 92-186, 1992 Ala. Acts 349, codified at Ala.Code 1975, § 40-2A-1 et seq. Section 40-2-22 provided, in pertinent part: If any taxpayer against whom an assessment is made by the department of revenue under any assessment required by law to be made by the department of revenue is dissatisfied with the final assessment as fixed by the said department of revenue, he may appeal from said final assessment to the circuit court of Montgomery county ... by filing notice of appeal with the secretary of the department of revenue and with the clerk or register of the circuit court of the county to which the appeal shall be taken within 30 days from the date of said final assessment made and entered on the minutes of the department as required by law and, in addition thereto, by giving bond conditioned to pay all costs to be filed with and approved by the clerk or register of the court to which the appeal shall be taken. The taxpayer shall pay the assessment so made before the same shall become delinquent; and, if such taxes are not paid before the same becomes delinquent, the court shall upon motion ex mero motu dismiss such appeal, unless at the time of taking the appeal the taxpayer has executed a supersedeas bond with sufficient sureties to be approved by the clerk or register of the court to which the appeal shall be taken in double the amount of the taxes payable to the state of Alabama, conditioned to pay all taxes, interest and costs due the state, county or any agency or subdivision thereof.... If upon such appeal the assessment made by the department of revenue is reduced, the court, upon proof of payment of said tax, shall ascertain and recite such fact in the judgment and shall ascertain and determine by its judgment, the amount of tax which was invalid or which was excessive ... as to the amount paid to the state ...; and, upon presentation of a certified copy of the judgment to the comptroller, it shall be the duty of the comptroller to draw his warrant on the treasurer in favor of such taxpayer for such an amount as the judgment of the court shall ascertain and declare has been erroneously paid to the state, together with interest from date of payment, and such warrant of the comptroller shall be paid out of any funds in the treasury as a current obligation of the year in which said refund is ordered. (Emphasis added.) The right of appeal [was] clearly statutory and [could only] be exercised in the mode and within the prescribed time. Sparks v. Brock & Blevins, Inc., 274 Ala. 147, 149, 145 So.2d 844, 846 (1962). [A] final assessment of the Department of Revenue unappealed from [was] as conclusive as a judgment of a circuit court of Alabama, and [could] be impeached only by a direct proceeding not being subject to collateral attack. 274 Ala. at 149, 145 So.2d at 846. Section 40-2-22 [was] jurisdictional; a failure to comply with its requirements [prevented] the circuit court from having jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. State Dep't of Revenue v. Estate of Hill, 505 So.2d 1240, 1240 (Ala.Civ.App. 1987); see also Dowda v. State, 274 Ala. 124, 145 So.2d 830 (1962). This was true even where the taxpayer challenged the constitutionality of the tax. Radue v. Bradshaw, 289 Ala. 481, 484, 268 So.2d 760, 762 (1972); Moore v. State Dep't of Revenue, 447 So.2d 744 (Ala.Civ.App.1983). Neither § 40-2-22 nor the caselaw construing it contemplated a direct action against the State for a refund.