Request By:
Mr. Bremer Ehrler
County Clerk
Jefferson County
Courthouse
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By Alex W. Rose, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to the Attorney General, you ask whether the billing of the personal property tax on a vehicle should be based on the date of the bill of sale or the date of the transfer by the county clerk. Often a vehicle is sold to a new owner or dealer during the latter part of December, but the transfer is not completed until after January 1 of the following year.
Since property tax is payable by the owner of the vehicle on January 1 (KRS 132.220), the question that must be answered is: When does one become the owner of a vehicle?
In
Hicks v. Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., Ky., 455 S.W.2d 52 (1970), the court held that ownership of a vehicle must be decided under the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. In that case, the court stated that title to the vehicle passed at the time and place of delivery. See KRS 355.2-401.
In
Lexington Mack, Inc. v. Miller, Ky., 555 S.W.2d 249 (1977), the court was presented with a situation in which the truck in question was never licensed by the county clerk since the county clerk never received the bill of sale. The court held that KRS 186.190 and KRS 186.200 which prohibit the sale of a vehicle without delivering copies of the bill of sale to the county clerk are revenue measures. They are separate from the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code.
It is, therefore, our opinion that the personal property tax on a vehicle should be based on the date of the bill of sale since the bill of sale provides evidence of ownership under the Uniform Commercial Code. See