Chap. 458.—An ACT to provide a simple remedy for the correction of errone-
ous assessment of taxes when such error is due to a mistake on the part
of the assessing officer or to the mistake of the officer on whose report
the assessment was made. [H B 422]

Approved March 27, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That any
officer charged by law with the duty of assessing taxes or levies upon
land or other property, money, income or license, or any officer upon
whose report such assessment is made, shall, if he 1s satisfied that any
such assessment is erroneous and that the error was caused by his
mistake, within one year from the first day of September of the
year in which such assessment is made, apply to the court in which
such assessing officer gave bond and qualified, or to whose clerk
such bond and certificate of his qualification were returned, for the
correction of such erroneous assessments. The attorney for the Com-
monwealth shall defend the applications and no order correcting such
assessments shall have any validity unless it is stated therein that
such attorney did so defend, and the facts proved be certified.

2. If the court be satisfied upon the hearing that any or all of
the persons mentioned in the said application have been erroneously
assessed with State taxes or local levies, or both, it may order that
the same be corrected, and if application is made under section one
of this act for the correction of more than one assessment at the
same time, the court may dispose of any number or all of the cases
in one order. The said order and the copies thereof shall be upon
forms prescribed by the auditor of public accounts and shall show
in detail the names of the persons against whom the assessments were
made, the page, line, date and nature of the book or other assessment
roll upon which such assessments were made, and shall show clearly
the error to be corrected. If the assessment exceeds the proper
amount, the court may order that the applicant be exonerated from
the payment of so much as is erroneously charged, if not already
paid, and if paid, that it be refunded to him. If the assessment be less
than the proper amount, the court shall order that the applicant pay
the proper taxes. A copy of any order made under this section
correcting erroneous assessments shall be certified by the court to the
auditor of public accounts and the treasurer of the county or city.

3. An order of exoneration made as aforesaid, when delivered to
the treasurer, shall restrain him from collecting so much as is thus
erroneously charged, or if the same has already been collected shall
compel him to refund the money to the person entitled thereto, and
in either case the order shall be a sufficient voucher to entitle the
officer to a credit for so much in his settlement with the auditor of
public acounts and the local authorities; provided, that no such order
of exoneration or order refunding money shall be granted unless the
application be made within the time prescribed by this act.

4. lf from the statements of the facts or other evidence the
auditor of public accounts shall be of the opinion that the order of
the court granting the redress, or any portion thereof, is erroneous,
he may, within one year from the time such order is made, file a
petition for a rehearing of such application, or so much thereof as
relates to that portion of the order which he considers erroneous ;
said petition may be filed in said court or with the judge thereof in
vacation, and shall be in the name of the Commonwealth, and the
filing of the same shall operate as a supersedeas, and, after five days’
notice to the applicant, the matter shall thereupon be reheard in said
court and witnesses examined in the same manner as if no previous
hearing had been had. The petition shall be presented and the hear-
ing conducted by the attorney for the Commonwealth of the county
or city.

At the hearing the court shall make such order thereon as may
be proper. And should the order of the court be against the Common-
wealth, the auditor of public accounts may take an appeal to the
supreme court of appeals, and a supersedeas may be granted in such
case in the same manner as now provided by law in cases other than
cases of appeal of right. No costs shall be adjudged against the Com-
monwealth or the petitioner in either the trial or the appellate court.