Chap. 443.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 567, 568, 571, 573, and 578
of the Code of Virginia, in relation tu the erroneous assessment of real and
personal property.

Approved December 12, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
ive hundred and sixty-seven, five hundred and sixty-eight, five hundred
nd seventy-one, five hundred and seventy-three, and five hundred and
eventy-cight of the Code of Virginia, in relation to the erroneous assess-
nent of real and personal property, be amended and re-enacted so as to
‘ead as follows:

$ 567. Redress against erroneous assessment of taxes.—Any person
issessed with taxes on lands or other property, aggrieved by any such
issessment, may, unless otherwise specifically provided by law, within
wo years from the first day of September of the year in which such
issessment is made, and any person assessed with a license tax, aggrieved
thereby, may, within one year after such assessment, apply for relief to
the court in which the commissioner gave bond and qualified or to which
ot to whose clerk such bond and the certificate of his qualification were
returned. The attorney for the Commonwealth shall defend the applica-
tion; and no order made in favor of the applicant shall have any validity
unless it is stated therein that such attorney did so defend; that the com-
missioner making the assessment, or his successor, was examined as a
witness touching the application, and the facts proved to be certified.

§$ 568. When court may order asscssment to be corrected and money re-
funded.—If the court be satisfied that the applicant is erroneously
assessed with any taxes, and that the erroncous axsessment was not caused
by the failure or refusal of the applicant to furnish a list of his property,
tal and personal, to the commissioner, on oath, as the law requires; or
that the applicant is erroneously charged with a license tax, and that the
crroneous assessment was not caused by the failure or refusal of the appli-
cant to furnish the cemmissioner, on oath, with the necessary informa-
tion, as required by law, in either case the court may order that the
assessment be corrected. If the assessment excecds 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
ibe refunded to him. If the assessment be less than the proper amount,
the court shal] order that the applicant pay the proper taxes. A copy of
any order made under this section correcting an erroncous assessment
shall be certified by the court to the auditor of public accounts and the
treasurer of the State.

$571. Redress against erroneous assessment of levics and local taxes.—
Any person assessed with county or city levies and other local taxes, on
lands or other property, aggrieved by any such assessment, may, unless
otherwise specifically provided by law, within two years from the first day
of September of the year in which such assessment is made, apply for
relief to the circuit or corporation court of the county or city whercin
such assessment was made; and thereupon the court shall order that he be
exonerated from the payment of so much as is improperly assessed, if not

already paid, and if paid, that it be refunded to him by the treasurer, who
shall have credit for the same in his settlement.

$573. Appeal and supersedeas allowed the State: proceedings in.—
If from the statements of the facts or other evidence the auditor of pub-
lic accounts shall be of opinion that the order of the court granting the
redress is erroneous, he may, within one year from the time such order is
made, file a petition for a rehearing of such application; said petition
imay 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 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 hearing
conducted by the attorney for the Commonwealth of the county or cor-
poration.

At the hearing the court shall make such order thereon as may be pro-
per. And should the order of the court be against the Commonwealth,
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 Commonwealth on the
appeal, but costs may, in the discretion of the court, be awarded against
the commissioner of the revenue who made the assessment, if the same be
cTroncous.

$578. Grand juries to examine books of asscssment; fraudulent re-
turns; when and how books corrected; when offender prosecuted; punish-
ment.—lIt shall be the duty of the judges of the circuit and corporation
courts, at the term next succeeding the return by the commissioners of
their several books of assessments, to charge the grand juries impanelled
by them to examine said books of assessment; and whenever the grand
jury shall think there is probable cause to believe that any person has
made a false or fraudulent return of his taxable property to the commis-
sioner, they shall thereupon summon the person suspected of making such
false or fraudulent return, to give such explanation as he may desire;
and if, on full examination and interrogation of said person, or the exami-
nation of such witnesses as they may choose {o summon, they shall believe
that such false return was made by him through ignorance or mistake,
and with no fraudulent purpose, he may be allowed to correct the same on

said books, which correction shall be certified by the commissioner to the
auditor of public accounts; but if they believe that said false return was
made with a fraudulent purpose to evade the revenue laws, they shall
procecd to find an indictment against him; and if on a trial of the same
the defendant be found guilty, he shall be fined in a sum equal to double
the amount. of the taxes with which he is properly chargeable, and be con-
fined in jail at the diserction of the jury.

2. This act shall be in force on and after the first day of February,
nineteen hundred and four.