Chap. 353.—An .\CT to amend and re-enact section 2385 of the Code of Virginia,
as amended by acts approved March 16, 1920, and March 20, 1924; sections
2386, 2387 and 2388 of the said Code; section 2389 of the said Code, as
amended by an act approved March 16, 1920; and sections 2390 and 2391 of
the said Code, all of which sections relate to redress against erroneous
assessments of taxes and levies. {H B 467]

Approved March 24, 1926.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
twenty-three hundred and eighty-five of the Code of Virginia, as
amended by acts approved March sixteenth, nineteen hundred and
twenty, and March twentieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four;
sections twenty-three hundred and eighty-six, twenty-three hundred
and eighty-seven and twenty-three hundred and eighty-eight of the
said Code; section twenty-three hundred and eighty-nine of the said
Code, as amended by an act approved March sixteenth, nineteen
hundred and twenty; and sections twenty-three hundred and ninety
and twenty-three hundred and ninety-one of the said Code, be, and
the same are hereby all amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

Section 2385. Redress against erroneous assessment of State
taxes.—Any person assessed with taxes on land 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, and any person assessed
with a tax on income or a license tax, aggrieved thereby, may, within
one year from the first day of September of the year in which such
assessment is made, apply for relief to the court in which the officer
who made the assessment gave bond and qualified, or to which or to
whose clerk such bond and the certificate of his qualification were
returned; or if the assessment was made by the State tax commission,
to the circuit court of the county, or any court of record having juris-
diction of civil cases of the city in which the aggrieved person resides,
or in the case of a partnership, or domestic corporation, the county
or city in which it has its principal office in this State, or in the case
of a foreign corporation the county or city in which is located the
office in this State at which claims against the foreign corporation
may be audited, settled and paid. The application aforesaid may in
all cases be filed in the clerk’s office of any such court in vacation,
and the time which shall elapse from the filing of such application
in the clerk’s office, as aforesaid, to the hearing on the same by the
court, shall be excluded from the computation of the said period of
one year or two years, as the case may be. If the assessment com-
plained of was made by the State tax commission, a copy of the appli-
cation shall be served on one member of the said commission at least
ten davs before the hearing.

The foregoing provisions of this section are subject to the follow-
ing qualifications: That where it is shown to the satisfaction of the
court that there has been a double assessment in any case, one of
which assessments is proper and the other erroneous, and that a proper
single tax has been paid thereon, the court may order that the appli-
cant be exonerated from such erroneous assessment, whether the
erroneous tax has been paid or not, and even though the application
be not made within two years, as hereinbefore required.

The attorney for the Commonwealth shall defend the application
unless it be defended by counsel designated by the State tax com-
mission for that purpose; and no order made in favor of the applicant
shall have any validity unless it is stated therein that such attorney
or counsel did so defend; that the commissioner making the assess-
ment, or his successor, if it was made by a commissioner, was examined
as a witness touching the application, and the facts proved be certified.

Section 2386. When court may order assessment to be corrected
and money refunded.—If the court be satisfied that the applicant is
erroneously assessed with any taxes, and that the erroneous assess-
ment was not caused by the failure or refusal of the applicant to furnish
a list of his property to the tax-assessing authority, as the law requires;
or that the applicant is erroneously charged with a license tax, and
that the erroneous assessment was not caused by the failure or refusal
of the applicant to furnish the tax-assessing authority with the nec-
essary information, as required by law, in either case the court may
order that the assessment be corrected. If the assessment exceeds
the proper amount, the court may order that the applicant be exon-
erated 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 assess-
ment be less than the proper amount, the court shall order that the
applicant pay the proper taxes, and to this end the court shall be
clothed with all the powers and duties of the authority who, or which,
made the assessment complained of as of the time when such assess-
ment was made, and all power and duties conferred by law upon such
authority between the time such assessment was made and the time
such application is heard. A copy of any order made under this
section correcting an erroneous assessment shall be certified by the
court to the State tax commission and the auditor of public accounts.

Section 2387. Collecting officers restrained from collecting; how
money refunded.—An order of exoneration, made as aforesaid, when
delivered to the tax-collecting officer 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 if such officer
has not already paid it into the treasury; and either way, when prop-
erly endorsed by the applicant it shall be a sufficient voucher to
entitle the officer to a credit for so much in his settlement with the
auditor of public accounts; provided, that no such order of exoneration
or order refunding money shall be granted unless the application be
made within the time as prescribed by section twenty-three hundred
and eighty-five.

Section 2388. If paid into treasury, how refunded.—If what was
so erroneously charged has been paid into the treasury, the order of
court shall entitle the claimant to a warrant on the treasury for the
amount thereof, provided application for the same be made to the
auditor of public accounts within one year after the date of such
order.
Section 2389. Redress against erroneous assessment of levies and
ocal taxes.—Any person assessed with county or city levies or other
ocal taxes, on land or other property, aggrieved by any such assess-
nent, may, unless otherwise specially provided by law, within two
years from the first day of September, of the year in which such
assessment is made, and any person assessed with a local license tax,
aggrieved thereby, may within one year from the first day of Septem-
per of the year in which such assessment is made, apply for relief to
the circuit court of the county, or any city court of record having
jurisdiction of civil cases, of the city, wherein 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, or city collector
as the case may be, who shall have credit for the same in his settle-
ment; except that where it is shown to the satisfaction of the court
that there has been a double assessment in any case, one of which
assessments is proper and the other erroneous, and that a proper single
tax has been paid thereon, the court may order that the applicant be
exonerated from such erroneous assessment, whether the erroneous
tax has been paid or not, and even though the application be not made
within two years as hereinbefore required.

The Commonwealth's attorney for such county, or the Common-
wealth’s attorney or city attorney for the city, as the case may be,
shall defend the application; and no order made in favor of the appli-
cant shall have any validity unless it is stated therein that such
attorney did so defend, or that after notice of such application failed
or refused to defend, in which event the court shall appoint a practicing
attorney of the county or city to defend such motion; that the com-
missioner making the assessment or his successor was examined as a
witness touching the application, and the facts proved be certified.

The application aforesaid may in all cases be filed in the clerk’s
office of any such court in vacation, and the time which shall elapse
from the filing of such application in the clerk’s office, as aforesaid,
to the hearing on the same by the court, shall be excluded from the
computation of the said period of one year or two years, as the case
may be

Section 2390. When court may render judgment against commis-
sioner for costs; when relief refused.—If the court shall be of opinion
that the error asked to be corrected was caused by the neglect or care-.
lessness of a commissioner of the revenue, it may render judgment
against him for the costs. If the error was caused by the failure o1
refusal of the applicant to furnish the tax-assessing authority with a
proper description, exhibition, or list, or with the necessary informa.
tion, as required by law, the court shall refuse relief.

Section 2391. Appeal and supersedeas allowed the State; pro
ceedings in.—If from the statements of the facts or other evidence ir
a proceeding under section twenty-three hundred and eighty-five, the
State tax commission shall be of opinion that the order of the cour:
granting the redress is erroneous, it may, within six months from the
time such order is certified by the clerk to the State tax commission
file a petition for a rehearing of such application. The 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 hearing conducted
by the attorney for the Commonwealth of the county or city or by
counsel designated by the State tax commission. This section shall
not be construed to affect any right to file a petition for a rehearing
which may have accrued to the auditor of public accounts prior to the
date this act takes effect.

Upon the rehearing the court shall make such order thereon as
may be proper. And should the order of the court, either upon the
original hearing or upon the rehearing, be against the Commonwealth,
the State tax commission 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 appeals
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 any commissioner of the revenue who made the assessment,
if the same be erroneous