26-3-203. Mobile homes and manufactured homes.

(a) Mobile homes and manufactured homes shall be deemed real property for the purpose of ad valorem property taxation.

(b) Real property taxes and any interest, penalties, or other charges on a mobile home on a leased site in a mobile home park or any other leased site, and any assessment or user fee chargeable to the owner of the mobile home and constituting a lien, shall be assessed and levied against the owner of the mobile home whose name appears on the certificate or other acceptable evidence of ownership, and shall be a lien on the mobile home or manufactured home only.

(c)When the property tax on mobile homes and manufactured homes which are now assessed as real property become delinquent, the delinquent real property tax shall be attached to the personal property tax of the owner of the mobile home or manufactured home and the county collector shall not accept payment of the personal property taxes without collecting payment of the delinquent real property taxes at that time.

AG Opinion No. 2010-143

The obligation to satisfy a property tax lien on a mobile home transfers with a transfer of the property. The seller is responsible to satisfy to the collector that a transfer of ownership of the mobile home has occurred to be relived of the obligation to satisfy the tax lien on the transferred mobile home. The purchaser shall become responsible for the satisfaction of the delinquent tax lien on the mobile home and the new owner will be subject to ACA 26-3-203 and seller released of the property tax obligation. The Attorney General explained that the law establishing property tax liens is clear. The purchaser should be aware of the tax liens on the property at the time of purchase and accordingly take into account in the purchase price.

26-26-1105. Report of manufactured home and mobile home purchases.

(a) A purchaser of a manufactured home or mobile home shall report the purchase of each new or used manufactured home or mobile home to the county assessor of the appropriate county where the manufactured home or mobile home will be located.

(b) The report shall include:

(1) The name of the purchaser;

(2) The purchaser's address;

(3) The date on which the purchase was made; and

(4) Other information as may be deemed necessary by the county assessor.

27-14-1602. Registration -- Fee.

(a)(1) An owner of a manufactured home or a mobile home shall register the manufactured home or mobile home with the Office of Motor Vehicle for the purpose of receiving a certificate of title to the manufactured home or the mobile home or for any other purpose. (2) Subdivision (a)(1) of this section does not apply to: (A) A manufactured home or mobile home for which a certificate of origin, original document of title, or existing document of title has been cancelled or surrendered under § 27-14-1603; or (B) A manufactured home or mobile home held for sale or resale by a licensed retailer, financial institution, beneficiary, mortgagee or the mortgagee's attorney-in-fact or trustee, or other holder in due course.

(b) A certificate of title shall be issued upon the payment of a registration fee of twenty-six dollars ($26.00) and a title fee of ten dollars ($10.00).

ACA 26-35-601. Personal property taxes to be collected with real estate taxes.

(a) Each county collector in this state shall be charged with the responsibility of collecting personal property taxes shown to be due by the taxpayer as reflected by the records in the county collector's office at the time the taxpayer pays the general taxes due on real estate. (b) Any county collector willfully accepting payment of general real estate taxes without requiring the payment of personal property taxes due as reflected by the records in the county collector's office shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100)

26-3-203. Mobile homes and manufactured homes.
(a) Mobile homes and manufactured homes shall be deemed real property for the purpose of ad valorem property taxation.

(b) Real property taxes and any interest, penalties, or other charges on a mobile home on a leased site in a mobile home park or any other leased site, and any assessment or user fee chargeable to the owner of the mobile home and constituting a lien, shall be assessed and levied against the owner of the mobile home whose name appears on the certificate or other acceptable evidence of ownership, and shall be a lien on the mobile home or manufactured home only.

(c)When the property tax on mobile homes and manufactured homes which are now assessed as real property become delinquent, the delinquent real property tax shall be attached to the personal property tax of the owner of the mobile home or manufactured home and the county collector shall not accept payment of the personal property taxes without collecting payment of the delinquent real property taxes at that time.

26-34-103 Liability of executor or administrator.

The personal property of any deceased person shall be liable in the hands of any executor or administrator for any tax due on the same by any testator or intestate.

AG Opinion No. 1994-022: Collectors and Sheriff Collectors are not authorized to forgive the amount due from a taxpayer. Ark. Code 26-28-111 only authorizes correction of actual and obvious errors. All taxes assess become a lien upon the property assessed and do not extinguish at the time of death of the taxpayer. Ark. Code 26-35-401, the personal property of the deceased is a liable in the hands of the administrator or executor.

26-35-401 Liability generally.

Every person holding lands as guardian, executor, or administrator and neglecting or refusing to list or pay the taxes upon them, in the manner indicated, sahll be liable to an action by his or her ward or devisee for any damage sustained by his or her neglect. (b) Every person having the care of lands as agent or attorney as indicated having funds of the principal in his or her hands, for such purpose, and neglecting or refusing to list or pay the taxes on the lands shall be liable.

26-18-201 Attempt to evade or defeat tax.

(a) Any taxpayer who willfully attemps to evade or defeat the payment of any tax, penalty, or interest due under any state tax law shall be guilty of a Class C felony. (b) Any person who willfully assists a taxpayer in evading or defeating the payment of any tax penalty, or interest due under any state tax law shall be guilty of a Class C felony.

If you buy a mobile home from an individual, and back taxes are owed on that mobile home, then you must pay those taxes.  

26-34-101. Preference of tax liens. (a) Taxes assessed upon real and personal property shall bind them and be entitled to preference over all judgments, executions, encumbrances, or liens whensoever created. (b) All taxes assessed shall be a lien upon and bind the property assessed from the first Monday of January of the year in which the assessment shall be made and shall continue until the taxes, with any penalty which may accrue thereon, shall be paid. However, as between grantor and grantee, the lien shall not attach until the last date fixed by law for the county clerk to deliver the tax books to the county collector in each year after the tax lien attaches. (c)( 1) Failure to satisfy a personal property tax lien following a purchase of a business or a business’s assets, goods, chattels, inventory, or equipment not in the ordinary course of business shall result in the assessment of an additional penalty under § 26-36-201( c) except with respect to a purchase of the following: (A) A vehicle subject to registration; or (B) A manufactured home or a mobile home. (2) A purchase of a business or a business’s assets, goods, chattels, inventory, or equipment not in the ordinary course of business does not include the deed of property in lieu of foreclosure or the acquisition of title to property following a foreclosure sale. History. Acts 1883, No. 114, § 101, p. 199; 1911, No. 125, § 1; C. & M. Dig., § 10023; Pope’s Dig., § 13770; Acts 1941, No. 337, § 1; 1943, No. 278, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 84-107; Acts 2011, No. 821, § 1. Amendments. The 2011 amendment added (c). Cross References. Lien for taxes due improvement districts continues indefinitely until paid, § 18-61-101.

27-14-1602. Registration -- Fee.

(a) (1) An owner of a manufactured home or a mobile home shall register the manufactured home or mobile home with the Office of Motor Vehicle for the purpose of receiving a certificate of title to the manufactured home or the mobile home or for any other purpose. (2) Subdivision (a)(1) of this section does not apply to: (A) A manufactured home or mobile home for which a certificate of origin, original document of title, or existing document of title has been cancelled or surrendered under § 27-14-1603; or (B) A manufactured home or mobile home held for sale or resale by a licensed retailer, financial institution, beneficiary, mortgagee or the mortgagee's attorney-in-fact or trustee, or other holder in due course.

(b) A certificate of title shall be issued upon the payment of a registration fee of twenty-six dollars ($26.00) and a title fee of ten dollars ($10.00).

CASE NOTES Analysis Liability for Taxes. Liens. Personal Property. Real Property. Tax Sales. Liability for Taxes. Where the buyer was to receive no legal or equitable right under the contract until the purchase price had been paid in full, at which time the seller obligated himself to execute a special warranty deed conveying the lands free of all liens and encumbrances, and the contract was entered into some six weeks after the tax books had been delivered to the collector, the seller was liable for the payment of taxes under the warranty. Broadhead v. McEntire, 19 Ark. App. 259, 720 S.W. 2d 313 (1986). Liens. Taxes and improvement assessments held “obligations secured by lien” within the meaning of Acts 1927, No. 195 (superseded by § 28-49-113). Rose v. W.B. Worthen Co., 186 Ark. 205, 53 S.W. 2d 15, 85 A.L.R. 212 (1932). Personal Property. Taxes are a lien on personal property and follow it into whosoever hands it goes. Bridewell v. Morton, 46 Ark. 73 (1885) (decision under prior law). Where, prior to an application for a receiver in insolvency, an attachment was levied by the seller upon specific goods sold to the insolvent, upon which the seller owed taxes, the state’s lien for taxes was payable from the amount allowed the attaching seller upon his preferred claim. First Nat’l Bank v. Tribble, 155 Ark. 264, 244 S.W. 33 (1922).