Section 48-5-153. Reports of unpaid taxes by tax collector and tax commissioner to commissioner and county governing authority; final settlement period

   (a) On December 20 in each year each tax collector or tax commissioner shall furnish to the commissioner and to the county governing authority, upon the request of either, a report showing the amount of state taxes and the amount of county taxes remaining unpaid on the tax digest and, every 30 days thereafter until a final settlement is made with both the state and the county, shall furnish to the commissioner and the governing authority, upon the request of either, a report showing the amount of state taxes collected and the amount of county taxes collected from December 20 to the date of rendering the report. Each report shall also show the amount of interest collected from the delinquent or defaulting taxpayers.

(b) Each tax collector or tax commissioner shall make final settlements of accounts with both the state and the county and shall pay over all amounts due the state and county within four months from December 20 of the year in which taxes become due, unless the time for the settlement is extended by the commissioner as authorized by Code Section 48-5-154. Upon failure of any tax collector or tax commissioner to make final settlement and payment within the time provided in this subsection, the tax collector or tax commissioner shall forfeit one-fourth of his commissions unless some good and sufficient reason rendering the timely making of the final settlement impossible is given.

(c) With respect to any county operating on a fiscal year basis, the settlement period of subsection (b) of this Code section shall be within four months following the end of such fiscal year.

Ga. L. 1917, p. 197, §§ 2, 4; Ga. L. 1933, p. 78, § 10; Code 1933, §§ 92-5002, 92-5004; Code 1933, § 91A-1350, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1979, p. 5, § 37; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1324, § 5; Ga. L. 1991, p. 668, § 2.