Section 45-39-200.10
Motor vehicle assessment.
(a) Before any vehicle can be assessed, the county license commissioner shall be furnished the tag number presently on the vehicle unless the vehicle is new, in which case the commissioner shall be furnished a bona fide bill of sale from the dealer showing when the vehicle was bought new. In the case of a used car brought into the state from a state which provides that upon sale or transfer of the motor vehicle, the tags are either surrendered to an appropriate authority or subsequently reissued by the seller, the commissioner shall be furnished a bona fide certificate of title properly assigned which shows when the car was sold to an individual, firm, corporation, or association, living or operating in this state. If the tag number or bill of sale or certificate of title is not furnished, the vehicle shall be presumed to have been in the state the entire year for which taxes are being assessed. Those motor vehicles brought into the state during any tax year and new motor vehicles for which licenses have never been issued that have been sold from the stock of a dealer during any tax year, shall be subject to taxation as if they had been held or owned in the state on the first day of October, except that taxes thereon shall be assessed on a quarterly basis as follows:
(1) Motor vehicles brought into the state or sold from stock after the first day of October, but before the first day of January next following, shall be subject to taxation the same as if held or owned in the state on the first day of October.
(2) Motor vehicles brought into the state or sold from stock after the first day of December, and before the first day of April next following, shall be subject to taxation for three quarters of the tax year.
(3) Motor vehicles brought into the state or sold from stock after the last day of March, and before the first day of July next following, shall be subject to tax for one half of the tax year therefor.
(4) Motor vehicles brought into the state or sold from stock after the last day of June, but before the first day of October next following, shall be subject to tax for one fourth of the tax year.
(b) The county license commissioner, in addition to assessing and collecting the ad valorem tax due the state and county on motor vehicles due all cities in such county, shall report and pay over the money collected for such cities at the same time and in the same manner as state and county licenses are reported and paid over by him or her. The commissioner shall receive and deposit in the county general fund, a commission of five percent for collecting such taxes and shall deduct the commission from the amount collected before paying the city treasury. The commissioner shall not issue a license to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of this state until all ad valorem taxes due the state, county, and city have been paid for the preceding tax year.
(Act 79-107, p. 129, §11.)