(a) Every employer shall file with the Commissioner periodic reports on such forms and at such times as the Commissioner may prescribe to disclose his or her liability for contributions under this chapter.

(b) Every employer subject to this chapter who sells in bulk 50 percent or more of his or her assets, including any stock of goods, wares, or merchandise of any kind, fixtures, machinery, equipment, buildings, or real estate, when such sale constitutes the sale of the employer's business to another shall give the Commissioner 10 days' notice of the sale before the completion of the transfer of the property. The employer shall file all contribution reports with the Commissioner to the date of the proposed transfer of property and pay all contributions, interest, and penalties due and payable thereon. The employer shall also file the detailed quarterly wage report required by section 1314a of this title (subsequent to June 30, 1986) covering employee wages to date of proposed transfer. When the reports are filed the Commissioner shall furnish to the employer within 10 days thereafter a certificate showing that all reports have been filed and contributions, interest, and penalties paid to the date of the proposed transfer. If the certificate is not furnished by the Commissioner within 10 days no liability may thereafter be imposed upon the purchaser. The employer shall present the certificate to the purchaser of the property. The failure of the purchaser to require the certificate makes the purchaser liable to the Commissioner for the unpaid contributions, interest, and penalties owed by the employer in an amount not to exceed the reasonable value of the assets purchased. The liability imposed upon the purchaser by this subsection shall be secondary to the liability of the employer.

(c) Subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to sales made under any order of court or to any sales made by assignees for the benefit of creditors, executors, administrators, receivers, or any public officer in his or her official capacity or by any officer of the court or to any other transfer excepted under Uniform Commercial Code, 9A V.S.A. § 6-103.

(d) An employing unit which has been liable otherwise than by its election to pay contributions as an employer under this chapter for any calendar year shall file such reports and pay such contributions for the next succeeding calendar year as the Commissioner may prescribe. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 22, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 210, § 15, eff. July 11, 1961; 1967, No. 226 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 17, 1968; 1985, No. 50, § 7.)