Honorable George H. Sheppard Comptroller of Public Accounts Austin, Texas Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-5204 Re: Duty of Comptroller of'Public Accounts to issue certificate of payment of inheritance taxes paid to local tax collector but not remitted to Comptroller, and related questions. In your letter of -April 9, 1943, you enclosed photostatic copy of the original receipt of the Tax Collector of Bexar County, dated December 1,,1925, receipting of tiO8.00 inheritance taxes. You stated that only P ?$``~ of'this amount was ever received by you. Since you are re- quested to execute a certificate that all such taxes were paid, you desire the opinion of this department as to the proper reply to make to this request. Article 7132 provides: "All taxes received under this law by any executor,administrator or trustee, shall be paid by him to the tax collector of the county whose county court has jurisdiction of the estate of the decedent. Upon such payment, the collector shall make dupli- cate receipts thereof and shall deliver one to the party making payment, the other he shall send to the amount thereof and shall countersign and affix his seal to such receipt and transmit-same to the party making payment. Acts 1923, 2nd C. S,, p. 63." Apparently these taxes were properly paid to the Tax Collector of Bexar County, and he issued his official receipt therefor. However, the photostatic copy of the re- ceipt handed us.does not appear to have been countersigned Honorable George H. Sheppard -- Page 2 O-5204 by the duly elected, qualified and acting Comptroller of Public Accounts. Tax receipts are admissible to prove payment of taxes. Deen v0 Wills, 21 Texas 642. But if the taxes are not actually paid, the taxing authority may recover the same even though tax reqipts are made out snd’delivered. Graves v. Bullen, 115 5. W. 1177, City of Georgetown v. Jones, 73 5. w. 22. ‘With the tax receipt now in the possession of the t axp~?yer, we are of the opinion that he can successfully resist any suit to collect these taxes, unless the taxing authority can produce evidence that such taxes were not actually paid. But we are unable to find any statute making it your dutv to issue certificates of the payment of taxes not actually received by you. It is true that the taxpayer paid the inheri- tance taxes in question to the proper official, but he did not follow the statute and receive a receipt countersigned by the then Comptroller. The requested certificate is for the convenience of the taxpayer, but we are of the cpinicn that you are under no legal duty to issue such certificate. Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS BY Thos. B. Duggan, Jr. Assistant TBD/pw--pam APPROVED APR 28 1943 GERALD C. MANN ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS APPROVED OPINION COMMITTEE BY BWB, CHAIRMAN