Section 15

Section 15. That if the register of wills of any county within this commonwealth shall discover that any collateral inheritance taxes have not been paid over according to law, he shall be authorized to issue a citation, which shall be served in the usual manner to the executors, administrators and heirs; and where personal services cannot be had on all said parties, the register shall give notice, for four consecutive weeks, once a week, in at least one newspaper published in said county, citing said parties to appear before him on a day certain, and show cause why the said tax should not be paid, for which services the fees of the register and other officers shall be such as are allowed for like services in other cases; and if said tax shall be found to be due and unpaid, the said delinquents shall pay said tax and costs; and it shall be the duty of the register of wills, or of the auditor general of this commonwealth, on return made to him, that the executors, administrators and heirs, after citation having been awarded as aforesaid, and on proof of service have been found to be in default, to employ an attorney of the proper county to sue for and recover the amount of such tax; and the said attorney shall be allowed for his services the usual per centage for collection, to be taxed as costs and paid by said delinquents: and the auditor general is authorized and empowered in the settlement of the account of any register of wills, to allow him costs of advertising, service and mileage, and other reasonable fees wherever there was or may be probable ground for issuing the citation, or for prosecuting an investigation to ascertain whether any taxes were due. And it shall be the duty of the register of wills to enter in a book, to be provided by him at the expense of the commonwealth, and to be kept for that purpose, the returns made by all assessors and appraisers, under this act, opening an account in favor of the commonwealth against the decedent's estate, and that estate, executors, administrators and their sureties, shall be liable for payment of said tax, which tax shall be a lien on the property of all parties until settled and satisfied; and the register may give certificates of search from said book; and whenever any such tax shall have remained due and unpaid for one year, it shall be lawful for the register to file a copy of the claim in the proper prothonotary's office, and proceed to recover the same in the name of the commonwealth by scire facias, according to the provisions of the act of March eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, entitled "An Act relating to registered taxes and municipal claims in the county of Philadelphia," and any supplement thereto against the owner or owners of such real estate, for the time being; all the provisions of which act shall be operative in relation to such collateral inheritance tax, except that there shall be no loss or limitation of the lien for such tax by reason of a failure to file or sue the same within any limited time.