A Nebraska state tax lien can surface at the worst possible moment on a construction project. Picture a framing subcontractor wrapping up a light-industrial build in Sarpy County, still owed for the last two draws. Before recording a construction lien, the subcontractor’s office pulls the county record on the parcel and finds a notice of state tax lien filed against the owner a few weeks earlier. A second search, this time at the Secretary of State, shows a federal lien notice against the general contractor’s business assets. Now the questions multiply. Which lien comes first? Does the subcontractor still have time? And did the 2026 change to Nebraska’s lien filing statutes alter any of the answers?
LB835 (2026 Neb. Laws, L.B. 835), approved by the Governor on April 14, 2026, rewrote parts of the statutes that govern how notices of federal liens and state tax liens are filed, indexed, and searched in Nebraska. The amended sections carry an effective date of July 18, 2026. The changes are largely administrative. Anyone who files or searches liens, lends against real estate, or gets paid out of a construction project in Omaha or elsewhere in Nebraska should know what moved.
If you are a contractor, lender, or property owner facing a tax lien or a lien priority dispute on a Nebraska project, Horgan Law LLC can help. Contact us at 402-965-0652 or visit horganlawfirm.com/contact-us.
What Is the Short Answer on LB835 and Nebraska Tax Liens?
LB835 changed filing, indexing, and fee provisions. Section 77-3904 still controls when a state tax lien arises, how long it lasts, and when it becomes valid against subsequent creditors. Here is the core of what the bill did, read from the slip law and the current statute text published by the Nebraska Legislature:
- State tax liens on real property are still presented to the Secretary of State and then delivered to the register of deeds in each county the notice designates. The statute now says the Secretary of State “provides” the notice rather than “transmits” it, and the lien remains effective upon real property when the register of deeds files it. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3903(1)(a).
- State tax liens on personal property are still filed with the Secretary of State, but the statute no longer prescribes a one-line index entry showing the taxpayer’s residence, the last four digits of a Social Security or federal tax identification number, the serial number, and the amount due. The Secretary of State now simply enters the notice in the state’s central tax lien index. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3903(1)(b).
- Federal liens on real property under the Uniform Federal Lien Registration Act follow the same path: presented to the Secretary of State, provided to the register of deeds, and effective upon real property when the register of deeds files them. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-1001(1).
- Federal lien indexing at the Secretary of State was simplified in the same way. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-1003.
- Bulk data fees for the Secretary of State’s Uniform Commercial Code database, which now expressly includes records under the Uniform Federal Lien Registration Act and the Uniform State Tax Lien Registration and Enforcement Act, moved to a flat structure of $800 for an initial file, $800 for a monthly update, and $300 for a weekly update. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-101(4).
- UCC filing fees are now expressly nonrefundable: $14 for a written record and $11 for a record communicated by another authorized medium. Neb. U.C.C. § 9-525(a).
The Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee’s committee statement on LB835 describes the bill as a move from manual indexing to a digital-first system. The practical effect falls mainly on people who search lien records.
What Are the Main Types of Liens a Nebraska Project Can Face?
Several lien regimes can attach to the same Omaha property at once, each with its own filing office and priority rule.
State tax liens
The Uniform State Tax Lien Registration and Enforcement Act covers taxes and fees administered by the Tax Commissioner or the Commissioner of Labor, which can include state income, sales, and withholding taxes as well as unemployment contributions. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3902(2). The “appropriate filing officer” is the register of deeds for real property and the Secretary of State for personal property. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3902(1).
Federal liens
The Uniform Federal Lien Registration Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 52-1001 to 52-1008, tells Nebraska filing officers where to file and index notices of liens for obligations payable to the United States. How a federal tax lien ranks against other interests is a question of federal law.
Property tax liens
County property taxes on real estate become a first lien on the property taxed beginning on the date they are due. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-203. Delinquency can lead to a tax sale certificate and, eventually, a tax deed or foreclosure, discussed below.
Construction liens
The Nebraska Construction Lien Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 52-125 to 52-159, gives a lien to those who furnish services or materials under a real estate improvement contract. Contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers on Nebraska projects rely on it to secure payment.
How Does the Nebraska Department of Revenue Create and File a Tax Lien?
A state tax lien arises by operation of law. If a person liable for a tax or fee administered by the Tax Commissioner or the Commissioner of Labor neglects or refuses to pay after demand, the amount owed, including interest, penalties, and additions, becomes a lien in favor of the State of Nebraska upon all property and rights to property, real or personal, then owned or later acquired. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(1).
Unless another statute sets a different date, the lien arises at the time of assessment. It remains in effect for three years from assessment (or one year after a payment agreement expires, whichever is later) if no notice is filed, for ten years from filing if a notice is filed, or until the amount is paid or the underlying judgment is satisfied or becomes unenforceable. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(1). A continuation statement filed within the ten-year window extends the notice for another ten years. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(4).
Filing makes the lien valid against subsequent creditors. A state tax lien on real property is valid against any subsequent creditor when the notice has been presented to the Secretary of State and filed in the office of the register of deeds. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(3)(a)(i). A lien on personal property is valid against subsequent creditors when the notice is filed with the Secretary of State. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(3)(a)(ii).
The Secretary of State bills the filing fees to the Tax Commissioner or Commissioner of Labor monthly, so no fee is collected at the time of filing. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3903(3).
Can Homeowners or Businesses Prevent a Tax Lien Before It Is Recorded?
Once a tax is assessed and unpaid after demand, the lien exists as a matter of law against the taxpayer’s property, whether or not a notice is ever filed. What a taxpayer can influence is whether a notice reaches the public record and how long the lien stays there. In practical terms, the options include:
- Paying the assessed amount before the Department files a notice, which ends the lien under the statute’s own terms.
- Entering a payment agreement with the Tax Commissioner. The statute ties the unfiled lien period and the notice filing deadline to the later of three years from assessment or one year after the agreement expires. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(1), (2)(a).
- Requesting a release or subordination. The Tax Commissioner or Commissioner of Labor may release property from the lien, or subordinate the lien to other liens, upon request of any party involved, if the tax is paid or sufficiently secured by other property, the lien has become unenforceable, a surety bond or other satisfactory security is posted, or the release or subordination will not jeopardize collection. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(6). A certificate of release or subordination is conclusive evidence that the release or subordination occurred. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(7).
Release and subordination matter most in a sale or refinancing, where a Nebraska owner can ask the Department to release a specific parcel or subordinate the lien so the transaction can close. Challenges to the underlying assessment follow separate administrative procedures and deadlines that should be reviewed with counsel promptly.
How Do State Tax Liens Affect Mortgages, Construction Loans, and Credit?
Nebraska’s tax lien statute contains a rule that every construction lender and every borrower drawing on a line of credit should know. When a mortgage on real property or a secured transaction on personal property is written to secure both a present debt and future advances, a later-filed state tax lien is subject to that prior lien. That protection ends, however, once the Tax Commissioner or Commissioner of Labor notifies the lienholder in writing of the recording of the tax lien. After that written notice, any indebtedness thereafter created under the mortgage or security agreement is junior to the tax lien. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(3)(b).
For a construction loan funded in draws, a lender that keeps funding after receiving written notice of a state tax lien may find those later draws ranking behind the State. Borrowers should expect a lender to pause funding until the lien is released, subordinated, or paid. A recorded tax lien also appears in title commitments and can stall a closing, a refinance, or a sale.
How Does a State Tax Lien Interact With a Nebraska Construction Lien?
This is where the Construction Lien Act and the tax lien statute meet, and where LB835’s filing changes become concrete.
When does a construction lien attach?
A construction lien does not attach and may not be enforced unless the claimant records it no later than 120 days after the claimant’s final furnishing of services or materials. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-137(1). Once recorded, the lien’s attachment date depends on whether a notice of commencement was on record. If the lien is recorded while a notice of commencement is effective, the lien attaches as of the time the notice of commencement was recorded, even if visible work began earlier. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-137(2). Without an effective notice of commencement, the lien generally attaches at the earlier of visible commencement of the improvement or the recording of the lien. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-137(3).
How does a construction lien rank against other claims?
Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-139(1), a construction lien has priority over adverse claims against the real estate as if the claimant were a purchaser for value without knowledge who had recorded at the time the lien attached. The statute then carves out specific exceptions for construction lenders and for advances that protect the security, such as payments of real property taxes. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-139(3).
Put the two statutes side by side. A state tax lien on real property becomes valid against subsequent creditors when the register of deeds files the notice, while a construction lien ranks as if recorded when it attached, which may be the date a notice of commencement was recorded months earlier. A tax lien notice filed after that notice of commencement may well sit behind construction liens that relate back to it. A tax lien notice already on file before the construction lien attaches is a recorded claim the lien claimant generally takes subject to. Federal tax liens follow federal priority rules that can produce different results.
What do the Nebraska courts say about lien timing?
The Nebraska Supreme Court has made clear that the recorded attachment date is not always the end of the inquiry. In Borrenpohl v. DaBeers Properties, L.L.C., 276 Neb. 426, 755 N.W.2d 39 (2008), a bank mailed a deed of trust and a notice of commencement to the register of deeds in a single envelope with no instructions. The notice of commencement was stamped five minutes earlier. The subcontractors argued that their construction liens, which attached as of the notice of commencement under § 52-137(2), therefore came first. The court held that documents delivered together without instructions are recorded simultaneously under Nebraska’s recording statutes, so priority turned on the parties’ intentions, and the uncontradicted evidence showed the bank was intended to be ahead of the construction liens.
The court also addressed refinancing and equal priority among lien claimants in Lincoln Lumber Co. v. Lancaster, 260 Neb. 585, 618 N.W.2d 676 (2000). Subcontractors’ liens recorded while the builder’s notice of commencement was effective all attached on the date of that notice and shared equal priority under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-138(1). A homebuyer’s permanent lender, whose loan paid off the builder’s construction loan, took priority over a non-stipulating lien claimant only to the extent of the construction loan disbursements that already had priority, as § 52-139(4) provides. The court also noted that buyers who qualify as protected parties take free only of construction liens not of record when their title document is recorded. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-139(5).
Both decisions show that the county record, and the manner in which documents reach it, drive priority. Because LB835 keeps real property lien notices on a path that runs from the Secretary of State to the register of deeds, and the amended statutes make each lien effective upon real property when the register of deeds files it, the county record remains the place to look.
Is a Nebraska State Tax Lien a Public Record, and Where Do You Search?
Yes. Notices of state tax liens and federal liens are public filings, and Nebraska law tells you where each one lives.
- Real property liens (state and federal) end up with the register of deeds in each county where the property sits. On request, the register of deeds must issue a certificate showing whether any federal lien notice naming a particular person is on file, for a fee of one dollar and fifty cents, and copies cost one dollar per page. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-1003(3)(a). For state tax liens on real estate, the register of deeds enters the notice in the alphabetical state tax lien index. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3903(1)(a).
- Personal property liens (state and federal) are filed with the Secretary of State. Searches of federal lien records at the Secretary of State follow the Uniform Commercial Code search procedures and the fees in Neb. U.C.C. § 9-525. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-1003(3)(b). Under § 9-525(d), a search request costs $5 in writing and $4.50 through another authorized medium.
LB835 matters to searchers because the statute no longer dictates what each line of the Secretary of State’s personal property index must display. A result screen may not show an address, a partial taxpayer number, or an amount, so the underlying notice is the document to read. Title plants and data aggregators also now pay the flat bulk-data rates in § 33-101(4).
For a contractor or lender doing diligence in Omaha, the practical checklist is short. Start with the Douglas County (or other county) record on the parcel for real property liens. Then run the Secretary of State’s records on the owner and on any contractor whose payment you depend on. Finally, pull and read each notice itself along with the index entry.
How Does a Nebraska Tax Deed Differ From a Tax Lien?
A state tax lien secures unpaid state taxes administered by the Tax Commissioner or Commissioner of Labor. It attaches to all of the taxpayer’s property and is enforced through the State’s collection remedies. Nothing about it involves a public auction of a certificate.
A property tax lien secures unpaid county real estate taxes. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-203, those taxes are a first lien on the property taxed. When they go delinquent, the county treasurer may sell the taxes, and the buyer receives a tax sale certificate. The certificate holder acquires a lien with a path to ownership if the owner does nothing.
How does redemption work after a Nebraska tax sale?
The owner, an occupant, or anyone with a lien on or interest in the property may redeem it by paying the county treasurer the certificate amount, interest at the statutory rate, subsequent taxes paid by the certificate holder, and the issuance and administrative fees the statute specifies. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-1824. The right of redemption expires when the purchaser files an application for a tax deed with the county treasurer, and a redemption is valid only if received before the close of business on the day that application is received. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-1824.
When can the certificate holder get a tax deed?
For most property, the holder may apply for a treasurer’s tax deed at any time within nine months after the expiration of three years after the date of the tax sale. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-1837(1)(b). A shorter two-year period applies to vacant and abandoned property acquired by a land bank. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-1837(1)(a). The tax deed route is available only when 110 percent of the assessed value, less the amount needed to redeem, is $25,000 or less. If that statutory value test is not met, the holder must instead foreclose the lien represented by the certificate under section 77-1902. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-1837(3).
For a contractor, the point is that a construction lien claimant is a “person having a lien” who may redeem under § 77-1824. A subcontractor with a recorded lien on a parcel headed toward a tax deed has a statutory right to protect its position by redeeming before the deed application is filed. Whether redemption makes economic sense depends on the amount of the certificate and the value of the claimant’s lien.
What Should Contractors, Lenders, and Owners Do Now That LB835 Is in Effect?
The new law calls for adjustments to routine procedures. Consider the following steps:
- Update search procedures. Confirm that your title or lien search vendor is reading full notices from the Secretary of State rather than relying on index fields the statute no longer requires.
- Track the county record on active projects. Real property tax and federal liens become effective upon real property when the register of deeds files them. On a project with a notice of commencement, compare those filing dates with the notice date.
- Calendar the 120-day deadline. A subcontractor that waits past 120 days after its final furnishing has no lien at all under § 52-137(1). Tax lien activity against an owner is a reason to record promptly.
- Route written tax lien notices to the draw desk. Construction lenders should treat a written notice from the Tax Commissioner under § 77-3904(3)(b) as a stop-and-review event for further advances.
- Use release and subordination requests. Owners trying to close a sale or loan should evaluate whether a § 77-3904(6) release or subordination request can clear the way.
Lien priority disputes rarely stay administrative. They become foreclosure actions, interpleader cases, and claims among owners, lenders, and contractors in Nebraska district court. Horgan Law LLC handles these disputes through its complex litigation practice and advises companies on lien exposure, financing, and project contracts through its business law practice. Property-specific questions about title, tax sales, and closings fall within our real estate law work. When a payment dispute turns into a contract claim, our overview of breach of contract remedies in Nebraska explains the options.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did LB835 take effect in Nebraska?
LB835 was approved by the Governor on April 14, 2026. The Nebraska Legislature’s statute pages list July 18, 2026 as the effective date for the amended sections, including Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 33-101, 52-1001, 52-1003, and 77-3903.
Did LB835 change the priority of state or federal tax liens in Nebraska?
LB835 amended filing, indexing, and fee provisions only. The rules on when a state tax lien arises, how long it lasts, and when it becomes valid against subsequent creditors remain in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904, which LB835 did not amend. Federal tax lien priority is governed by federal law.
How long does a Nebraska state tax lien last?
If a notice is filed, the lien remains in effect for ten years from filing and can be extended for additional ten-year periods by filing a continuation statement before it lapses. If no notice is filed, it remains in effect for three years from assessment or one year after a payment agreement expires, whichever is later. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3904(1), (4).
Where do I search for a Nebraska state tax lien after LB835?
Search the register of deeds in each county where real estate sits for liens on real property, and search the Secretary of State for liens on personal property. Read each notice itself, because the Secretary of State’s index no longer has to display an address, partial taxpayer number, or amount for personal property liens.
Does a state tax lien against a property owner defeat a subcontractor’s construction lien?
Not automatically. A construction lien ranks as if recorded when it attached, which may be the date a notice of commencement was recorded. A state tax lien on real property becomes valid against subsequent creditors when the register of deeds files the notice. The comparison of those dates, and the facts of how documents were recorded, usually decides the question. Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 52-137, 52-139, 77-3904(3).
Talk to a Nebraska Lien Attorney
LB835 modernized how Nebraska files and indexes tax and federal liens, and it leaves the county record central for real property lien searches. The priority rules that decide who gets paid did not change, and they still reward the party that records early and reads the record carefully.
If a state or federal tax lien is threatening payment on your Nebraska construction project, your loan, or your sale, Horgan Law LLC can help. Contact us at 402-965-0652 or visit horganlawfirm.com/contact-us.
This article provides general information about Nebraska law as of October 2026 and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Lien priority depends on the specific documents and recording dates in each matter.