"Claim or charge held by one party, on property owned by a second party, as security for payment of some debt, obligation, or duty owed by that second party. A lien may arise by agreement between the parties or by operation of law from the relation of the parties or the circumstances of their dealings. A special lien applies only to a specific property and any obligations related to it. A general lien can be enforced on a property for any unfulfilled debt in similar lines of business. Laborer's liens establish priority for the payment of employees in favor of general creditors in cases of bankruptcy; mechanic's liens similarly provide priority for the payment of contractors who provided goods and services for building projects. The holder of a first lien takes precedence over all other encumbrances on a piece of property. A tax lien is held by the State or Federal government on property which may be foreclosed for nonpayment of taxes."

Credit Bureaus hire public record contractors to gather tax lien records from local registries.  These records can show up on your credit file as a tax lien (unpaid) or a release (paid lien).  Sometimes, after 7 years,  the tax lien release record will fall off the credit file - leaving the original tax lien record to appear as unpaid once again. This will re-report as a derogatory public record which may hurt your credit score.

Unfortunately, the consumer has the burden to correct this information. The Credit Bureaus swipe their records for duplicates; but tax liens and releases have different case numbers (Registry Book&Page).  If after 7 years, the releases fall off a credit file and the original lien remains, it will be necessary to dispute with the Bureaus to have the original public record corrected. Releases purge off the file after 7 years from the date PAID.  Unpaid liens can stay on the file indefinitely.

605(a)(3) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

              PAID TAX LIENS WHICH, FROM DATE OF PAYMENT, ANTEDATE  THE REPORT BY MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS.

This means:  It can stay on your file 7 years after you pay the lien.