(a) When a consumer has paid sales taxes on a motor vehicle within the last one hundred eighty (180) days and the motor vehicle is destroyed or damaged by some catastrophic event resulting from a natural cause to the extent that the value of the motor vehicle is less than thirty percent (30%) of its retail value, as found in the National Automobile Dealers Association's Official Price Guide, or other source approved by the Office of Motor Vehicle, the consumer may apply to the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration for a sales tax credit voucher in the amount of any state and local sales or use taxes paid on the motor vehicle transaction, if the consumer provides to the Department of Finance and Administration:

(1) A written request for a credit voucher in accordance with § 26-18-507;

(2) Evidence that the sales tax was paid when the motor vehicle was registered;

(3) Evidence as to the extent of the destruction or damage to the value of the motor vehicle which is satisfactory to the department to prove the value of the motor vehicle prior to the event and the value after the destruction or damage occurred;

(4) Evidence that the catastrophic event occurred within one hundred eighty (180) days of the motor vehicle's being first registered; and

(5) Any other information as shall be required by the director as necessary to issue the voucher.

(b) Claims for credit vouchers of sales or use tax under this section shall be subject to the Arkansas Tax Procedure Act, § 26-18-101 et seq. Any claim must be made in writing and filed within one (1) year from the date the vehicle was first registered.

(c) When a consumer has tendered a trade-in motor vehicle toward the purchase of the vehicle which is credited under subsection (a) of this section, the consumer may apply to the director for a credit voucher in the amount of the trade-in vehicle's consideration also.

(d) The sales and use tax credit vouchers issued under this section shall be used only to reduce any sales and use taxes due upon registration of a subsequent replacement vehicle. In no event shall a cash refund be given for the sales tax credit voucher or for any excess value of the credit voucher. The credit voucher shall be valid for six (6) months from the date of issuance and may only be used by the consumer to whom it was issued.

(e) The director shall prescribe the forms, the nature of satisfactory proof of the vehicle's values, and any other information as is necessary to issue the credit vouchers under this section.

(f) As used in this section, "natural cause" means an act occasioned exclusively by the violence of nature in which all human agency is excluded from creating or entering into the cause of the damage or injury.