A. Whenever any application to the department is accompanied by any fee as required by the Motor Vehicle Code [66-1-1 NMSA 1978] or the Motor Transportation Act [Chapter 65, Articles 1, 3 and 5 NMSA 1978] and the application is refused or rejected, the fee shall be returned to the applicant.

B. Any person who believes that any amount paid by that person to the department under any provision of the Motor Vehicle Code or the Motor Transportation Act exceeded the amount due may claim a refund by directing to the secretary a written claim for refund in accordance with the procedures set out in Subsection A of Section 7-1-26 NMSA 1978. To be timely, any claim for refund pursuant to this subsection must be made within one year of the date the payment was made.

C. When the department has discovered that a class of people has overpaid by at least one dollar ($1.00) any tax, fee or penalty due under the Motor Vehicle Code or the Motor Transportation Act for the same or similar reasons and the members of the class are identifiable from the department's records, the department may refund the overpayment to all members of the class without the requirement that each person in the class submit a claim for refund.

D. Any refund made pursuant to this section may be made, at the discretion of the department, in the form of credit against future payments due under the Motor Vehicle Code or the Motor Transportation Act if future liabilities in an amount at least equal to the credit amount reasonably may be expected to become due.

History: 1953 Comp., § 64-6-22, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 357; 1995, ch. 135, § 20.

The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, added "refunds" in the section heading; in Subsection A, substituted "department" for "division", substituted "the Motor Vehicle Code or the Motor Transportation Act" for "law", and made minor stylistic changes; rewrote Subsections B and C; and added Subsection D.

When an applicant has erroneously registered his vehicle twice and purchased two sets of license plates, he is, upon request, entitled to a refund for the second set issued. 1960 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 60-233.

Intrastate operator becoming interstate not entitled to refund for overpayment. — Where an intrastate operator purchases his licenses from the local license distributor in his locality and is seeking a refund if he subsequently becomes an interstate operator entitled to prorate the licenses of his fleet in the various states in which he operates, he is not entitled to obtain a refund from this state for any overpayment that he might have made on original registration as it applies to a subsequent proration program. 1961 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 61-76.

Refunds made from 4% of fees collected. — The refunds referred to in Section 64-11-11, 1953 Comp. (similar to this section), are a duty imposed upon the division by the law and thus should be made from the 4% of the fees collected. 1960 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 60-233.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 60 C.J.S. Motor Vehicles § 142.3.