A. For any return, claim, statement, or other document required to be filed or any payment required to be made within a prescribed period or on or before a prescribed date under authority of any provision of a tax law of this state, the date of the postmark stamped on the cover in which the return, claim, statement, or other document or payment is mailed shall be deemed to be the date of delivery or the date of payment, as the case may be.

B. The provisions of this section shall apply only if:

1. The postmark date falls within the prescribed period or on or before the prescribed date for filing, including any extension, of the return, claim, statement, or other document or for making payment, including any extension granted for making such payment; and

2. The return, claim, statement, or other document or payment was, within the prescribed period or on or before the prescribed date for filing, deposited in the mail in the United States in an envelope or other appropriate wrapper, postage prepaid, properly addressed to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, agency, officer, or office with which the return, claim, statement, or other document is required to be filed, or to which the payment is required to be made.

C. The provisions of this section shall apply in the case of postmarks not made by the United States Postal Service only and to the extent provided by rules or regulations prescribed by the Tax Commission.

D. For purposes of this section, if any return, claim, statement, or other document or payment, is sent by United States registered mail, the registration shall be prima facie evidence that the return, claim, statement, or other document was delivered to the Tax Commission, agency, officer, or office to which addressed, and the date of registration shall be deemed the postmark date. The Tax Commission is authorized to provide by rules or regulations the extent to which the foregoing provisions of this subsection with respect to prima facie evidence of delivery and the postmark date shall apply to certified mail.

E. The provisions of this section shall not apply with respect to the filing of a document in, or the making of payment to, any court, or to currency or other medium of payment unless actually received and accounted for, or returns, claims, statements or other documents or payments which are required under any provision of a tax law or rules of this state to be delivered by any method other than by mailing.

F. Any reference in this section to the United States mail shall be treated as including a reference to any designated delivery service, and any reference in this section to a postmark by the United States Postal Service shall be treated as including a reference to any date recorded or marked as described in this subsection by a designated delivery service. For purposes of this section, the term “designated delivery service” means a delivery service provided by a trade or business if the service is designated by a rule of the Tax Commission for purposes of this section. The Tax Commission may designate a delivery service under the preceding sentence only if the Tax Commission determines that the service is available to the general public, is at least as timely and reliable on a regular basis as the United States mail, records electronically to its data base kept in the regular course of its business or marks on the cover in which any item referred to in this section is to be delivered, the date on which the item was given to the service for delivery, and meets all other criteria prescribed by the Tax Commission. The Tax Commission may provide a rule similar to the rule stated in the first sentence of this subsection with respect to any service provided by a designated delivery service which is substantially equivalent to United States registered or certified mail.

Added by Laws 1999, c. 293, § 25, eff. Nov. 1, 1999.