Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 8008L0177C12 Motor Vehicle Tax 1980-08-14

What did Texas auditors do about interest earned when county tax assessor-collectors deposited motor vehicle taxes?

Short answer: Attorney General Opinion MW-47 stated that all interest earned on motor vehicle tax placed in county interest-bearing accounts had to be remitted to the Comptroller. After Dallas County remitted more than $35,000, the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Division added interest-bearing accounts to county audits and field investigations and told field staff to explain remittance using a Remittance Slip.

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This page answers the general question as of 1980. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1980
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is an internal August 14, 1980 audit memorandum; STAR metadata uses August 1, but this page follows the printed date. It implements Attorney General Opinion MW-47 as understood then. County depository law, ownership of interest, audit scope, field procedures, remittance slips, and motor vehicle tax administration may have changed; a later 1981 internal opinion in this corpus separately analyzes S.B. 150. STAR documents may no longer represent current policy even when not marked superseded. The addressee is blank. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

Texas added county interest-bearing deposit practices to motor vehicle tax audits after Attorney General Opinion MW-47 required the interest to be remitted to the Comptroller.

Dallas County had remitted more than $35,000 of interest accrued on motor vehicle tax deposits. Because counties collected large volumes, field personnel were told to ask about deposit practices during audits and investigations and explain the Remittance Slip process.

What this means for you

This is historical internal audit direction. It shows how a legal opinion was translated into a recurring audit procedure, not the current rule for county funds.

Common questions

Q: What authority did the memo cite?
A: Attorney General Opinion MW-47 (1979).

Q: What amount did Dallas County remit?
A: More than $35,000.

Citations and references

  • Texas Attorney General Opinion MW-47 (1979)
  • Historical Remittance Slip procedure

Source

Original ruling text

INTEROFFICE BOB BULLOCK
MEMORANDUM COMPTROLLER OF
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Date: August 14, 1980

To:

From: Adina Harrell, Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Division

Subject: AG Opinion MW-47

Attorney General Opinion No. MW-47 (1979), copy attached,
states all interest earned on motor vehicle tax deposited
into interest bearing accounts by tax assessor-collectors
must be remitted to the Comptroller.

In accordance with this opinion, Dallas County remitted
over $35,000 in interest accrued on motor vehicle tax
deposits. Considering the volume of tax collected by
county tax assessor-collectors, we are including a check
on interest bearing accounts in our audit procedure and
field investigations.

Please remind all field personnel auditing or investigating
tax assessor-collectors to inquire into each county's de-
positing practices and to inform the county of the pro-
cedure for sending interest monies to the Comptroller
(with a Remittance Slip).

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