What did Texas field examiners check when auditing county motor vehicle tax receipts and transfer affidavits in 1982?

Plain-English summary

This 1982 internal checklist told Texas field examiners how to reconcile county motor vehicle tax receipts and transfer affidavits. It is administrative history, not a taxpayer holding.

Every serially numbered Form 31 had to fall into one of four groups: issued and reported, on hand and unissued, issued but unreported, or lost. An issued receipt more than 60 days old had to be added as an adjustment, verified on a later report, or voided only if all five copies were accounted for.

Examiners also checked title-service and dealer inventories before classifying receipts as lost. Each Form 130 affidavit was matched to its receipt and reviewed for vehicle description, sales price, trade-in, taxable value, tax, exemption reason, names, addresses, notarization, and computation. Receipt, affidavit, and monthly-report figures had to agree.

What this means for you

The durable lesson is reconciliation: controlled receipts, transaction affidavits, and remittance reports must trace to one another. The named paper forms and workflows are historical.

Common questions

Q: Is this current county procedure?
A: No.

Q: What were the four receipt categories?
A: Reported, unissued, issued-but-unreported, and lost.

Q: What happened to old unreported receipts?
A: They required adjustment, later-report verification, or fully documented voiding.

Citations and references

• Form 31 — historical numbered tax/title receipt
• Form 130 — historical Seller, Donor or Trader's Affidavit
• The complete 1982 checklist is preserved below.

Source

• STAR search: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/search?doc_type_code=L&tax_type_code=MVT
• Opinion: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/view/8202L0368A01

Original ruling text

Date: February 1, 1982

To: All Field Managers

From: Art Nuckols

Subject: Examination of Tax Assessor-Collector Office

Procedure: We have updated the procedures for conducting examinations of the
County Attached Tax Assessor-Collectors Office

Attached are examples of documents that will be sent to a field office when Motor
Vehicles Sales Tax Division asks an EO to conduct an examination of Tax
Assessor-Collectors offices. Future assignments will be received on the attached
type of forms.

Changes: The changes in the procedures are a result of the new Form 130 (Seller
Donor or Trader's Affidavit).

Several steps have been eliminated in the Check Sheet and Adjustment Schedule and
they have been combined into one form.

Questions: If you have any questions, please call Lea Bangs at 822-6897.

ART NUCKOLS

INVENTORY TAX RECEIPTS (FORM 31)

Introduction: Motor Vehicle Tax Receipts are individually serial numbered forms
which serve two functions. It serves as a tax receipt for the State Comptroller
and as a receipt for title application for the State Highway Department. These
forms are issued to County Tax Assessor-Collectors (TAC) by the Motor Vehicle
Division of the Texas Highway Department on a controlled basis and must be
accounted for on an individual serially numbered basis.

What Form 31's: The County TAC makes a monthly report to the Comptroller to
account for showing disposition of receipts. These reports are compared
(Inventory with receipt numbers known to have been issued to the TAC. Sheet)
Your assignment is to physically account for all receipts listed on the
Inventory Sheet from the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax Division. Receipts listed on
this form are the only receipts the Division considers to be on hand and
unissued as of the ending date indicated on the Inventory Sheet.

Instructions: The Division's inventory is listed in the left hand column of
the attached Inventory Sheet. These receipts could fall into one of the four
categories on the Inventory Sheet. They are:

1. "Receipts Issued and Reported." These receipts will be those which were
   issued and reported after the monthly report on which this assignment is based.
   Though the assignment is based on the most current report which the division has
   received, the time between issuance of the receipts and monthly report plus
   division processing time may be one to two months. Therefore, one or two reports
   may have been already forwarded but not processed by the division.

Since a time lag exists between division inventory and your actual inventory,
numerous receipts may have been issued and reported on subsequent reports. These
receipts should be verified on the subsequent Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax
Reports and listed in the appropriate Inventory column.

NOTE: Subsequential groups can be shown as opposed to listing single receipt
numbers (i.e. Z000001Z000098 reported 12-81).

2. "On Hand Unissued Receipts." Receipts that have not been issued (unused
   receipts) should be listed in the applicable column on the Inventory Sheet. On
   occasion a supply of Form 31's will be sent to the county after the Division's
   inventory was compiled. These new receipts will not be listed on the division
   inventory, but should be reported in the appropriate column.

3. "Issued Receipts But Not Reported." These receipts will primarily be those
   issued since the last monthly report, but may include some being held for
   particular reason.

When a receipt is issued, the tax is considered paid and therefore must be
reported. All receipts should be reported within the month issued. However,
occasionally a Tax Assessor-Collector will not report a receipt because of
failure to collect enough tax, title problem, or some other reason.

Whenever you find an issued receipt over 60 days old, either

1) include that receipt in the examination as an adjustment to the TAC's
account on an adjustment schedule. Note that whenever an adjustment is
made on an old receipt, a copy of the receipt should be included in the
adjustment schedule and returned with the completed audit or examination.

or 2) verify that the receipt is reported on a subsequent monthly report.
This will involve actually examining the monthly report that includes the
old receipt.

or 3) if all five (5) copies of an outstanding receipt can be accounted for,
the receipt may be voided.

If you cannot be assured that the old receipt is included in a monthly report,
or all five copies of the receipt cannot be accounted for, you must include
the receipt on an adjustment schedule.

4. "Lost Receipts." These receipts will be those that have been lost,
   inadvertently destroyed, or that you are otherwise unable to physically locate.
   Before listing receipts as lost, determine if the TAC issues Form 31's to
   automobile dealers or other title service agencies in the area. If so, these
   agencies' receipts will have to be inventoried to complete this examination.

If, after all inventories are checked, some receipts remain unlocated, check
to see if there has been any activity connected with the unlocated receipts.

CHECK/COMPARE
AFFIDAVITS

Seller, Donor, An affidavit must be completed for each transfer of or
Trader's motor vehicle. The information on the receipt (Form 31) Affidavit
is obtained from the affidavit. An affidavit must exist Form 130 for each
Form 31 issued with these exceptions:

• A Form 31 completed to report additional tax due where a previous Form 31
  is referenced. Title application to clear or establish liens.

• Title application to correct title. Verify Affidavit Check affidavits on
  hand to assure that they are complete for Completeness and accurate in every
  detail. Everything as follows must be shown:

• Receipt number on all affidavits.

• Vehicle description for all vehicles sold and traded.

• Sales price, trade-in, taxable value, tax collected, and reason exempted.

• Seller and purchaser complete name and address including zip codes.

• Notarized signature and seal.

• Proper computation and compliance with tax law.

Information Agrees: Compare all the affidavits on hand with the appropriate
receipts to assure the tax information agrees. This comparison will assure
the Comptroller the amount of tax indicated is the same on the tax receipts
and the report. This division examines the report and the receipts each month
but has no means to examine the affidavits sent to Huntsville.