§ 258-a. Payment of tax on instruments not recorded. An instrument
taxable under this article but which is not entitled to be recorded, may
nevertheless be presented to the recording officer of the county in
which the real property or any part thereof affected by said instrument
is situated, and there may be paid to such officer the amount of the tax
which would be payable under this article on the recording of such
instrument if the same were entitled to be recorded. Such officer shall
receive such amount and such payment shall have the same force and
effect, so far as this article is concerned, as if such instrument had
been duly recorded and the tax thereon paid. It shall be the duty of the
recording officer to indorse upon the instrument a receipt for the
amount of the tax so paid. A copy of each instrument upon which the tax
is paid as above provided shall be filed with the recording officer and
preserved among his mortgage tax records.

Where an unrecorded instrument subject to the tax imposed by this
article has been lost or destroyed, the tax commission, upon
presentation of proper proofs, may determine the taxable amount of such
instrument and by order authorize the recording officer to receive and
receipt for such tax as fully and with the same force and effect, so far
as this article is concerned, as if the instrument had been duly
recorded and the tax thereon paid.

The filing or recording of a notice of the payment of tax under this
section is ineffective to give notice under article nine of the real
property law of any estate or interest in the real property affected by
the instrument on which tax is being paid or to create a duty of inquiry
with regard thereto.