§ 308. Returns and payment of tax.--(a) General.--Every petroleum
business subject to tax under this article shall monthly, on or before
the twentieth day following the close of its taxable month, file a
return which shall state (i) the number of gallons of motor fuel
imported or caused to be imported into this state for use, distribution,
storage or sale in the state or produced, refined, manufactured or
compounded in the state during the preceding calendar month, (ii) the
number of gallons of diesel motor fuel sold or used or, with respect to
gallonage which prior thereto has not been included in the measure of
the tax imposed by this article, delivered by the petroleum business to
a filling station or into the fuel tank connecting with the engine of a
motor vehicle for use in the operation thereof during the preceding
calendar month, (iii) the number of gallons of, and the resultant
product produced, manufactured or blended, using diesel motor fuel as a
component of such resultant product and the sales of such resultant
product, and (iv) the number of gallons of residual petroleum product
sold or used in this state and the sales of such residual petroleum
product, for the period covered by such return. A residual petroleum
business shall include in its reports the number of gallons of residual
petroleum product imported into the state or purchased in this state,
the number of gallons of diesel motor fuel purchased in this state and
the number of gallons of, and the resultant product produced,
manufactured or blended by such petroleum business, using diesel motor
fuel as a component of such resultant product. The commissioner of
taxation and finance may permit the filing of a return on a quarterly
basis in the case of a petroleum business which only makes sales of
diesel motor fuel solely for residential heating purposes and which is
registered under article twelve-A of this chapter as a diesel motor fuel
distributor under a limited registration applicable only to the
importation, sale and distribution of diesel motor fuel for the purposes
described in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (b) of subdivision three of
section two hundred eighty-two-a of this chapter or in the case of a
petroleum business registered as a "distributor of kero-jet fuel only"
pursuant to the provisions of subdivision two of section two hundred
eighty-two-a of this chapter. In the case of such returns permitted to
be filed on a quarterly basis, the adjustments to the rates of tax then
in effect, as provided for in sections three hundred one-a and three
hundred one-e of this article, which take effect on the first day of
January of each year shall, with respect to such quarterly return, take
effect on the first day of the next succeeding March. Returns shall be
filed with the commissioner in a form prescribed by the commissioner,
setting forth such other information as the commissioner may prescribe.
Every petroleum business shall also transmit such other returns and such
facts and information as the commissioner may require in the
administration of this article. Every petroleum business which is a
corporation subject to tax under this article and which ceases to
exercise its franchise or to be subject to the tax imposed by this
article shall transmit to the commissioner a return on the date of such
cessation, or at such other time as the commissioner may require,
covering each month or period for which no return was theretofore filed.
The commissioner may, if the commissioner deems it necessary in order to
insure the payment of the tax imposed by this article, require returns
to be made at such times and covering such periods as the commissioner
may deem necessary. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this
subdivision, the commissioner may require any corporation or
unincorporated business which engages in transactions involving
petroleum or similar products, including aviation fuels, to file a
monthly return, which shall contain any data specified by him,
regardless of whether such corporation or unincorporated business is
subject to tax under this article.

(b) Payment of tax. Each petroleum business shall pay to the
commissioner of taxation and finance with the filing of the return or
returns the tax imposed by this article during the period covered by the
return. Such tax imposed on any petroleum business which is a
corporation and which ceases to exercise its franchise or to be subject
to the tax imposed by this article shall be payable to the commissioner
at the time the return is required to be filed, provided such tax of a
petroleum business which is a domestic corporation and which continues
to possess its franchise shall be subject to adjustment as the
circumstances may require; all other taxes of any such petroleum
business, which pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section
would otherwise be payable subsequent to the time such return is
required to be filed, shall nevertheless be payable at such time.

(c) Special provisions regarding sole proprietorships.--With respect
to any petroleum business which is a sole proprietorship:

(1) the return for such petroleum business where the proprietor has
died shall be made and filed by his executor, administrator, or other
person charged with his property, and

(2) the return for such petroleum business where the proprietor is
unable to make a return by reason of a disability shall be made and
filed by his conservator, committee, fiduciary or other person charged
with the care of his person or property (other than a receiver in
possession of only a part of his property), or by his duly authorized
agent.

(d) Estates and trusts.--The return for a petroleum business which is
an estate or trust shall be made and filed by the fiduciary.

(e) Joint fiduciaries.--If two or more fiduciaries are acting jointly
on behalf of a petroleum business, the return may be made by any one of
them.

(f) Notice of qualification as receiver, etc.--Every receiver, trustee
in bankruptcy, assignee for benefit of creditors of, or other fiduciary
for a petroleum business shall give notice of his qualification as such
to the commissioner of taxation and finance, as may be required by
regulation.

(g) Certification.--Every return shall have annexed thereto a
certification by the president, vice-president, treasurer, assistant
treasurer, chief accounting officer or any other officer of the
petroleum business duly authorized so to act where such petroleum
business is a corporation, or of the individual or one of the
individuals, or members of the partnership making the same where the
petroleum business is an unincorporated business, to the effect that the
statements contained therein are true. The fact that an individual's
name is signed on a certification of the return shall be prima facie
evidence that such individual is authorized to sign and certify the
return on behalf of the petroleum business. Blank forms of returns shall
be furnished by the commissioner of taxation and finance, on
application, but failure to secure such a blank shall not release any
petroleum business from the obligation of making any return required by
this article.

(h) Action by attorney general.--An action may be brought at any time
by the attorney general at the instance of the commissioner of taxation
and finance, in the name of the state, to compel the filing of returns
due under this article.

(i) Returns and records.--Returns shall be preserved for five years,
and thereafter until the commissioner of taxation and finance orders
them to be destroyed. Every petroleum business subject to tax under this
article shall keep the records and documents referred to in subdivision
one of section two hundred eighty-six of this chapter and such other
records of its business in such form as the commissioner may require;
moreover, the records required of transporters and storers under such
subdivision shall apply with the same force and effect to transporters
and storers of any product included in the measure of the tax imposed by
this article. All such records shall be preserved for a period of three
years, except that the commissioner may consent to their destruction
within that period or may require that they be kept longer.

* (j) Every petroleum business subject to tax under this article that
is also a distributor, as defined in section two hundred eighty-two of
this chapter, must charge the tax imposed by this article to the
purchaser on each gallon sold, unless otherwise exempt. If the taxes
imposed by this article have not already been assumed or paid by such
petroleum business on any quantity of such fuel for any reason,
including, but not limited to, the expansion of such fuel as a result of
temperature fluctuation, such petroleum business must remit such taxes
to the commissioner on the return for the period in which such sale was
made.

* NB Effective September 1, 2023