Minn. Stat. § 168.16 – Refund; appropriation

(a) After the tax upon any motor vehicle has been paid for any year, refund must be made for errors made in computing the tax or fees and for the error on the part of an owner who may in error have registered a motor vehicle that was not before, nor at the time of registration, nor at any time thereafter during the current past year, subject to tax in this state as provided by section 168.012. Unless otherwise provided in this chapter, a claim for a refund of an overpayment of registration tax must be filed within 3-1/2 years from the date of payment. The refund must be made from any fund in possession of the registrar and deducted from the registrar's monthly report to the commissioner of finance. A detailed report of the refund must accompany the report. The former owner of a transferred vehicle, by an assignment in writing endorsed upon the registration certificate and delivered to the registrar within the time provided in this subdivision, shall assign, except for vehicles registered under section 168.187, to the new owner the right to have the tax paid by the former owner accredited to the owner who duly registers the vehicle. Any owner at the time of such occurrence, whose vehicle is declared by an insurance company to be a total loss due to flood or tornado damage, permanently destroyed, or sold to the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state, shall upon filing a verified claim be entitled to a refund of the unused portion of the tax paid upon the vehicle, computed as follows:
1. (1) if the vehicle is registered under the calendar year system of registration, the refund is computed pro rata by the month, 1/12 of the annual tax paid for each month of the year remaining after the month in which the plates and certificate were returned to the registrar;
2. (2) if the vehicle is registered under the monthly series system of registration, the amount of the refund is equal to the sum of the amounts of the license fee attributable to those months remaining in the licensing period after the month in which the plates and certificate were returned to the registrar.
(b) There is hereby appropriated to the persons entitled to a refund, from the fund or account in the state treasury to which the money was credited, an amount sufficient to make the refund and payment.