2023 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 47. Motor Vehicles
§47-1142. Service Oklahoma Licensed Operator Account.

A. There is hereby created as an official depository of Service Oklahoma a special agency account. Service Oklahoma is hereby authorized and directed to assign an appropriate and distinctive number or designation for the account herein created which shall be designated the Service Oklahoma Licensed Operator Account. Service Oklahoma shall assign an appropriate and distinctive subaccount number or designation for each licensed operator. Every licensed operator appointed under the provisions of the Oklahoma Vehicle License and Registration Act shall safeguard and preserve, in the manner herein required, all monies paid to such licensed operator which the licensed operator is bound to account for and pay over to Service Oklahoma.

B. Each licensed operator shall establish, in a bank or banks authorized to do a banking business in the state, such special licensed operator account and at any time that the licensed operator accumulates a total amount of receipts of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or more then such licensed operator shall deposit within a period of one (1) banking business day after the close of business, all receipts which the licensed operator is obligated to account for and remit to Service Oklahoma in the designated Service Oklahoma Licensed Operator Account and no such monies shall be deposited in any other banks or other depositories unless the said bank accounts are maintained by Service Oklahoma. Provided that, where a licensed operator is doing business in a municipality where there is no bank located, such licensed operator shall have a period of three (3) banking business days after the close of business to make such deposits. Advice of deposit receipts or duplicate deposit receipts, in a form and in an amount prescribed by Service Oklahoma, shall be obtained and preserved as directed by Service Oklahoma. One shall be retained by the licensed operator, and one shall be immediately forwarded to Service Oklahoma. Withdrawals or transfers from such Licensed Operator Service Oklahoma Account shall be made only by the duly authorized agent of Service Oklahoma. That part of the licensed operator's fees to be retained by the licensed operator as the licensed operator's personal compensation shall not be deposited in said Service Oklahoma Licensed Operator Account.

Each licensed operator shall submit the appropriate reports designated by Service Oklahoma to properly account for all funds, regardless of source, received by a licensed operator in the performance of the licensed operator's duties. Reports shall cover a period from the first day of the month to the fifteenth day of the month and from the sixteenth day of the month to the last day of the month. It shall be the responsibility of the licensed operator to mail or deliver such reports and all documents of all transactions to Service Oklahoma within a time period to be established by Service Oklahoma. Service Oklahoma shall be responsible to mail or deliver such reports and documents and transferred funds from all transactions received from the licensed operators to the Oklahoma Tax Commission within a time period agreed to between the Oklahoma Tax Commission and Service Oklahoma.

C. Licensed operators shall deposit in such account all monies, taxes and fees collected and received by them as such licensed operators, which they are obligated to account for and remit to Service Oklahoma, and it is specifically required that checks or similar instruments accepted or received by such licensed operators for taxes or fees must be deposited in such account, less any amount provided by this act that the licensed operators are entitled to retain as fees.

No licensed operator shall withdraw any funds from the licensed operator's licensed operator account. All checks, drafts, orders and vouchers so deposited shall bear an endorsement to the licensed operator account which endorsement shall include the assigned account number and the licensed operator's subaccount number. Items deposited shall be credited at par and should payment be refused on any such check, draft, order or voucher, or should the same prove otherwise worthless, the amount thereof shall not be charged by Service Oklahoma against the individual subaccounts of the licensed operator. The licensed operator shall continue to attempt to require proper payment of all such worthless items, but shall not be personally liable to Service Oklahoma for his or her payment. Service Oklahoma or the licensed operator shall charge the person issuing the check a fee of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for each check to cover the costs of the processing of each returned check, and all necessary travel expenses of collection, as provided by the State Travel Reimbursement Act; provided, such charge shall not be made unless efforts have been made to present such check, draft, order or voucher for payment a second time. Any licensed operator who collects a dishonored check pursuant to the provisions of Section 1121 of this title shall also collect a fee of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) and shall be entitled to retain such fee.

D. It is specifically provided that nothing in this section shall be considered or construed as in any way affecting, relieving or relinquishing the liability of such licensed operator to Service Oklahoma for any monies collected by the licensed operator and due the state or the liability of such licensed operator or any surety on or under the licensed operator's bond made to Service Oklahoma.

Unless provided otherwise, any licensed operator who fails to comply with any provision of this section shall pay a penalty to be imposed by Service Oklahoma. Monies collected for payment of the penalty shall be deposited to the credit of the General Revenue Fund of the State Treasury. Any licensed operator who pays a penalty pursuant to this section shall not allocate his or her payment thereof as a part of his or her operating expenses, but shall use his or her personal funds for payment of the penalty. Such penalty shall be equal to one percent (1%) of the gross amount of the receipts received by the licensed operator for that particular day that the licensed operator fails to deposit all such funds required by this section or one percent (1%) of the gross amount of the receipts received by the licensed operator for the report period that the licensed operator fails to timely mail the required report or remit any excess licensed operator funds as provided in subsection B of this section. Such penalty shall be increased to three percent (3%) of the gross amount of the receipts received for that particular day if the licensed operator fails to fulfill any of said requirements within a period of five (5) days. Provided that such penalty shall be three percent (3%) of the gross amount of the receipts received by the licensed operator for the report period that the licensed operator fails to timely mail the required report or remit any excess licensed operator funds as provided in subsection B of this section if the licensed operator fails to fulfill these requirements within five (5) days.

The Service Oklahoma Operator Board may waive the penalty for failing to timely file the accounting report required by this section if the Service Oklahoma Operator Board finds that:

1. The funds to which the report applies have been properly deposited;

2. The failure to timely file the report was due to emergency conditions beyond the control of the licensed operator; and

3. The report has been filed within a week of the date on which it was required to be filed.

Added by Laws 1985, c. 179, § 45, operative July 1, 1985. Amended by Laws 1985, c. 197, § 6, operative July 1, 1985; Laws 1986, c. 223, § 28, operative July 1, 1986; Laws 1988, c. 232, § 2, operative July 1, 1988; Laws 1989, c. 284, § 2, emerg. eff. May 22, 1989; Laws 2006, c. 295, § 6, eff. July 1, 2006; Laws 2007, c. 348, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2007; Laws 2021, c. 569, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2021; Laws 2022, c. 282, § 178, emerg. eff. May 19, 2022.