Effective 28 Aug 2015

301.280. Dealers and garage keepers, sales report required — unclaimed vehicle report required, contents — alteration of vehicle identification number, effect — false statement, penalty. — 1. Every motor vehicle dealer and boat dealer shall make a monthly report to the department of revenue, on blanks to be prescribed by the department of revenue, giving the following information: date of the sale of each motor vehicle, boat, trailer and all-terrain vehicle sold; the name and address of the buyer; the name of the manufacturer; year of manufacture; model of vehicle; vehicle identification number; style of vehicle; odometer setting; and it shall also state whether the motor vehicle, boat, trailer or all-terrain vehicle is new or secondhand. Each monthly sales report filed by a motor vehicle dealer who collects sales tax under subsection 10* of section 144.070 shall also include the amount of state and local sales tax collected for each motor vehicle sold if sales tax was due. The odometer reading is not required when reporting the sale of any motor vehicle that is ten years old or older, any motor vehicle having a gross vehicle weight rating of more than sixteen thousand pounds, new vehicles that are transferred on a manufacturer's statement of origin between one franchised motor vehicle dealer and another, or boats, all-terrain vehicles or trailers. The sale of all temporary permits shall be recorded in the appropriate space on the dealer's monthly sales report, unless the sale of the temporary permit is already recorded by electronic means as determined by the department. The monthly sales report shall be completed in full and signed by an officer, partner, or owner of the dealership, and actually received by the department of revenue on or before the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the month for which the sales are being reported. If no sales occur in any given month, a report shall be submitted for that month indicating no sales. Any vehicle dealer who fails to file a monthly report or who fails to file a timely report shall be subject to disciplinary action as prescribed in section 301.562 or a penalty assessed by the director not to exceed three hundred dollars per violation. Every motor vehicle and boat dealer shall retain copies of the monthly sales report as part of the records to be maintained at the dealership location and shall hold them available for inspection by appropriate law enforcement officials and officials of the department of revenue. Every vehicle dealer selling twenty or more vehicles a month shall file the monthly sales report with the department in an electronic format. Any dealer filing a monthly sales report in an electronic format shall be exempt from filing the notice of transfer required by section 301.196. For any dealer not filing electronically, the notice of transfer required by section 301.196 shall be submitted with the monthly sales report as prescribed by the director.

2. Every dealer and every person operating a public garage shall keep a correct record of the vehicle identification number, odometer setting, manufacturer's name of all motor vehicles or trailers accepted by him for the purpose of sale, rental, storage, repair or repainting, together with the name and address of the person delivering such motor vehicle or trailer to the dealer or public garage keeper, and the person delivering such motor vehicle or trailer shall record such information in a file kept by the dealer or garage keeper. The record shall be kept for five years and be open for inspection by law enforcement officials, members or authorized or designated employees of the Missouri highway patrol, and persons, agencies and officials designated by the director of revenue.

3. Every dealer and every person operating a public garage in which a motor vehicle remains unclaimed for a period of fifteen days shall, within five days after the expiration of that period, report the motor vehicle as unclaimed to the director of revenue. Such report shall be on a form prescribed by the director of revenue. A motor vehicle left by its owner whose name and address are known to the dealer or his employee or person operating a public garage or his employee is not considered unclaimed. Any dealer or person operating a public garage who fails to report a motor vehicle as unclaimed as herein required forfeits all claims and liens for its garaging, parking or storing.

4. The director of revenue shall maintain appropriately indexed cumulative records of unclaimed vehicles reported to the director. Such records shall be kept open to public inspection during reasonable business hours.

5. The alteration or obliteration of the vehicle identification number on any such motor vehicle shall be prima facie evidence of larceny, and the dealer or person operating such public garage shall upon the discovery of such obliteration or alteration immediately notify the highway patrol, sheriff, marshal, constable or chief of police of the municipality where the dealer or garage keeper has his place of business, and shall hold such motor vehicle or trailer for a period of forty-eight hours for the purpose of an investigation by the officer so notified.

6. Any person who knowingly makes a false statement or omission of a material fact in a monthly sales report to the department of revenue, as described in subsection 1 of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

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(RSMo 1939 § 8381, A.L. 1974 H.B. 985, A.L. 1983 S.B. 9, A.L. 1984 S.B. 656, A.L. 1986 H.B. 1367 & 1573, A.L. 1988 H.B. 990, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1279, A.L. 1993 S.B. 35, A.L. 1997 H.B. 207, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1233, et al., A.L. 2007 S.B. 82, A.L. 2009 H.B. 683, A.L. 2012 H.B. 1402, A.L. 2015 H.B. 686)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7773; 1919 §§ 7568, 7605

*Statutory reference to subsection "8" changed to "10" in accordance with section 3.060 based on renumbering within section 144.070 in S.B. 89 and S.B. 368, 2019.