Nevada DMV to issue $1 cash refunds for technology fee; program to start in mid-December
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Mon, 10/25/2021 - 5:22pm
CARSON CITY – Technology fees collected from Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles customers between July 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021 will be refunded in cash as $1 bills available at any DMV office or rural county assessor location where DMV services are offered.
Nevada DMV Director Julie Butler said the agency anticipates a start-date in mid-December 2021 to begin issuing the cash refunds.
Butler said the cash refund program, approved last Thursday by the Nevada Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee, was found to be the most cost effective option for issuing the technology fee refund to customers.
The DMV will be refunding approximately $6 million in technology fees. The administrative cost to the agency will be around $2.3 million, a savings of about $5.5 million against the original $7.8 million appropriated for costs during the 2021 legislative session.
The $1 technology fee was applied to most DMV transactions, including driver’s licenses, state ID cards, vehicle registrations and titles, as well as business licenses.
No appointment is necessary to collect the cash refund. A designated information counter and/or service window at the DMV metropolitan offices will be available to help customers seeking refunds only. Regular service windows can assist customers at smaller DMV locations.
Customers visiting the DMV by appointment can also collect their cash refunds from the same service window they are doing other business from.
To avoid walk-in lines, Butler said customers are encouraged to collect their cash refunds the next time they need to visit the DMV on normal business.
“Our best advice to customers is to combine the refund with other DMV business that they were going to do anyway, so they don’t have to make a special trip,” Butler said.
Commercial fleet customers will receive their technology fee refunds by check in the mail, she said.
No proof of payment is needed for eligible customers to claim their refund. The refund amount owed to a customer will be verified by DMV staff.
No refunds will be issued to individuals who did not pay the technology fee during the refund period.
Technology fee charges ceased May 18, 2021 in response to a Nevada Supreme Court decision earlier in the month that upheld a district court ruling, which voided 2019 legislation authorizing an extension of the fee program. The Nevada DMV had collected a little over $6 million in technology fees during Fiscal Year 2021.
