Motor fuel transported in Texas by barge, vessel, railroad tank car, or transport vehicle must have a compliant shipping document, and several parties must issue, carry, show, deliver, and retain it.
Sec. 162.004. MOTOR FUEL TRANSPORTATION: REQUIRED DOCUMENTS. (a) A person may not transport in this state any motor fuel by barge, vessel, railroad tank car, or transport vehicle unless the person has a shipping document for the motor fuel that complies with this section. (a-1) A terminal operator or operator of a bulk plant shall give a shipping document to the person who operates the barge, vessel, railroad tank car, or transport vehicle into which motor fuel is loaded at the terminal rack or bulk plant rack. (b) A shipping document shall contain the following information and any other information required by the comptroller: (1) the terminal control number of the terminal or physical address of the terminal or bulk plant from which the motor fuel was received; (2) the name of the purchaser; (3) the date the motor fuel was loaded; (4) the net gallons loaded, or the gross gallons loaded if the fuel was purchased from a bulk plant; (5) the destination state of the motor fuel, as represented by the purchaser of the motor fuel or the purchaser's agent; and (6) a description of the product being transported. (c) In the event of an extraordinary circumstance, including an act of God, that temporarily interferes with the ability to issue an automated machine-generated shipping document, a manually prepared shipping document that contains all of the information required by Subsection (b) shall be substituted for the machine-generated shipping document. (d) A terminal operator or bulk plant operator may rely on the representation made by the purchaser of motor fuel or the purchaser's agent concerning the destination state of the motor fuel. A purchaser is liable for any tax due as a result of the purchaser's diversion of motor fuel from the represented destination state. (e) A person to whom a shipping document was issued shall: (1) carry the shipping document in the barge, vessel, railroad tank car, or other transport vehicle for which the document was issued when transporting the motor fuel described in the document; (2) show the shipping document on request to any law enforcement officer, representative of the comptroller, or other authorized individual, when transporting the motor fuel described; (3) deliver the motor fuel to the destination state printed on the shipping document unless the person: (A) notifies the comptroller and the destination state, if a diversion program is in place, before transporting the motor fuel into a state other than the printed destination state, that the person has received instructions after the shipping document was issued to deliver the motor fuel to a different destination state; (B) receives from the comptroller and destination state, if a diversion program is in place, a diversion number authorizing the diversion; and (C) writes on the shipping document the change in destination state and the diversion number; and (4) give a copy of the shipping document to the person to whom the motor fuel is delivered. (f) The purchaser is responsible for paying the applicable destination state taxes along with filing a refund with the origin state. The supplier may not refund any taxes due to the diversion of a product. (g) The person to whom motor fuel is delivered by barge, vessel, railroad tank car, or transport vehicle may not accept delivery of the motor fuel if the destination state shown on the shipping document for the motor fuel is a state other than this state, except that the person may accept that delivery if the document contains a diversion number authorized by the comptroller and destination state, if applicable. The person to whom the motor fuel is delivered shall examine the shipping document to determine that the destination state is this state, and shall retain a copy of the shipping document at the delivery location or another place until the fourth anniversary of the date of delivery. (h) This section does not apply to motor fuel that is delivered into the fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle. Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 199, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2004. Amended by: Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1227 (S.B. 1495), Sec. 8, eff. September 1, 2009.