RICHMOND, Va. β Maiga Dorval has been fighting the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles for more than two years over what she says was an erroneous tax payment of nearly $2,000 that should never have been collected.
After moving to Richmond from Missouri, Dorval went to the DMV in July 2023 to register her car. During the process, she said she was told by a representative that she'd have to pay a pretty hefty tax.
"While I was registering my out-of-state vehicle, I was told that I needed to provide proof of the sales and use tax that I paid in my previous state, and I was like, 'OK?' I paid it, even though I was really unsure that I needed to," Dorval said.
She ended up paying the $1,968 tax but then went home and started doing some research into the tax requirements and exemptions per the Code of Virginia. That's when Dorval, a lawyer, became skeptical about whether the payment was necessary.
According to a DMV spokesperson, if a vehicle has been titled in the same owner's name in another state for over a year, it is exempt from Virginia's sales and use tax when registered for the first time. This applies regardless of whether the vehicle was leased or owned, provided the applicant presents a valid title or registration. Further, guidance published on DMV's website says providing proof of a sales and use tax payment in another state is not necessary when the car is titled in an owner's name for more than 12 months.
Dorval had already been leasing the vehicle for more than 12 months in her previous state before moving to Virginia and registering the vehicle.
"So I went back the next day, and I've been fighting for my refund ever since," Dorval said.
But getting her money back proved challenging.
Initially, Dorval says she heard nothing from the DMV regarding her refund application for months. Then, she said she was told she needed written permission from the leasing company to release the funds, which she obtained and provided, but still received no refund.
"So it was just a lot of back and forth with them, and nobody could tell me why I couldn't get my refund, what the proper procedure was to get my refund, and I felt that it was very unfair when it was their fault that I had to go through all of this rigmarole just to get my refund, and it was their error," Dorval said. "Especially in the beginning, I felt very dismissed. I just kept getting passed from department to department, and at the end of the day, there has to be somebody accountable to the public."
With the three-year deadline to claim her funds approaching and getting nowhere with the DMV, Dorval reached out to CBS 6 for help.
"I saw that you had done other investigative reports with other agencies. So I was like, 'You know what? Maybe you can assist me,'" Dorval told reporter Tyler Layne. "You ended up, I guess, calling them. And then the next day, they called me and was like, 'We're processing your refund.'"
After CBS 6 contacted the agency, Dorval was notified the next day that she would receive a check from the DMV within four weeks. She says they did not provide an explanation for the lengthy delay or what exactly happened in her situation.
When CBS 6 asked the DMV about Dorval's case, spokesperson Camila Barco said she couldn't disclose customer information due to privacy protections but offered to share responses with Dorval directly. However, when Dorval requested those responses, Barco sent her the same email she had already sent to CBS 6 which stated she could only share information with the customer directly.
"I do not think I should have had to do all of this, but thank goodness there was this avenue to be able to do that," Dorval said.
Dorval hopes the DMV will improve training and policies so others don't pay fees they may not actually owe.
"If I'm dealing with an agency, I would hope that they would deal with me fairly, and that the people that are processing whatever paperwork or documents that I'm providing actually know the protocol," Dorval said.
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