§ 230.459 - Stopping or tolling of the section 10(a) 2-year period.

(a) The period of 2 years from the making of the excess payment, within which a request for refund or credit must be filed under section 10(a), 43 U.S.C. 1339(a), will be:

(1) Tolled by MMS's receipt of a substantially complete request for refund or credit pursuant to § 230.453; or

(2) Tolled by a general tolling notice issued by MMS and published in the Federal Register in circumstances where MMS believes a substantial number of requests for refund or credit could result as a consequence of a pending administrative or judicial proceeding or other action. The running of the 2-year period will be tolled for the time period specified in the notice; or

(3) Stopped by an application for unitization of OCS leases with respect to any excess payment that may result from the reallocation of production among leases after the unit or revision is approved; or

(4) Tolled by a notice filed by a person at the address stated in § 230.453(f) stating that a specifically identified action or proceeding may result in payments made on an OCS lease becoming excess payments. The notice must include:

(i) A list of affected leases and sales months;

(ii) The specific action or proceeding that could result in payments becoming excess;

(iii) An estimate of the amount that could be subject to a request for refund or credit; and

(iv) The person's MMS-established payor code.

(b) A request for refund or credit that is filed timely by a person who made an excess payment on an OCS lease does not stop or toll the running of the 2-year period with respect to any excess payment made by any other person on that lease.