258-A - Payment of tax on instruments not recorded.

§ 258-a.  Payment  of  tax  on instruments not recorded. An instrument  taxable under this article but which is not entitled to be recorded, may  nevertheless be presented to the recording  officer  of  the  county  in  which  the real property or any part thereof affected by said instrument  is situated, and there may be paid to such officer the amount of the tax  which would be payable under this  article  on  the  recording  of  such  instrument  if the same were entitled to be recorded. Such officer shall  receive such amount and such payment  shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect,  so  far as this article is concerned, as if such instrument had  been duly recorded and the tax thereon paid. It shall be the duty of the  recording officer to indorse upon  the  instrument  a  receipt  for  the  amount  of the tax so paid. A copy of each instrument upon which the tax  is paid as above provided shall be filed with the recording officer  and  preserved among his mortgage tax records.    Where  an  unrecorded  instrument  subject  to the tax imposed by this  article  has  been  lost  or  destroyed,  the   tax   commission,   upon  presentation  of proper proofs, may determine the taxable amount of such  instrument and by order authorize the recording officer to  receive  and  receipt for such tax as fully and with the same force and effect, so far  as  this  article  is  concerned,  as  if  the  instrument had been duly  recorded and the tax thereon paid.