Section 1412. Refunds

(a) A grantor or grantee claiming to have erroneously
  paid  the tax imposed by this article or some other person designated by
  such grantor or grantee may file an application for  refund  within  two
  years from the date of payment. Such application shall be filed with the
  commissioner of taxation and finance on a form which he shall prescribe.
    (b)  The  commissioner  of taxation and finance may grant or deny such
  application in whole or in part and shall notify the applicant  by  mail
  accordingly.  Such  determination  shall be final and irrevocable unless
  the applicant shall, within ninety days after the mailing of  notice  of
  such  determination, petition the division of tax appeals for a hearing.
  After such hearing, the administrative law judge shall  mail  notice  of
  its  determination  to the applicant and to the commissioner of taxation
  and finance. Such determination may  be  reviewed  by  the  tax  appeals
  tribunal  as  provided in article forty of this chapter. The decision of
  the tax appeals tribunal may be reviewed  as  provided  in  section  two
  thousand sixteen of this chapter. A proceeding for judicial review shall
  not  be  instituted unless an undertaking is filed with the commissioner
  of taxation and finance in such amount  and  with  such  sureties  as  a
  justice  of  the  supreme court shall approve to the effect that if such
  proceeding be dismissed or the tax confirmed, the  petitioner  will  pay
  all  costs  and  charges  which  may  accrue  in the prosecution of such
  proceeding.
    (c) A person shall not be entitled to a refund under this section of a
  tax, interest or penalty which had been determined to be due pursuant to
  the provisions of section fourteen hundred eleven of this article  where
  he  has  had  a  hearing or an opportunity for a hearing, as provided in
  said section, or has failed to avail himself  of  the  remedies  therein
  provided. However, a person filing with the commissioner of taxation and
  finance a signed statement in writing, as provided in subdivision (b) of
  section  fourteen hundred eleven of this article, before a determination
  assessing tax, pursuant to subdivision (a) of section  fourteen  hundred
  eleven,  is  issued,  shall,  nevertheless,  be  entitled to apply for a
  refund pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section, as long  as
  such  application  is  made within the time limitation set forth in such
  subdivision (a). No refund shall be made of a tax, interest  or  penalty
  paid  after  a determination by the commissioner of taxation and finance
  made pursuant to section fourteen hundred eleven unless it is found that
  such  determination  was  erroneous,  illegal  or  unconstitutional   or
  otherwise  improper  after  review by the tax appeals tribunal or of the
  commissioner of taxation and finance's own motion, or  in  a  proceeding
  under  article  seventy-eight  of  the  civil  practice  law  and rules,
  pursuant to the provisions of  section  two  thousand  sixteen  of  this
  chapter,  in  which  event  refund shall be made of the tax, interest or
  penalty found to have been overpaid.
    (d) Interest shall be allowed and paid upon any refund  made  pursuant
  to  this section except that no interest shall be allowed or paid if the
  amount thereof would be less than one dollar. Such interest shall be  at
  the overpayment rate set pursuant to section fourteen hundred sixteen of
  this  article  and shall have like application, or if no rate is set, at
  the rate of six per centum per annum from the date when the tax, penalty
  or interest refunded was paid to a date preceding the date of the refund
  check by not more than thirty days. Provided, however, for  purposes  of
  this  subdivision  any  tax  paid before the last day prescribed for its
  payment shall be deemed to have been paid on such last day.