(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this Section 1113 or as provided in Section 1113.1, the Controller shall refund or cause to be refunded the amount of any tax, interest, or penalty imposed under this Article 12-C that has been overpaid or paid more than once, or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City, provided the person that paid such amount files a claim in writing with the Controller within the later of one year of payment of such amount or the date the tax was due. The claim must state: (1) the specific amount claimed to have been overpaid or paid more than once, or erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City; (2) the date of transfer; and (3) the grounds upon which the claim is founded, with specificity sufficient to enable the responsible City officials to understand and evaluate the claim.
(b) Claims for refund shall be made according to California Government Code, Title 1, Division 3.6, Part 3. The Controller shall furnish a form to be used for these claims. The Controller shall enter the claim in the register, and shall forthwith forward it to the City Attorney. The City Attorney is designated to take such actions on claims as authorized by California Government Code, Title 1, Division 3.6, Part 3, Chapter 2, except that the City Attorney's authority with regard to rejecting or allowing claims shall be as provided in this Section 1113. The City Attorney may reject the claim, and shall notify the claimant of such rejection. Except as provided in subsection (c), allowance or compromise and settlement of claims under this Section 1113 in excess of $25,000 shall require the written approval of the City Attorney and approval of the Board of Supervisors by resolution. The City Attorney may allow or compromise and settle such claims if the amount is $25,000 or less. No claim may be paid until the Controller certifies that monies are available from the proper funds or appropriations to pay the claim as allowed or as compromised and settled. If the City approves the claim, the City may refund the excess amount collected or paid, or may credit such amount toward any amount due and payable to the City from the person from whom it was collected or by whom it was paid, and the balance may be refunded to such person, or the person's administrator or executor. For purposes of this Section 1113, a claim shall be deemed to accrue on the later of the date the tax was due or the date the tax was paid.
(c) Notwithstanding the $25,000 limitation on the City Attorney’s authority in subsection (b) of this Section 1113, the City Attorney, with the approval of the County Recorder but without the approval of the Board of Supervisors, may allow or compromise and settle claims under this Section 1113, and suits for refund following the denial of claims under this Section 1113, for any amount up to the amount of transfer tax, penalties, and interest paid that exceeds the amount of transfer tax, penalties, and interest that would have been due on a transaction if the amount of transfer tax, penalties, and interest due had been calculated using the value of the real property on the date of the transaction as finally determined by the Assessment Appeals Board of the City and County of San Francisco plus statutory interest under Section 1113.2.
(d) The City Attorney, in the City Attorney’s discretion and upon good cause shown, prior to the expiration of the one-year limitations period, may waive the requirement set forth in subsection (a) of this Section 1113 that a taxpayer file a written claim for a refund in any case in which the County Recorder and City Attorney determine on the basis of the evidence that:
(1) an amount of tax, interest, or penalty has been overpaid or paid more than once, or has been erroneously or illegally collected or received by the City; and
(2) all other conditions precedent to the payment of a refund to the taxpayer have been satisfied.