ERT Letters and Notices of Administrative Fines
Updated:
Date: June 12, 2024
Bulletin: All Dealers and Tag and Title Agencies
From: Business Licensing and Compliance
Purpose
To explain MVA’s letters requesting missing documents and notices of administrative fines issued.
Overview
Dealers and tag and title agencies are required to upload supporting documents for:
- Applications for title and registration of a vehicle
- Applications for title only
- Applications for a certification of salvage
- Requests for duplicate titles
The documents required for each transaction are listed in your ERT system.
The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) verifies that these transactions have the
required documents in two ways – (1) MVA’s software system periodically checks to make sure
each transaction has required documents and (2) MVA customer agents audit ERT transactions to make sure documents are received and the transaction was completed correctly.
These letters and notices were previously sent via the United States Postal Services, but on April 3, 2024, MVA stopped sending them by mail and started sending them via the business portal (1). This means that dealers and tag and title agencies must regularly check their business portal for letters requesting missing documents and if the missing documents were not uploaded, notices assessing administrative fines.
Requests to Provide Missing Information
MVA issues two sets of letters.
- Letters related to current transactions – These letters are generated after the software
system’s periodic check that documents were received for each transaction. If the
documents are not uploaded by the 30th day after the transaction, MVA sends a letter
requesting the missing documents. If the documents are not uploaded, MVA sends two additional letters. If the documents are not uploaded after the third letter, MVA will issue a notice assessing an administrative fine.
(1) This change was made at the request of dealers and tag and title agencies. - Letters related to MVA customer agents auditing ERT transactions – If a customer agent is auditing a transaction and determines that a required document is missing, MVA will send a letter. If the documents are not uploaded, MVA sends additional letters. Customer agents are currently auditing transactions performed in January 2024 but were recently auditing transactions starting from March 2023.
Supporting documents are required for each transaction. This applies to transactions processed before and after the January 1, 2024, electronic filing mandate.
If you receive letters requesting missing documents, it means that MVA does not have the
documents. All documents MVA received have been scanned and uploaded, and all ERT
submissions have been processed. Please upload the requested documents via your ERT system.
If you would like a list of all transactions missing documents, please ask your ERT vendor if they can provide you with this list. You can verify the list generated by your ERT against the letters you received from MVA (either in the mail before April 3, 2024, or in your portal on or after April 3, 2024).
Requests to Waive Administrative Fines
Once you upload your document via your ERT system, you can request a waiver of administrative fines. To request a waiver, send an email to [email protected] and include:
- A request to waive the administrative fines
- Letter ID# printed in the letter
- ERT audit case # printed in the letter
During this transition period to mandatory electronic filing, MVA will consider all requests to
waive administrative fines. This transition period will end, and when it does, the reasons for
granting waivers will be limited to documented technical errors with your vendor. MVA will
provide a 30-day notice before ending the transition period.
If you have any questions, please contact the Business Licensing and Compliance Division at
410-787-2952 or [email protected].