The information collection requirements contained in this part have been approved by OMB under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. The forms, filing date, and approved OMB clearance numbers are identified in § 1210.10 of this chapter.

(a) An assessment of an amount not to exceed $10 per day may be charged for each report not received by Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) by the designated due date for geothermal, solid minerals, and Indian oil and gas leases.

(b) An assessment of an amount not to exceed $10 per day may be charged for each incorrectly completed report for geothermal, solid minerals, and Indian oil and gas leases.

(c) For purpose of assessments discussed in this section, a report is defined as follows:

(1) For coal and other solid minerals leases, a report is each line on Form ONRR-4430, Solid Minerals Production and Royalty Report; or on Form ONRR-2014, Report of Sales and Royalty Remittance, as appropriate.

(2) For Indian oil and gas and all geothermal leases, a report is each line on Form ONRR-2014.

(d) An assessment under this section shall not be shared with a State, Indian tribe, or Indian allottee.

(e) The amount of the assessment to be imposed pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall be established periodically by ONRR. The assessment amount for each violation will be based on ONRR's experience with costs and improper reporting. The ONRR will publish a Notice of the assessment amount to be applied in the Federal Register.

(a) The ONRR may assess an amount not to exceed $250 when the amount of a payment submitted by a reporter/payor for geothermal, solid minerals, and Indian oil and gas leases is not equivalent in amount to the total of individual line items on the associated Form ONRR-2014, Form ONRR-4430, or a bill document, unless ONRR has authorized the difference in amount.

(b) The ONRR may assess an amount not to exceed $250 for each payment for geothermal, solid minerals, and Indian oil and gas leases submitted by a reporter/payor that cannot be automatically applied to the associated Form ONRR-2014, Form ONRR-4430, or a bill document because of inadequate or erroneous information submitted by the reporter/payor.

(c) For purposes of this section, inadequate or erroneous information is defined as:

(1) Absent or incorrect payor-assigned document number, required to be identified by the reporter/payor in Block 4 on Form ONRR-2014 (document 4 number), or the reuse of the same incorrect payor-assigned document 4 number in a subsequent reporting period.

(2) Absent or incorrect bill document invoice number (to include the three-character alpha prefix and the nine-digit number) or the payor-assigned document 4 number required to be identified by the reporter/payor on the associated payment document, or the reuse of the same incorrect payor-assigned document 4 number in a subsequent reporting period.

(3) Absent or incorrect name of the administering Bureau of Indian Affairs Agency/Area office; or the word “allotted” or the tribe name on payment documents remitted to ONRR for an Indian tribe or allottee. If the payment is made by EFT, the reporter/payor must identify the tribe/allottee on the EFT message by a pre-established five-digit code.

(4) Absent or incorrect ONRR-assigned payor code on a payment document.

(5) Absent or incorrect identification on a payment document.

(d) For purposes of this section, the term “Form ONRR-2014” includes submission of reports of royalty information, such as Form ONRR-4430.

(e) For purposes of this section, a bill document is defined as any invoice that ONRR has issued for assessments, late-payment interest charges, or other amount owed. A payment document is defined as a check or wire transfer message.

(f) The amount of the assessment to be imposed pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall be established periodically by ONRR. The assessment amount will be based on ONRR's experience with costs and improper reporting and/or payment as specified in this section. The ONRR will publish a Notice in the Federal Register of the assessment amount to be applied with the effective date.

(a) Interest due from a payor on any underpayment for any Federal mineral lease or leases (onshore or offshore) and on any Indian tribal mineral lease or leases for any production month shall not be reduced by offsetting against that underpayment any overpayment made by the payor on any other lease or leases, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section. Interest due from a payor or any underpayment on any Indian allotted lease shall not be reduced by offsetting against any overpayment on any other Indian allotted lease under any circumstances.

(b) Royalties attributed to production from a lease or leases which should have been attributed to production from a different lease or leases may be offset to determine whether and to what extent an underpayment exists on which interest is due if the following conditions are met:

(1) The error results from attributing and reporting an equal volume of production, produced from a lease or leases during a particular production month, to a different lease or leases from which it was not produced for the same or another production month;

(2) The payor is the same for the lease or leases to which production was attributed and the lease or leases to which it should have been attributed;

(3) The payor submits production reports, pipeline allocation reports, or other similar documentary evidence pertaining to the specific production involved which verifies the correct production information;

(4) The lessor is the same for the leases involved (in the case of Indian tribal leases, the same tribe is the lessor); and

(5) The ultimate recipients of any royalty or other lease revenues under any applicable permanent indefinite appropriations are the same for, and receive the same percentage of revenue from, the leases.

(c) If ONRR assesses late-payment interest and the payor asserts that some or all of the interest assessed is not owed pursuant to the exception set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, the burden is on the payor to demonstrate that the exception applies in the specific circumstances of the case.

(d) The exception set forth in paragraph (b) of this section shall not operate to relieve any payor of liability imposed by statute or regulation for erroneous reporting.