H. B. 2078
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Trump
and Rowe)
[Introduced January 13, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article twenty-two,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to real estate
transfer taxes; exempting transfers between grandparent and
grandchild; exempting conversions to limited liability
companies from corporations, partnerships, limited
partnerships or trusts; and defining the term limited
liability company.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article twenty-two, chapter eleven of the
code of West Virginia one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22. EXCISE TAX ON PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING REAL
PROPERTY.
§11-22-1. Definitions.
The following words when used in this chapter shall have
meanings ascribed to them in this section, except in those
instances where the context clearly indicates a different
meaning:
"Association" means a partnership, limited partnership or any
other form of unincorporated enterprise, owned or conducted by
two or more persons.
"Corporation" means a corporation or joint-stock association,
organized under the laws of this state, the United States or any
other state, territory or foreign country or dependency,
including, but not limited to, banking institutions.
"Commissioner" means the state tax commissioner.
"Document" means any deed, or instrument or writing whereby
any real property within this state or any interest therein shall
be granted, conveyed or otherwise transferred to the grantee,
purchaser or any other person; but does not include wills,
transfer of real property where the value of the property
transferred is one hundred dollars or less, testamentary or inter
vivos trusts, deeds of partition, deeds made pursuant to mergers
of corporations,
limited liability companies, partnerships,
limited partnerships, testamentary or inter vivos trusts, deeds
made pursuant to conversions to limited liability companies from
corporations, partnerships, limited partnerships or trusts, deeds
made by a subsidiary corporation to its parent corporation for no
consideration other than the cancellation or surrender of the
subsidiary's stock, leases, transfers between husband and wife, transfers between parent and child, or transfers between parent
and child and his or her spouse, without consideration,
transfers between grandparent and grandchild, or transfers
between grandparent and grandchild and his or her spouse, without
consideration, transfers without consideration between a
principal and straw party for any purpose, gifts to or transfers
from or between voluntary charitable or educational associations
or trustees thereof and like nonprofit corporations having the
same or similar purposes, quitclaim or corrective deeds without
consideration, transfers to or from the United States, the State
of West Virginia, or to or from any of their instrumentalities,
agencies or political subdivisions, by gift, dedication, deed or
condemnation proceedings, or mortgages or deeds of trust given as
security for a debt.
"Limited liability company" means a limited liability company
organized under the laws of this state, the United States or by
any other state, territory or the District of Columbia.
"Person" means every natural person, association, or
corporation. Whenever used in any clause prescribing and
imposing a fine or imprisonment, or both, the term "person" as
applied to associations, shall mean the partners or members
thereof, and, as applied to corporations, the officers thereof.
"Transaction" means the delivering, accepting or presenting
for recording of a document.
"Value" means in the case of any document not a gift, the
amount of the full actual consideration therefor, paid or to be paid, including the amount of any lien or liens assumed; in the
case of a gift, or any other document without consideration, the
actual monetary value of the property conveyed or transferred.
In the event any document includes real property or any interest
therein lying outside the state of West Virginia or includes
personal property, value shall be the proportion of the
consideration paid in case of the transfer for consideration, or
the proportion of the true and actual value in case of a gift,
which the actual value of the real property located in West
Virginia bears to the total actual value of all the property,
real or personal, transferred by the document. The value as
herein defined shall be stated in the declaration of
consideration or value provided for in section six
hereof of this
article.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.