H. B. 2122
(By Delegates Walters, Henderson, Sprouse, Border,
and Nesbitt)
[Introduced January 23, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article three, chapter
seventeen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to application for
certificate of title; tax for privilege of certification of
title.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article three, chapter seventeen-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. ORIGINAL AND RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION; ISSUANCE OF
CERTIFICATES OF TITLE.
§17A-3-4. Application for certificate of title; tax for privilege of certification of title; exceptions; privilege tax on
payments for leased vehicles; revenue allocations; transfers;
penalty for false swearing.
(a) Certificates A certificate of registration of any
vehicle or registration plates therefor, whether original issues
or duplicates, shall not be issued or furnished by the division
of motor vehicles or any other officer charged with the duty,
unless the applicant therefor already has received, or at the
same time makes application applies for and is granted, an
official certificate of title of the vehicle. The application
shall be upon a blank form to be furnished by the division of
motor vehicles and shall contain a full description of the
vehicle, which description shall contain including a
manufacturer's serial or identification number or other number as
determined by the commissioner and any distinguishing marks.
together with The application shall include a statement of the
applicant's title and of any liens or encumbrances upon the
vehicle, the names and addresses of the holders of the liens and
any other information as the division of motor vehicles may
require. The application shall be signed and sworn to by the
applicant.
(b) A tax is hereby imposed upon the privilege of effecting
the certification of title of each vehicle in the amount equal to
five percent of the value of the motor vehicle at the time of the
certification, to be assessed as follows:
(1) If the vehicle is new, the actual purchase price or
consideration to the purchaser thereof is the value of the
vehicle; if the vehicle is a used or secondhand vehicle, the
present market value at time of transfer or purchase is the value
thereof for the purposes of this section: Provided, That so much
of the purchase price or consideration as is represented by the
exchange of other vehicles on which the tax imposed by this
section has been paid by the purchaser shall be deducted from the
total actual price or consideration paid for the vehicle, whether
the same vehicle be new or secondhand; if the vehicle is acquired
through gift, or by any manner whatsoever, unless specifically
exempted in this section, the present market value of the vehicle
at the time of the gift or transfer is the value thereof for the
purposes of this section.
(2) No certificate of title for any vehicle shall may be
issued to any applicant unless the applicant has paid to the division of motor vehicles the tax imposed by this section which
is five percent of the true and actual value of the vehicle
whether the vehicle is acquired through purchase, by gift or by
any other manner whatsoever except gifts between husband and wife
or between parents and children: Provided, That the husband or
wife, or the parents or children previously have paid the tax on
the vehicles vehicle transferred to the state of West Virginia.
(3) The division of motor vehicles may shall issue a
certificate of registration and title to an applicant if the
applicant provides sufficient proof to the division of motor
vehicles that the applicant has paid the taxes and fees required
by this section to a motor vehicle dealership that has gone out
of business or has filed bankruptcy proceedings in the United
States bankruptcy court and the taxes and fees so required to be
paid by the applicant have not been sent to the division of motor
vehicles by the motor vehicle dealership or have been impounded
due to the bankruptcy proceedings: Provided, That the applicant
makes an affidavit of the same payment of taxes and fees and
assigns all rights to claims for money the applicant may have
against the motor vehicle dealership to the division of motor vehicles.
(4) The division of motor vehicles shall issue a certificate
of registration and title to an applicant without payment of the
tax imposed by this section if the applicant is a corporation,
partnership or limited liability company transferring the vehicle
to another corporation, partnership or limited liability company
when the entities involved in the transfer are members of the
same controlled group and the transferring entity has previously
paid the tax on the vehicle transferred. For the purposes of
this section, control means ownership, directly or indirectly, of
stock or equity interests possessing fifty percent or more of the
total combined voting power of all classes of the stock of a
corporation or equity interests of a partnership or limited
liability company entitled to vote or ownership, directly or
indirectly, of stock or equity interests possessing fifty percent
or more of the value of the corporation, partnership or limited
liability company.
(5) The tax imposed by this section does not apply to
vehicles to be registered as Class H vehicles, or Class S
vehicles, as defined in section one, article ten of this chapter, which are used or to be used in interstate commerce. Nor does
the tax imposed by this section apply to the titling of Class B,
Class K or Class E vehicles registered at a gross weight of
fifty-five thousand pounds or more, or to the titling of Class C
or Class L semitrailers, full trailers, pole trailers and
converter gear: Provided, That if an owner of a vehicle has
previously titled the vehicle at a declared gross weight of
fifty-five thousand pounds or more and the title was issued
without the payment of the tax imposed by this section, then
before the owner may obtain registration for the vehicle at a
gross weight less than fifty-five thousand pounds, the owner must
shall surrender to the commissioner the exempted registration,
the exempted certificate of title, and pay the tax imposed by
this section based upon the current market value of the vehicle:
Provided, however, That notwithstanding the provisions of section
nine, article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code, the exemption
from tax under this section for Class B, Class K or Class E
vehicles in excess of fifty-five thousand pounds and Class C or
Class L semitrailers, full trailers, pole trailers and converter
gear shall not subject the sale or purchase of the vehicles to the consumers sales tax.
(6) The tax imposed by this section does not apply to
titling of vehicles leased by residents of West Virginia. A tax
is hereby imposed upon the monthly payments for the lease of any
motor vehicle leased by a resident of West Virginia, which tax is
equal to five percent of the amount of the monthly payment,
applied to each payment, and continuing for the entire term of
the initial lease period. The tax shall be remitted to the
division of motor vehicles on a monthly basis by the lessor of
the vehicle.
(7) The tax imposed by this section does not apply to
titling of vehicles for resale only by a registered dealer of
this state. for resale only, nor does the The tax imposed by
this section does not apply to titling of vehicles by this state
or any political subdivision thereof, or by any volunteer fire
department or duly chartered rescue or ambulance squad organized
and incorporated under the laws of the this state of West
Virginia as a nonprofit corporation for protection of life or
property. The total amount of revenue collected by reason as a
result of this tax shall be paid into the state road fund and expended by the commissioner of highways for matching federal
funds allocated for West Virginia. In addition to the tax, there
is a charge of five dollars for each original certificate of
title or duplicate certificate of title so issued: Provided,
That this state or any political subdivision thereof, or any
volunteer fire department, or duly chartered rescue squad, is
exempt from payment of the charge.
(8) The certificate is good for the life of the vehicle, so
long as the same vehicle is owned or held by the original holder
of the certificate, and need not be renewed annually, or any
other time, except as provided in this section.
(9) If, by will or direct inheritance, a person becomes the
owner of a motor vehicle and the tax imposed by this section
previously has been paid, to the division of motor vehicles, on
that vehicle, he or she the person is not required to pay the
tax.
(10) A person who has paid the tax imposed by this section
is not required to pay the tax a second time for the same motor
vehicle, but is required to shall pay a charge of five dollars
for the certificate of retitle of that motor vehicle: except that Provided, That the tax shall be paid by the person when the
title to the vehicle has been transferred either in this or
another state from such the person to another person and
transferred back to such the person.
(c) Notwithstanding any provisions of this code to the
contrary, the owners of trailers, semitrailers, recreational
vehicles and other vehicles not subject to the certificate of
title tax prior to the enactment of this chapter are subject to
the privilege tax imposed by this section: Provided, That the
certification of title of any recreational vehicle owned by the
applicant on the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-nine, is not subject to the tax imposed by this section:
Provided, however, That the following are not subject to the tax
imposed by this section, but are taxable under the provisions of
articles fifteen and fifteen-a, chapter eleven of this code: (1)
Mobile homes, house trailers, modular homes and similar nonmotive
propelled vehicles, except recreational vehicles, susceptible of
being moved upon the highways but primarily designed for
habitation and occupancy, rather than for transporting persons or
property; or and (2) any vehicle operated on a nonprofit basis and used exclusively for the transportation of mentally retarded
or physically handicapped children when the application for
certificate of registration for the vehicle is accompanied by an
affidavit stating that the vehicle will be operated on a
nonprofit basis and used exclusively for the transportation of
mentally retarded and physically handicapped children. are not
subject to the tax imposed by this section, but are taxable under
the provisions of articles fifteen and fifteen-a, chapter eleven
of this code
(d) Any person making any affidavit required under any
provision of this section, who knowingly swears falsely, or any
person who counsels, advises, aids or abets another in the
commission of false swearing, is on the first offense guilty of
a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned in the county
regional jail for a period not to exceed six months, or, in the
discretion of the court, both fined and imprisoned. For a second
or any subsequent conviction within five years, that person is
guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not more than five thousand dollars or be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than five years
or, in the discretion of the court, both fined and imprisoned.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section,
any person in the military stationed outside West Virginia, or
his or her dependents who possess a motor vehicle with valid
registration, are exempt from the provisions of this article for
a period of nine months from the date that that the person
returns to this state or the date his or her dependent returns to
this state, whichever is later.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any
nonresident individual or husband and wife or parents of children
initially applying for a certificate of registration of any
vehicle, whether original issue or duplicate shall be subject to
a tax imposed upon the privilege of effecting the certification
of title of each vehicle in an amount equal to one percent of the
value of the motor vehicle at the time of certification:
Provided, That this subsection shall apply only to those
nonresidents applying for certification who are relocating within
the state as new resident citizens within the time limitations
prescribed in subsection (a), section one-a of this article:
Provided, however,
That this subsection is intended to apply on
a one-time basis to new residents of this state, assuming all
other requirements of this article are satisfied, after which
time the amount of tax shall revert to that recited in section
four-b of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to decrease the tax
imposed at the time of certification of title for new residents
of the state of West Virginia from five percent to one percent of
the value of the motor vehicle.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.