H. B. 4326


(By Delegates Fleischauer, Susman, Hutchins,
Hubbard, Faircloth, Douglas and Kominar)
[Introduced February 1, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]



A BILL to amend chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated article thirteen-p, relating to taxation; and providing a small business tax credit equal to any guaranty fee paid to the small business administration to obtain small business administration financing.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated article thirteen-p, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13P. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDIT.
§11-13P-1. Short title.

This article may be cited as the "West Virginia Small Business Tax Credit Act."
§11-13P-2. Small business tax credit.

(a) For the purposes of this article, a "small business" is any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship or other business entity which has an annual payroll of one million five thousand dollars or less, or annual gross sales of not more than five million dollars.
(b) Each small business formed under the laws of the state of West Virginia and operating within the state is entitled to claim as a credit against the tax imposed by articles twenty-one, twenty-three and twenty-four of this chapter, for any amount paid to the United States small business administration as a guaranty fee pursuant to the obtaining of small business administration guaranteed financing.
(c) This credit is available as a one-time credit to be used within five years from the date that the fee is incurred. The credit may be used at the discretion of the small business incurring the fee. The credit may not reduce the tax below the minimum tax where a minimum tax is provided under the specified articles and may only be claimed by the small business which is the primary obligor in the financing transaction and which actually paid the guaranty fee.
§11-13P-3. Tax commissioner to propose legislative rules; effective date.

(a) The tax commissioner shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine of this code regarding the method of claiming the credit and documentation necessary to claim the credit. The commissioner may promulgate the initial rules as emergency rules in order to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of this article.
(b) The credit allowed by this section applies to tax years beginning after the thirty-first day of December, two thousand.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give small businesses a tax credit equal to any guaranty fee they pay to the Small Business Administration in order to obtain SBA financing.

This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.