Introduced Version
House Bill 2744 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2744
(By Delegates Perdue, Hatfield, Marshall,
Michael, Moore, Rodighiero and Border)
[Introduced
February 23, 2009
; referred to the
Committee on Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic Development and
Small Business then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13Z-1, relating
to providing a temporary tax credit for small group employers
to cover fifty percent of the premium for the first year times
the percentage of the employees premiums that are paid by the
employer; twenty-five percent of the premium for the second
year times the percentage of the employees premium paid by the
employer: establishes limits on the amount of the tax credit;
establishes the order of taxes potentially receiving the tax
credit and determines that an employer must provide insurance
coverage for three years to be eligible.
Be it enacted by the Legislature or West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13Z-1, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 13Z. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDIT.
§11-13Z-1. Tax Credit for Small Businesses.
(a) Credit allowed. -- There shall be allowed to each eligible
small group employer with less than twenty-five employees a tax
credit of up to fifty percent of the cost of their private health
insurance benefit times the percentage of premium cost that is paid
by the small group employer. An eligible employer must maintain
its corporate headquarters in West Virginia and the tax credit is
available for the taxable year in which the investment was made.
(b) No more than $6 million of the tax credits allowed under
subsection (a) of this section shall be allocated by the Governor's
Office of Health System Improvement during any fiscal year. The
Governor's Office of Health System Improvement shall allocate the
tax credits in the order the applications are received.
(c) Business franchise tax. -- The tax credit is first applied
to reduce the taxes imposed upon the eligible taxpayer by article
twenty-three of this chapter for the taxable year (determined after
application of the credits against tax provided in section
seventeen of said article, but before application of any other
allowable credits against tax).
(d) Corporation net income taxes. -- After application of
subsection (c) of this section, any unused tax credit is next
applied to reduce the taxes imposed upon the eligible taxpayer by
article twenty-four of this chapter for the taxable year (determined before application of allowable credits against tax).
(e) If the eligible taxpayer is a limited liability company,
an electing small business corporation (as defined in section 1361
of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended), or
a partnership, any unused tax credit remaining after application of
subsections (c) and (d) of this section is allowed as a tax credit
against the taxes imposed by article twenty-four of this chapter on
owners of the eligible taxpayer.
(1) Electing small business corporations, as defined in
subsection (e) of this section, limited liability companies, and
partnerships shall allocate the tax credit allowed by this article
among their members in the same manner as profits and losses are
allocated for the taxable year.
(2) No tax credit is allowed under this article against any
withholding tax imposed by, or payable under, article twenty-one of
this chapter.
(f) Personal income tax taxes. -- After application of
subsections (c), (d) and (e) of this section, any unused tax credit
is next applied to reduce the taxes imposed by article twenty-one
of this chapter for the taxable year (determined before application
of allowable credits against tax) of the eligible taxpayer.
(g) If the eligible taxpayer is a limited liability company,
an electing small business corporation (as defined in subsection
(e) of this section) or a partnership, any unused tax credit remaining after application of subsections (c), (d), (e) and (f) of
this section is allowed as a tax credit against the taxes imposed
by article twenty-one of this chapter on owners of the eligible
taxpayer.
(1) Electing small business corporations, as defined in
subsection (e) of this section, limited liability companies, and
partnerships shall allocate the tax credit allowed by this article
among their members in the same manner as profits and losses are
allocated for the taxable year.
(2) No tax credit is allowed under this article against any
withholding tax imposed by, or payable under, article twenty-one of
this chapter.
(h) The total amount of tax credit that may be used in any
taxable year by any eligible taxpayer in combination with the
owners of the eligible taxpayer under subsections (e) and (g) of
this section may not exceed $25,000.
(i) The total amount of tax credit at fifty percent of the
cost of the insurance times the percentage the small group employer
pays of the total cost of the employees insurance may be used for
one year; in year two only twenty-five percent of the cost of
insurance times the percentage the small group employer pays of the
total cost of the employees insurance may be used as a tax credit
and in year three, no tax credit is available.
(j) Unused credit carry forward. -- If the tax credit allowed under this article in any taxable year exceeds the sum of the taxes
enumerated in subsections (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) of this
section for that taxable year, the eligible taxpayer and owners of
eligible taxpayers described in subsections (e) and (g) of this
section may apply the excess as a tax credit against those taxes,
in the order and manner stated in this section, for succeeding
taxable years until the earlier of the following:
(1) The full amount of the excess tax credit is used; or
(2) The expiration of the fourth taxable year after the
taxable year in which the investment was made. The tax credit
remaining thereafter is forfeited.
(k) No tax credit is allowed or may be applied under this
article until the taxpayer seeking to claim the tax credit has:
(1) Filed with the Governor's Office of Health System
Improvement a written application for the tax credit and required
proof of eligibility;
and
(2) Received from the Governor's Office of Health Enhancement
and Lifestyle Planning a certification of the amount of tax credit
to be allocated to the eligible taxpayer.
NOTE: The purpose of the bill is to give a temporary tax
credit to small business employers to assist in the purchase of
health insurance for their employees.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
This bill is recommended for passage by the Select Committee
D on Health.