ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2670
(By Delegate Warner)
[Passed March 13, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to repeal sections seven-a, seven-b, article six, chapter
eleven; and section one, article six-g, chapter eleven of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended; to amend and reenact sections one and
seven, article six of said chapter; to amend and reenact
sections two, three, five, twelve, thirteen and seventeen,
article six-g of said chapter; and to amend and reenact
section ten-a, article two, chapter seventeen-a, all
relating to the assessment of ad valorem fees on interstate
motor vehicles; the disclosure and obtaining of information
by the motor vehicles commissioner; and the duty and
liability of the commissioner of motor vehicles to collect
taxes and fees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections seven-a, seven-b, article six, chapter eleven; and section one, article six-g, chapter eleven of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be repealed; that sections one and seven, article six of said
chapter be amended and reenacted; that sections two, three, five,
twelve, thirteen and seventeen, article six-g of said chapter be
amended and reenacted; and that section ten-a, article two,
chapter seventeen-a be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 6. ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE BUSINESSES.
§11-6-1. Returns of property to board of public works.
(a) On or before the first day of May in each year a return
in writing shall be filed with the board of public works: (1) By
the owner or operator of every railroad, wholly or in part,
within this state; (2) by the owner or operator of every railroad
bridge upon which a separate toll or fare is charged; (3) by the
owner or operator of every car or line of cars used upon any
railroad within the state for transportation or accommodation of
freight or passengers, other than the owners or operators as may
own or operate a railroad within the state; (4) by the owner or
operator of every express company or express line, wholly or in
part, within this state, used for the transportation by steam or
otherwise of freight and other articles of commerce; (5) by the owner or operator of every pipeline, wholly or in part, within
this state, used for the transportation of oil or gas or water,
whether the oil or gas or water be owned by the owner or operator
or not, or for the transmission of electrical or other power, or
the transmission of steam or heat and power or of articles by
pneumatic or other power; (6) by the owner or operator of every
telegraph or telephone line, wholly or in part, within this
state, except private lines not operated for compensation; (7) by
the owner and operator of every gas company and electric lighting
company furnishing gas or electricity for lighting, heating or
power purposes; (8) by the owner or operator of hydroelectric
companies for the generation and transmission of light, heat or
power; (9) by the owner or operator of water companies furnishing
or distributing water; and (10) by the owner or operator of all
other
public service corporations or persons engaged in public
service business whose property is located, wholly or in part,
within this state.
(b) The words "owner or operator," as applied herein to
railroad companies, shall include every railroad company
incorporated by or under the laws of this state for the purpose
of constructing and operating a railroad, or of operating part of
a railroad within this state, whether the railroad or any part of
it be in operation or not; and shall also include every other railroad company, or persons or associations of persons, owning
or operating a railroad or part of a railroad in this state on
which freight or passengers, or both, are carried for
compensation. The word "railroad," as used herein includes every
street, city, suburban or electric or other railroad or railway.
(c) The words "owner or operator," as applied herein to
express companies, shall include every express company
incorporated by or under the laws of this state, or doing
business in this state, whether incorporated or not, and any
person or association of persons, owning or operating any express
company or express line upon any railroad or otherwise, doing
business partly or wholly within this state.
(d) The return shall be signed and sworn to by the owner
or operator if a natural person, or, if the owner or operator
shall be a corporation, shall be signed and sworn to by its
president, vice president, secretary or principal accounting
officer.
(e) The return required by this section of every owner or
operator shall cover the year ending on the thirty-first day of
December, next preceding, and shall be made on forms prescribed
by the board of public works, which board is hereby invested with
full power and authority and it is hereby made its duty to
prescribe the forms as will require from any owner or operator herein mentioned information as in the judgment of the board may
be of use to it in determining the true and actual value of the
properties of the owners or operators.
§11-6-7. Same -- Telegraph and telephone companies.
In the case of a telegraph or telephone line, the report
shall show for every owner or operator: (a) The number of miles
of lines owned, leased or operated within this state, the gauge
of the wire, the number of strands of wire, the material of which
it is made and, as accurately as may be, the time when the line
or any material part thereof was constructed or last replaced;
(b) if such lines be partly within and partly without the state,
the whole number of miles thereof within this state and the whole
number of miles without this state, including all branches and
connecting lines in and out of the state; (c) the true and actual
value per mile of such line in each county of this state; (d) its
stations, shops and machinery therein, and all buildings,
structures and appendages connected or used therewith, together
with all real estate, other than its telegraph or telephone line,
owned or used by it in connection with its line, and of each
parcel of such real estate and the true and actual value thereof
in each county in this state in which it is located; (e) its
personal property of every kind whatsoever, including money,
credits and investments, and the amounts thereof wholly held or used in this state, showing the amount and value thereof in each
county; (f) an itemized list of all other real property within
this state, with the location thereof; and (g) the actual capital
employed in the business of such owner or operator, the total
amount of the bonded indebtedness of the owner or operator, with
respect to the line, and of all indebtedness not bonded; and, if
the owner or operator be a corporation, its capital stock, the
character, number, amount and the market value of the shares
thereof, and the amount of capital stock actually paid in; its
bonded indebtedness and its indebtedness not bonded. The board
of public works shall have the right to require any such owner or
operator to furnish such other and further information as, in the
judgment of the board, may be of use to it in determining the
true and actual value of the property to be assessed to the owner
or operator.
ARTICLE 6G. ASSESSMENT OF INTERSTATE CORPORATION MOTOR VEHICLE
BUSINESS REGISTERED UNDER A PROPORTIONAL REGISTRATION
AGREEMENT.
§11-6G-2. Disclosure of required information to the tax
commissioner.
(a) "Interstate motor vehicle," for purposes of this
article, is defined as every truck, road tractor or semitrailer
used as an interstate motor vehicle registered under a
proportional registration agreement.
(b) The procedure for determining the value thereof is
exclusively provided for under section two of this article.
(c) The words "owner or operator," as applied herein to
trucks or semitrailers used as an interstate motor vehicle in the
transportation of property, shall include every company
incorporated by or under the laws of this state, or doing
business in this state, whether incorporated or not, and any
person or association of persons, owning or operating any truck
or semitrailer used as an interstate motor vehicle in the
transportation of property doing business partly or wholly within
this state.
(d) Every interstate commercial motor vehicle covered by
this article shall pay such taxes based upon the assessments as
are required by law pursuant to rules promulgated by the tax
commissioner.
§11-6G-3. Interstate motor vehicle business; calculation of tax.
(a) In the case of interstate motor vehicles used for the
transportation of property and which are registered under a
proportional registration agreement, pursuant to the provisions
of section ten-a, article two, chapter seventeen-a of this code,
the owners, operator or operators, for each interstate motor
vehicle, on forms prescribed by the commissioner of motor
vehicles, shall disclose the total miles driven in West Virginia and the total miles driven in any other states as reported in the
most recent taxable year to the division of motor vehicles
pursuant to any proportional registration agreement on file
therewith. The return shall, additionally, show the gross
capital cost of the interstate motor vehicle to the purchaser
thereof and the year the purchaser acquired the interstate motor
vehicle.
(b) Ad valorem fees provided for in this chapter shall,
notwithstanding the provisions of section five, article one-c of
this chapter, be determined as follows for: (1) The gross
capital cost of an interstate motor vehicle shall be multiplied
by a percentage factor representing the remainder of the
vehicle's value after depreciation according to a depreciation
schedule established by the tax commissioner, which calculation
shall yield the appraised value of the vehicle, which appraised
value shall be multiplied by sixty percent to yield the assessed
value; (2) for the interstate truck, road tractor, or power unit,
registered in this state as part of a fleet registered under any
proportional registration agreement under the provisions of
section ten-a, article two, chapter seventeen-a of this code, the
assessed value shall be multiplied by the apportioned percentage
calculated in accordance with the articles and bylaws of any
proportional registration agreement for the mileage reporting year, as reported to the division of motor vehicles for the
corresponding registration year pursuant to any proportional
registration agreement on file therewith to obtain the
apportioned value, which apportioned value shall be multiplied by
the applicable rate of tax.
§11-6G-5. Compelling such disclosure; procuring information and
tentative assessments by motor vehicles
commissioner.
(a) If any owner or operator fails to make disclosure within
the time required by section one of this article, it shall be the
duty of the commissioner of motor vehicles to take steps as may
be necessary to compel such compliance, and to enforce any and
all penalties imposed by law for such failure, pursuant to his or
her authority under this article as well as section ten, article
two, chapter seventeen-a, and section ten-a, article two, chapter
seventeen-a of this code.
(b) The disclosure delivered to the motor vehicles
commissioner shall be examined by him or her, and if it be found
insufficient in form or in any respect defective, imperfect or
not in compliance with law, he or she shall compel the person
required to make it to do so in proper and sufficient form, and
in all respects as required by law.
(c) If any owner or operator fails to make such disclosure, the motor vehicles commissioner shall proceed, in a manner as to
him or her may seem best, to obtain the facts and information
required to be furnished by the disclosures.
(d) The motor vehicles commissioner may send for persons and
papers, and may compel the attendance of any person and the
production of any paper necessary, in the opinion of the motor
vehicles commissioner, to enable him or her to obtain the
information required for the proper discharge of his or her
duties under this section.
§11-6G-12. Payment of assessment by owner or operator.
Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, it shall be the duty of the foreign
registered owner or operator with interstate operations within
and through West Virginia, so assessed and charged, to pay
annually the amount of such ad valorem fees, and such
registration fees as are set by the motor vehicles commissioner
as are required into the treasury of the state by delivering
payment of the same to the commissioner of motor vehicles in the
form and manner prescribed by him or her. Further, beginning
with the renewal or registration year starting the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, it shall be the duty
of the commissioner of motor vehicles to assess and charge the owner or operator the annual amount of ad valorem fees and
registration fees owed. The ad valorem and registration fees
will be assessed and charged annually prior to the registration
year during the renewal period. It shall be the duty of the
owner or operator with interstate operations and domiciled in the
state, so assessed and charged, to pay annually prior to the
registration, the amount of taxes and registration fees set by
the motor vehicles commissioner in the form and manner prescribed
by him or her. The payment of taxes by any owner or operator
shall not prejudice or affect the right of the owner or operator
to obtain relief against the assessment or valuation of its
property in proceedings now pending or hereafter brought under
the provisions of section eight of this article, or in any suit,
action or proceeding in which relief may be obtainable; and if
under the provisions of said section eight or in any suit, action
or proceeding, it be ascertained that the assessment or valuation
of the property of the owner or operator is too high and the same
is accordingly corrected, it shall be the duty of the auditor of
the state to issue to the owner or operator a certificate showing
the amount of taxes and which have been overpaid, and the
certificate shall be receivable thereafter for the amount of
overpayment in payment of any ad valorem fees and assessed
against the property of the owner or operator, its successors or assigns. It shall likewise be the duty of said auditor to
certify to the county commission, school districts and
municipalities, the amounts of the respective overpayments
distributable to such counties, school districts and
municipalities.
Implementation of collection of assessments upon interstate
commercial motor vehicles by the commissioner of motor vehicles
shall begin the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-nine. The motor vehicles commissioner, upon receipt of
funds from other jurisdictions under a proportional registration
agreement, shall deliver the funds received to the auditor
beginning in August, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, and
thereafter every thirty days in arrears. All moneys received by
the auditor under the provisions of this section shall be
transmitted to the several counties within thirty days from
receipt thereof.
§11-6G-13. No release of taxes assessed against such
corporations.
Neither the county commission of any county, nor any board
of education, nor the municipal authorities of any incorporated
town, shall have jurisdiction, power or authority, by compromise
or otherwise, to remit or release any portion of the taxes so
assessed upon the property of any owner or operator. It shall be the duty of the motor vehicles commissioner to collect the whole
thereof, regardless of any order or direction of any county
commission, board of education or municipal authority to the
contrary. Any member of the county commission or board of
education, or of the council of a municipal corporation, who
shall vote to remit or release any part of the taxes, so assessed
on the property of any owner or operator, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and fined five hundred dollars, and shall be removed
from his or her office by the court by which the judgment of the
fine is rendered, in addition to the fine.
§11-6G-17. Operating fund for interstate commerce disclosure
division in auditor's office.
The auditor shall establish a special operating fund in the
state treasury for the interstate commerce disclosure division in
his or her office. The auditor shall pay into the fund one
percent of the gross receipts of all moneys collected as provided
for in this article. From the fund, the auditor shall reimburse
the tax division and the division of motor vehicles for the
actual operating expenses incurred in the performance of its
duties required by this article. The reimbursements to the tax
division and division of motor vehicles from the fund shall not
exceed one third of the annual deposits to the fund per agency.
Any moneys remaining in the special operating fund after reimbursement to the tax division and the division of motor
vehicles shall be used by the auditor for funding the operation
of the interstate commerce disclosure division located in his or
her office.
The interstate commerce disclosure division is hereby
granted authority and required to share any and all information
obtained by the division in the implementation of this article
with state auditor, tax commissioner and the commissioner of
motor vehicles to effectuate the collection of taxes and fees
under this article. The motor vehicles commissioner is hereby
authorized and required to share any and all information obtained
by the division of motor vehicles in the implementation of this
article. The commissioner of motor vehicles will supply to the
interstate commerce disclosure division the names of, location or
locations of, and amount or amounts paid by West Virginia owners
or operators of interstate motor vehicles registered under the
terms of any proportional registration agreement. The tax
commissioner is hereby authorized and required to share any and
all information obtained by the department of tax and revenue.
The state auditor and the interstate commerce disclosure division
is hereby authorized and required to share any and all
information obtained by the auditor or the division.
CHAPTER 17A. MOTOR VEHICLE ADMINISTRATION,
REGISTRATION, CERTIFICATE OF TITLE, AND ANTITHEFT PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 2. DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES.
§17A-2-10a. Same -- Authorizing the entry of this state into
reciprocal proportional registration agreements; payment of taxes; issuance of registration plates
or markers; promulgation of rules; interagency cooperation; requirement that all registrants pay
tax; intermittent interstate commerce and
promulgation of rules; proportional registration agreement prevails.
(a) The commissioner of motor vehicles is hereby authorized
and empowered to enter into reciprocal agreements on behalf of
this state with any jurisdiction which permits or requires the
licensing of motor vehicles in interstate or combined interstate
and intrastate commerce and the payment of taxes, registration,
licensing or other fees fixed by the motor vehicle commissioner,
pursuant to the execution of this article on an apportionment
basis commensurate with and determined by the miles traveled on
public roads and highways in that jurisdiction, as compared with
the miles traveled on public roads and highways in other
jurisdictions or on any other equitable basis of apportionment,
and if that jurisdiction exempts motor vehicles registered in
other jurisdictions under that apportionment basis from the
requirements of full payment of its own registration, license or other fixed fees, the commissioner, by agreement may adopt the
exemption as to those motor vehicles, whether owned by residents
or nonresidents of this state and regardless of where the
vehicles are registered.
(b) The agreements under any terms, conditions or
restrictions as the commissioner considers proper may provide
that owners of motor vehicles operated in interstate or combined
interstate and intrastate commerce in this state shall be
permitted to pay registration, license or other fees fixed on an
apportionment basis, commensurate with and determined by the
miles traveled on public roads and highways in this state as
compared with the miles traveled on public roads and highways in
other jurisdictions or any other equitable basis of
apportionment. The agreements shall not authorize or be
construed as authorizing any motor vehicle so registered to be
operated without complying with the provisions of chapter eleven
and chapter twenty-four-a of this code.
(c) Pursuant to the provisions of this section, the
commissioner is expressly authorized and empowered to enter into
and become a member of the international registration plan or
other designation that may from time to time be given to the
reciprocal plan.
(d) The commissioner shall prescribe the substance, form, color and context of any registration plate or marker issued
under the provisions of this section, each of which shall be
visually distinguishable from other registration plates or
markers produced by the division of motor vehicles.
(e) The commissioner is authorized to promulgate procedural
rules as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of any
agreements entered into pursuant to this section.
(f) The commissioner is authorized to collect and receive
funds under this article pursuant to the authority vested in him
or her under article six-g of chapter eleven of this code.
(g) The commissioner is hereby authorized and required to
share with the interstate commerce disclosure division of the
office of the state auditor any and all information acquired by
the division of motor vehicles pursuant to the implementation of
this article. The division shall provide to the interstate
commerce disclosure division, and the department of tax and
revenue the name of the location and amount paid by West Virginia
owners or operators of interstate motor vehicles registered under
the proportional registration agreement.
(h) For any other irregular, intermittent or temporary
interstate commerce activity, the division of motor vehicles is
hereby empowered to promulgate rules for the administration and
oversight thereof.
(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of the code to the
contrary, the requirements of the proportional assessment plan as
contained in article six-g, chapter eleven of this code, and the
provisions of this chapter, shall prevail in the event of any
conflict with any other portion of the code.