ENROLLED
H. B. 4078
(By Delegates Pino, Johnson, Whitman, Faircloth and Smirl)
[Passed January 25, 1996; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact sections one and five, article six-c,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the special
method for appraising dealer vehicle inventory; making
technical revisions to clarify appropriate code reference;
and extending date by which the tax commissioner reports to
the joint committee on government and finance.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and five, article six-c, chapter eleven of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follow:
ARTICLE 6C. SPECIAL METHOD FOR APPRAISING DEALER VEHICLE
INVENTORY.
§11-6C-1. Inventory included within scope of article.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, inventory of
vehicles, as that term is defined in section one, article one, chapter seventeen-b of this code, that is held for sale or lease
by new or used vehicle dealers licensed under the provisions of
article six, chapter seventeen-a of this code, provided that
house trailers and factory-built homes shall be included within
the scope of this article, consisting of individual units of
personal new or used property, each unit of which, upon its sale
to a retail purchaser, must, as a matter of law, be titled in the
name of the retail purchaser and registered with the division of
motor vehicles, shall be appraised for assessment purposes, as
set forth in this article.
This article does not apply to units of inventory which are
included in fleet sales, transactions between dealers or
classified as heavy duty trucks of sixteen thousand pounds or
more gross vehicular weight. For purposes of this article,
inventory subject to the provisions of this article shall be
denoted "dealer vehicle inventory".
§11-6C-5. Intent of this article; tax commissioner to
promulgate rules.
(a) This article is adopted to address the lack of
uniformity, audit difficulties and business management issues arising in this state with respect to the assessment of the
personal property held as new and used dealer vehicle
inventory. Accordingly, the Legislature finds and declares
that the adoption of this article will provide a more reliable
and uniform method of determining market value of dealer
vehicle inventory; minimize audit problems associated with such
property; provide a predictable revenue stream for levying
bodies; maximize the owner's ability to manage inventory; and
provide clear guidance to local authorities by superseding the
wide variety of otherwise lawful appraisal methods now in use
in this state.
(b) The tax commissioner shall have the power to
promulgate such rules as may be necessary to implement the
provisions of this article:
Provided, That the tax
commissioner shall provide to the joint committee on government
and finance by the first day of March for the next two fiscal
years a report detailing the results of the administration of
this article.