Senate Bill No. 358
(By Senators Craigo, Bowman, Bailey, Jackson, Fanning, Sharpe,
Minard, Helmick, Ross, Anderson, Love, Minear, Sprouse, Walker,
Chafin, Dittmar, Hunter, Kessler, Tomblin and Oliverio)
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[Introduced January 28, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article twenty-two,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to real estate
transfer taxes; exempting transfers between grandparent and
grandchild; exempting conversions to limited liability
companies from corporations, partnerships, limited
partnerships or trusts; and defining the term limited
liability company.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article twenty-two, chapter eleven of the
code of West Virginia one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22. EXCISE TAX ON PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING REAL PROPERTY.
§11-22-1. Definitions.
The following words when used in this chapter shall have
meanings ascribed to them in this section, except in those
instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Association" means a partnership, limited partnership
or any other form of unincorporated enterprise, owned or
conducted by two or more persons.
(2) "Corporation" means a corporation or joint-stock
association, organized under the laws of this state, the United
States or any other state, territory or foreign country or
dependency including, but not limited to, banking institutions.
(3) "Commissioner" means the state tax commissioner.
(4) "Document" means any deed, or instrument or writing
whereby by which any real property within this state or any
interest
therein shall be in real property is granted, conveyed
or otherwise transferred to the grantee, purchaser or any other person; but does not include wills, transfer of real property
where the value of the property transferred is one hundred
dollars or less, testamentary or inter vivos trusts, deeds of
partition, deeds made pursuant to mergers of corporations,
limited liability companies, partnerships, limited partnerships,
testamentary or inter vivos trusts, deeds made pursuant to
conversions to limited liability companies from corporations,
partnerships, limited partnerships or trusts, deeds made by a
subsidiary corporation to its parent corporation for no
consideration other than the cancellation or surrender of the
subsidiary's stock, leases, transfers between husband and wife,
transfers between parent and child or transfers between parent
and child and his or her spouse, without consideration,
transfers between grandparent and grandchild or transfers between
grandparent and grandchild and his or her spouse, without
consideration, transfers without consideration between a
principal and straw party for any purpose, gifts to or transfers
from or between voluntary charitable or educational associations
or trustees
thereof of voluntary charitable or educational
associations and like nonprofit corporations having the same or
similar purposes, quitclaim or corrective deeds without consideration, transfers to or from the United States, the state
of West Virginia, or to or from any of their instrumentalities,
agencies or political subdivisions, by gift, dedication, deed or
condemnation proceedings, or mortgages or deeds of trust given as
security for a debt.
(5) "Limited liability company" means a limited liability
company organized under the laws of this state, the United States
or by any other state, territory or the District of Columbia.
(6) "Person" means every natural person, association or
corporation. Whenever used in any clause prescribing and
imposing a fine or imprisonment, or both, the term "person" as
applied to associations,
shall mean means the partners or members
thereof of the association, and, as applied to corporations, the
officers
thereof of the corporation.
(7) "Transaction" means the delivering, accepting or
presenting for recording of a document.
(8) "Value" means in the case of any document not a gift, the
amount of the full actual consideration
therefor for the
document, paid or to be paid, including the amount of any lien or
liens assumed; in the case of a gift, or any other document
without consideration, the actual monetary value of the property conveyed or transferred. In the event any document includes real
property or any interest
therein in real property lying outside
the state of West Virginia or includes personal property, value
shall be is the proportion of the consideration paid in case of
the transfer for consideration, or the proportion of the true and
actual value in case of a gift, which the actual value of the
real property located in West Virginia bears to the total actual
value of all the property, real or personal, transferred by the
document. The value as
herein defined
in this subdivision shall
be stated in the declaration of consideration or value provided
for in section six
hereof of this article.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt from real
estate transfer taxes transfers between grandparent and
grandchild and to recognize the increasing importance of limited
liability companies as a business entity by making real estate
transfer tax exemptions consistent with such exemptions as they
apply to corporations.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.)