ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 288
(By Senator Jackson)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported April 1, 1997.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-five, article one-a,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact
section ten, article three of said chapter; and to amend and
reenact section three, article twelve-d of said chapter; all
relating generally to the assessment and taxation of real or
personal property; discretionary penalties for refusal to
furnish proper list of property; refusal to answer or
answering falsely questions posed by assessor or tax
commissioner; refusal to deliver statement; requiring that
the office of business registration or some other
appropriate section of the department of tax and revenue
annually provide at no cost a list of businesses registered
within a county to the county assessor; and limiting the fee
for lists provided thereafter.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-five, article one-a, chapter eleven of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; that section ten, article
three of said chapter be amended and reenacted; and that section
three, article twelve-d of said chapter be amended and reenacted,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1A. APPRAISAL OF PROPERTY FOR PERIODIC STATEWIDE
REAPPRAISALS.
§11-1A-25. Failure to list property, etc.; collection of
penalties and forfeitures.
If any person, firm or corporation, including public service
corporations whose duty it is by law to list any real estate or
personal property for appraisal,
shall refuse refuses to furnish
a proper list thereof or
refuse to list within the time required
by law and within thirty days after written demand therefor; or
if any person, firm or corporation, including public service
corporations,
shall refuse refuses to answer or
shall answer
answers falsely any question asked by the assessor or by the tax
commissioner, or
shall refuse refuses to deliver any other
statement required by law, he,
she or it
shall may forfeit,
at
the discretion of the assessor or the tax commissioner, not less
than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, and
shall be
is denied all remedy provided by law for the correction of any appraisal made by the tax commissioner. If any person, firm or
corporation, including a public service corporation, required by
this article to make return of property for appraisal, fails to
return a true list of all property which should be appraised
under the provisions of this article, in addition to all other
penalties provided by law,
that person, firm or corporation shall
forfeit forfeits one percent of the value of the property not yet
returned and not otherwise taxed in this state.
Such Forfeitures shall be collected as is hereinafter provided
under the provision of article two, chapter eleven-a of this
code, the same as any tax liability, against the defaulting
taxpayer, or in case of a decedent, against his
or her personal
representative. The sheriff shall apportion
such the fund among
the state, county, district, school district and municipalities
which would have been entitled to the taxes upon
such the
property if it had been assessed, in proportion to the rates of
taxation for each
such levying unit for the year in which the
judgment was obtained bears to the sum of rates for all. Any
judgment recovered under this section
shall be is a lien, from
the time of the service of the notice, upon all real estate and
personal property of
such the defaulting taxpayer, owned at the
time or subsequently acquired, in preference to any other lien.
ARTICLE 3. ASSESSMENTS GENERALLY.
§11-3-10. Failure to list property, etc.; collection of penalties and forfeitures.
If any person, firm or corporation, including public service
corporations, whose duty it is by law to list any real estate or
personal property for taxation,
shall refuse refuses to furnish
a proper list thereof or
refuse refuses to list within the time
required by law, or if any person, firm or corporation, including
public service corporations,
shall refuse refuses to answer or
shall answer answers falsely any question asked by the assessor
or by the tax commissioner, or
shall fail or refuse fails or
refuses to deliver any statement required by law, he,
she or it
shall may forfeit,
at the discretion of the assessor or the tax
commissioner, not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred
dollars, and
shall be is denied all remedy provided by law for
the correction of any assessment made by the assessor or by the
board of public works. If any person, firm or corporation,
including public service corporations, required by law to make
return of property for taxation, whether
such the return is to be
made to the assessor, the board of public works, or any other
assessing officer or body, fails to return a true list of all
property which should be assessed in this state, including notes,
bonds, bills and accounts receivable, stocks, and any other
intangible personal property,
such the person, firm or
corporation, in addition to all other penalties provided by law,
shall forfeit forfeits one percent of the value of the property not yet returned and not otherwise taxed in this state. A
forfeiture as to all property aforesaid may be enforced for any
such default occurring in any year not exceeding five years
immediately prior to the time the
same default is discovered, but
no liability to penalty or forfeiture as to notes, bonds, bills
and accounts receivable, stocks and other intangible personal
property arising prior to the first day of January, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-three,
shall be is enforceable on behalf of
the state or of any of its subdivisions. Each failure to make a
true return as herein required
shall constitute constitutes a
separate offense, and a forfeiture
shall apply applies to each of
them, but all
such forfeitures, to which the same person, firm or
corporation is liable, shall be enforced in one proceeding
against
such the person, firm or corporation, or against the
estate of any deceased person and
shall may not exceed five
percent of the value of the property not returned.
Such
Forfeitures shall be collected as is hereinafter provided under
the provision of article two, chapter eleven-a of this code, the
same as any tax liability, against the defaulting taxpayer, or in
case of a decedent, against his
or her personal representative.
The sheriff shall apportion
such the fund among the state,
county, district, school district and municipalities which would
have been entitled to the taxes upon
such the property if it had
been assessed, in proportion to the rates of taxation for each
such levying unit for the year in which the judgment was obtained bears to the sum of rates for all. When the list of property
returned by the appraisers of the estate of any deceased person
shows an amount greater than the last assessment list of
such the
deceased person next preceding the appraisal of his
or her
estate, it
shall be is prima facie evidence that
such the
deceased person returned an imperfect list of his
or her
property:
Provided, That any person liable for the tax or his
or
her personal representative, may always be permitted to prove by
competent evidence that the discrepancy between
such the
assessment list and the appraisal of the estate is caused by a
difference of valuation returned by the assessor and that made by
the appraisers of the same property or by property acquired after
assessment, or that any property enumerated in the appraisers'
list had been otherwise listed for taxation, or that it was not
liable for taxation. Any judgment recovered under this section
shall be is a lien, from the time of the service of the notice,
upon all real estate and personal property of
such the defaulting
taxpayer, owned at the time or subsequently acquired, in
preference to any other lien.
ARTICLE 12D. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF BUSINESS REGISTRATION;
CREATION OF CENTRALIZED RECORDS.
§11-12D-3. Agency contact list, dispersal of data base
information to agencies, agency contact with prospective
businesses.
(a) An agency contact list consisting of those state
government agencies and offices having registration, licensing or
other similar statutory provisions related to the initiation of
new businesses in West Virginia or which should otherwise have
contact with a new business, will be maintained by the office of
business registration in conjunction with the centralized records
for new business registration.
(b) Based upon the proposed location, size, number of
employees, type of business, standard industry code or codes and
other pertinent information relating to the business, each
prospective new business, upon having a record established in the
centralized records for new business registration, shall be
informed by the office of business registration of those state
agencies or offices having a registration, licensing and other
similar statutory provisions related to the initiation of a new
business in West Virginia or other function relating to
prospective new business such that the agency or office should by
law or regulation be given notice of the establishment or
operation of a new business in West Virginia. The office of
business registration shall establish a record of the new
business in the centralized data base for the use and benefit of
any agency or officer of the state of West Virginia having access
to the data base and which should, by law, or regulation receive
notice of the establishment or operation of a particular
business. The record should contain such information as is necessary to fulfill the regulatory, registration or licensing
function of that agency, or in lieu of such information, the
name, address and other pertinent information relating to the
particular business whereby the agency or office may initiate
such procedures or make such contact with the particular business
as is appropriate for the fulfillment of the regulatory,
registration, licensing or other statutory duties of the office
or agency.
(c) The office of business registration or some other
appropriate section of the department of tax and revenue shall
provide a list of all registered businesses located within a
county to the county assessor. The list shall be provided at no
cost to the county assessor between the first day of July and the
first day of August of each year. Any additional list of
businesses provided to the county assessor before the next annual
list is provided shall be provided at no more than the actual
cost to copy the list.
____________
(NOTE: Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added.)