H. B. 3095
(By Delegates Craig, Foster, Amores,
Kominar, Morgan, Smirl and Pino)
[Introduced February 21, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article ten, chapter eleven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section five-v,
relating to disclosure of certain tax information by tax
commissioner to state treasurer for purpose of disposing of
abandoned, unclaimed or uncashed tax refund checks; specifying
that information so disclosed shall be used by treasurer only
for purpose of administering and implementing return, recovery
and disposition of abandoned or unclaimed property; specifying
that treasurer shall treat information so obtained as records
of abandoned property; specifying to whom and how certain
information may be disclosed by treasurer; and specifying that
tax information disclosed to treasurer remains otherwise
confidential in accordance with state law.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article ten, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section five-v, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. PROCEDURE AND ADMINISTRATION.
§11-10-5v. Disclosure of tax information to the treasurer for
return, recovery and disposition of unclaimed and
abandoned property.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, if the information resides in tax division databases, the
tax commissioner shall disclose to the state treasurer the name,
last known address and social security number, or federal employer
identification number, as applicable, of persons or businesses,
including joint or combined filers, to which tax refund checks have
been issued by this state, which checks have gone unclaimed or
uncashed for a period of more than six months after the issuance
date of the check. Notwithstanding any provision of this code to
the contrary, if the information is included in a tax division
database, the tax commissioner shall disclose to the state
treasurer the date, check number, warrant number, transaction
identification number, invoice number, and amount of any such
unclaimed or uncashed refund check, and the tax commissioner's
confirmation or denial of confirmation, as applicable, that the tax
refund is currently due and payable to the payee or payees to whom
the unclaimed or uncashed check was originally issued.
(b) Disclosure of this information shall begin as soon as
practicable after the effective date of this section on such
schedule and under such arrangements as the treasurer and the tax
commissioner may agree. Information so disclosed shall be used by
the treasurer only for the purpose of administering and
implementing the return, recovery and disposition of abandoned or
unclaimed property in accordance with the provisions of article
eight, chapter thirty-six of this code.
(c) The treasurer as administrator for unclaimed property
shall treat information obtained in accordance with this section as
records of abandoned property in accordance with article eight,
chapter thirty-six of this code, and shall use the information to
facilitate locating owners of unclaimed tax refunds.
Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the
treasurer may disclose any or all of the information to an owner,
his or her personal representative, next of kin, attorney at law or
a person entitled to inherit from the owner.
(d) Of the information received by the treasurer under this
section, only the name, city and state of the last known address of
the payee or payees to whom the unclaimed or uncashed check was
originally issued may be published by the treasurer, and only for
the purpose of returning, recovering or disposing of unclaimed tax
refunds. Tax information disclosed pursuant to this section to the
treasurer shall remain confidential as provided by section five-d of this article, except to the extent disclosure is allowed under
this section. The provisions of this section may not be construed
to preclude or limit disclosure of tax information authorized by
other provisions of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Tax
Commissioner to disclose to the Treasurer certain information that
would facilitate locating the owners of uncashed and unclaimed
income tax refund checks. Disclosure is only to be made for the
purpose of furthering return, recovery or disposition of abandoned
or unclaimed tax refunds under the Treasurer's unclaimed and
abandoned property recovery program. For the purpose of returning,
recovering or disposing of unclaimed tax refunds, the bill allows
the Treasurer to publish or otherwise disclose the name, city and
state of the last know address, obtained from the Tax Commissioner,
of persons or businesses for which unclaimed tax refund checks have
been issued.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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