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Senate Bill 731 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
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ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 731
(By Senators Wooton, Caldwell, Hunter, Kessler,
Minard, Mitchell, Redd, Ross, Rowe, Snyder, Deem and Facemyer)
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[Passed March 9, 2002; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section three-a, article thirteen-a,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the tax
commissioner to develop a single form for reporting oil and
gas production to all government agencies; setting forth
legislative findings; and requiring that reports be accessible
in other formats.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
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That section three-a, article thirteen-a, 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 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
§11-13A-3a. Imposition of tax on privilege of severing natural gas
or oil; tax commissioner to develop a uniform reporting form.
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(a) Imposition of tax. -- For the privilege of engaging or
continuing within this state in the business of severing natural
gas or oil for sale, profit or commercial use, there is hereby
levied and shall be collected from every person exercising such
privilege an annual privilege tax: Provided, That effective for all
taxable periods beginning on or after the first day of January, two
thousand, there is an exemption from the imposition of the tax
provided for in this article on the following: (1) Free natural gas
provided to any surface owner; (2) natural gas produced from any
well which produced an average of less than five thousand cubic
feet of natural gas per day during the calendar year immediately
preceding a given taxable period; (3) oil produced from any oil
well which produced an average of less than one-half barrel of oil
per day during the calendar year immediately preceding a given
taxable period; and (4) for a maximum period of ten years, all
natural gas or oil produced from any well which has not produced
marketable quantities of natural gas or oil for five consecutive
years immediately preceding the year in which a well is placed back
into production and thereafter produces marketable quantities of
natural gas or oil.
(b) Rate and measure of tax. -- The tax imposed in subsection
(a) of this section shall be five percent of the gross value of the natural gas or oil produced, as shown by the gross proceeds derived
from the sale thereof by the producer, except as otherwise provided
in this article.
(c) Tax in addition to other taxes. -- The tax imposed by
this section shall apply to all persons severing gas or oil in this
state, and shall be in addition to all other taxes imposed by law.
(d) (1) The Legislature finds that in addition to the
production reports and financial records which must be filed by oil
and gas producers with the state tax commissioner in order to
comply with this section, oil and gas producers
are required to
file other production reports with other agencies, including, but
not limited to, the office of oil and gas, the public service
commission and county assessors. The reports required to be filed
are largely duplicative, the compiling of the information in
different formats is unnecessarily time consuming and costly, and
the filing of one report or the sharing of information by agencies
of government would reduce the cost of compliance for oil and gas
producers.
(2) On or before the first day of July, two thousand three,
the tax commissioner shall design a common form that may be used
for each of the reports regarding production that are required to
be filed by oil and gas producers, which form shall readily permit
a filing without financial information when such information is unnecessary. The commissioner shall also design such forms so as
to permit filings in different formats, including, but not limited
to, electronic formats.