H. B. 3231
(By Delegates Kessler and Rodighiero)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-1C-11a of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to increasing the
assessment of value of managed timberland; and, providing for
a tax of ten percent on the sale or transfer of managed
timberland.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-1C-11a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1C. FAIR AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY VALUATION.
§11-1C-11a. Certification of managed timberland; assessment of
property; penalty for failure to comply.
(a) Any person who owns timberland comprising ten or more
contiguous acres may qualify for identification as managed
timberland for property tax purposes as set forth in subdivision
(1), subsection (d), section ten of this article.
(b)
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the
contrary the assessor
upon receipt of an appraisal or certification of the timberland from the Tax Commissioner, shall assess the
property as managed timberland beginning with the next ensuing
assessment year. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the
classification of timberland included in a certified managed
timberland plan shall not change for property tax purposes until
such time as there is of each county of this state shall apply a
standard assessment rate for managed timberland of three hundred
dollars per acre: (1) A change in the use of the property which
requires a change in classification; (2) a change in the
classification of the property from Class III to Class IV; or (3)
a change in the classification of the property from Class IV to
Class III.
(c) If the director of the Division of Forestry determines
that the owner of timberland failed to implement a certified
managed timberland plan within twenty-four months of certifying
that the property meets the definition of managed timberland, the
director shall give written notice to the owner by certified mail,
return receipt requested, that such certification is removed and
the owner of the timberland shall pay to the sheriff of the county
in which the property is located a fine equal to the amount of
property taxes saved due to the property being assessed as managed
timberland plus interest calculated at the rate of nine percent per
year. Additionally, the assessor shall reassess the property. The
amount of this fine is equal to the sum of the following
calculations:
(1) For each assessment year, the county assessor shall determine the market value of the property and subtract from that
value the value at which the property was appraised as managed
timberland. This amount shall be multiplied by sixty percent.
This result shall then be multiplied by the applicable levy rate.
(2) Interest shall be imposed on the amount calculated under
subdivision (1) of this subsection at the rate of nine percent per
annum beginning with the first day of October of the tax year in
which the taxes should have been paid based upon the timberland
value of the property. Interest shall continue to accrue until the
day the fine is paid.
(d) The sheriff shall deposit and account for the fines
collected under this section in the same manner as property taxes.
(e) Beginning the first day of January, two thousand eight,
there is hereby imposed a surcharge of ten percent on the capital
gain obtained by the transfer of managed timberland sold or traded.
The Tax Commissioner shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a to fully implement this provision.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the assessment
of value of managed timberland while providing for a tax of ten
percent on the sale or transfer of managed timberland.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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