ENGROSSED

Senate Bill No. 534

(By Senator Manchin)

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[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee

on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend article three, chapter seventeen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section four-a, relating to original and renewal of registration; issuance of certificates of title; car rental companies; and transaction fees.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three, chapter seventeen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four- a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. ORIGINAL AND RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION; ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES OF TITLE.

§17A-3-4a. Car rental companies; transaction fee.

(a) In order to permit recovery of the fee imposed by section four of this article in direct relation to the actual use of rental vehicles in West Virginia, a rental transaction fee ishereby imposed upon the renter of any rental passenger vehicle that is rented in West Virginia by any person, firm, corporation or business entity in the business of renting passenger vehicles for periods of less than thirty days to another person, firm, corporation or business entity. A rental passenger vehicle is defined as a motor vehicle that carries no more than fifteen passengers and is provided without a driver.
(b) The fee imposed by this section shall be an amount equal to six percent of the rental payment, or portion thereof, subject to the consumers sales tax imposed by chapter eleven of this code, and shall be collected by the rental business that rents the vehicle.
(c) The fees collected by the rental business in excess of the privilege tax paid under section four during the state fiscal year shall be remitted to the tax commissioner no later than sixty days after the end of the state fiscal year.
(d) The rental business shall disclose on a form prescribed by the commissioner no later than sixty days after the end of the state fiscal year; the amount of transaction fee collected and the amount of the West Virginia privilege tax paid during the year. The commissioner may audit the rental companies and to impose interest and penalty charges for late payments of excess fee collections.
(e) Each rental contract provided to the person, firm, corporation or business entity that rents a vehicle shall have a disclosure as to the nature, amount and purpose of the transaction fee in the rental contract.