Senate Bill No. 288
(By Senator Jackson)
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[Introduced March 11, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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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; and to amend and
reenact section ten, article three of said chapter, all
relating to discretionary penalties for refusal to furnish
proper list of property; refusal to answer or answering
falsely questions posed by assessor or tax commissioner; and
refusal to deliver statement.
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; and that section ten,
article three 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make the penalty
discretionary for: (1) Rrefusing to furnish a proper list of
property or refusing to list within the time required by law; (2)
refusing to answer or answering falsely any question asked by the
assessor or tax commissioner; and (3) failing or refusing to
deliver any statement required by law.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.