Senate Bill No. 191
(By Senators Bailey, Minard, Edgell, Chafin, Love,
Unger, Anderson, Caldwell, Sharpe, Mitchell, Snyder,
Rowe, Ross, Helmick, Bowman, Minear, Prezioso, Hunter,
McKenzie, Deem, Kessler, Facemyer, Burnette and Boley)
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[Introduced January 14, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven, article fifteen,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to exempting
veterans' organizations from the state sales tax.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven, article fifteen, 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 15. CONSUMERS SALES AND SERVICE TAX.
§11-15-11. Exemption for certain organizations.
(a) Sales of taxable services by a corporation or
organization that are exempt from federal income tax under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and that meet
the requirements set forth in subsection (b) of this section,
are exempt from the tax imposed by this article, except that this exemption shall does not apply to sales of taxable services
to the extent that income received from the sales of such the
services is taxable under Section 511 of the Internal Revenue
Code.
(b) With the exception of the provisions of subsection (c)
of this section, the exemption set forth in this section applies
only to those corporations or organizations meeting the
following criteria:
(1) The corporation or organization is organized and
operated primarily for charitable or educational purposes and
its activities and programs contribute importantly to promoting
the general welfare of youth, families and the aged, improving
health and fitness and providing recreational opportunities to
the public;
(2) The corporation or organization offers membership or
participation in its programs and activities to the general
public and charges fees or dues which make its programs and
activities accessible by a reasonable cross-section of the
community; and
(3) The corporation or organization offers financial
assistance on a regular and on-going basis to individuals unable
to afford the organization's membership dues or fees.
(c) Sales of goods or services by a corporation or organization primarily organized and operated to promote,
support or publicize military veterans' causes, interests or
affairs, or to otherwise conduct legitimate business activities
on behalf and for the benefit of veterans, veterans'
organizations or veterans' groups, are exempt from the tax
imposed by this article.
(c) (d) The tax commissioner is prohibited from issuing any
assessments and from taking any other action under article ten
of this chapter after the thirty-first day of December, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-one, to collect the tax imposed by
this article from an organization described in subsections (a)
and (b) of this section that did not collect the tax on
transactions occurring before the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-two. The tax commissioner is also
prohibited from refunding any tax collected by a qualified
organization prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-two, that was paid over to the tax commissioner.
(d) (e) For purposes of this section, the term "corporation"
and the term "organization" are used interchangeably and mean a
corporation or other organization that is exempt from income tax
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, as
amended.
(e) (f) Nothing in this section shall affect the application of this article to nonprofit tax-exempt hospitals.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt veterans'
organizations from the sales tax provisions.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.