Senate Bill No. 59
(By Senators Ross, Fanning, Sharpe, Minard, Redd,
Minear, Hunter, Love, Helmick and Mitchell)
____________
[Introduced January 9, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Small Business; and then to the Committee Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article thirteen-p,
relating to taxation; and providing a small business tax
credit equal to any guaranty fee paid to the small business
administration to obtain small business administration
financing.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article thirteen-p, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 13P. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDIT.
§11-13P-1. Short title.
This article may be cited as the "West Virginia Small
Business Tax Credit Act."
§11-13P-2. Small business tax credit.
(a) For the purposes of this article, a small business is
any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship or other
business entity which has an annual payroll of one million five
thousand dollars or less, or annual gross sales of not more than
five million dollars. The tax commissioner may adjust these
amounts based on the cost-of-living index for that calendar year
beginning on the first day of January, two thousand three, and
each subsequent January.
(b) Each small business formed under the laws of the state
of West Virginia and operating within the state is entitled to
claim as a credit against the tax imposed by articles twenty-
one, twenty-three and twenty-four of this chapter any amount
paid to the United States small business administration as a
guaranty fee that results from obtaining small business
administration guaranteed financing.
(c) The credit may be used by the small business one time
within three years from the date that the fee is incurred. The
credit may not reduce the tax below any minimum tax prescribed
under the specified articles. The credit may be claimed only by
the small business that is the primary obligor in the financing transaction and that actually paid the guaranty fee.
§11-13P-3. Tax commissioner to propose legislative rules;
effective date.
(a) The tax commissioner shall propose rules for legislative
approval prescribing the method and documentation to be used to
claim the credit in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine of the code. The commissioner may
initially promulgate emergency rules in order to facilitate the
implementation of the provisions of this article.
(b) The credit allowed by this section applies to tax years
beginning after the thirty-first day of December, two thousand
two.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give small businesses
a tax credit equal to any guaranty fee paid to the Small
Business Administration in order to obtain SBA financing.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.