H. B. 4480


(By Delegate Beane)

[Introduced February 14, 2002; referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]





A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article five, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the exemption for certain inventory and warehouse goods from ad valorem property taxes; clarifying the time when the out-of-state destination of such inventory and goods must be specified; and clarifying that the exemption applies to such inventory and goods whether intended to be sold at wholesale or retail.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article five, 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 5. ASSESSMENT OF PERSONAL PROPERTY.
§11-5-13. Exemption of inventory and warehouse goods.

(a) Tangible personal property which is moving in interstate commerce through or over the territory of the state of West Virginia, or which was consigned from a point of origin outside the state to a warehouse, public or private, within the state for storage in transit to a final destination outside the state, whether specified when transportation begins or afterward, but in any case specified timely for exempt status determination purposes on or before the due date of the report of property required to be filed by the owner pursuant to article three of this chapter, shall not be deemed considered to have acquired a tax situs in West Virginia for purposes of ad valorem taxation and shall be exempt from such taxation, except as otherwise provided herein.
(b) Such The property shall not be deprived of such an exemption because it is intended to be sold at wholesale or retail, or while in the warehouse the personal property is assembled, bound, joined, processed, disassembled, divided, cut, broken in bulk, relabeled or repackaged for delivery out of state, unless such the activity results in a new or different product, article, substance or commodity, or one of different utility.
(c) Personal property of inventories of natural resources shall may not be exempt from ad valorem taxation unless required by paramount federal law.
(d) The exemption allowed herein shall be phased in over a period of five consecutive assessment years, at the rate of one fifth of the assessed value of the property per assessment year, beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify the time when the out-of-state destination of inventory and goods must be specified for ad valorem property tax exemption purposes; and to clarify that the exemption applies to such inventory and goods whether intended to be sold at wholesale or retail .

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.