ENROLLED

Senate Bill No. 731

(By Senators Wooton, Caldwell, Hunter, Kessler,

Minard, Mitchell, Redd, Ross, Rowe, Snyder, Deem and Facemyer)

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[Passed March 9, 2002; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend and reenact section three-a, article thirteen-a, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the tax commissioner to develop a single form for reporting oil and gas production to all government agencies; setting forth legislative findings; and requiring that reports be accessible in other formats.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
 That section three-a, article thirteen-a, 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 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
ยง11-13A-3a.
Imposition of tax on privilege of severing natural gas or oil; tax commissioner to develop a uniform reporting form.

(a) Imposition of tax. -- For the privilege of engaging or continuing within this state in the business of severing natural gas or oil for sale, profit or commercial use, there is hereby levied and shall be collected from every person exercising such privilege an annual privilege tax: Provided, That effective for all taxable periods beginning on or after the first day of January, two thousand, there is an exemption from the imposition of the tax provided for in this article on the following: (1) Free natural gas provided to any surface owner; (2) natural gas produced from any well which produced an average of less than five thousand cubic feet of natural gas per day during the calendar year immediately preceding a given taxable period; (3) oil produced from any oil well which produced an average of less than one-half barrel of oil per day during the calendar year immediately preceding a given taxable period; and (4) for a maximum period of ten years, all natural gas or oil produced from any well which has not produced marketable quantities of natural gas or oil for five consecutive years immediately preceding the year in which a well is placed back into production and thereafter produces marketable quantities of natural gas or oil.
(b) Rate and measure of tax. -- The tax imposed in subsection (a) of this section shall be five percent of the gross value of the natural gas or oil produced, as shown by the gross proceeds derived from the sale thereof by the producer, except as otherwise provided in this article.
(c) Tax in addition to other taxes. -- The tax imposed by this section shall apply to all persons severing gas or oil in this state, and shall be in addition to all other taxes imposed by law.
(d) (1) The Legislature finds that in addition to the production reports and financial records which must be filed by oil and gas producers with the state tax commissioner in order to comply with this section, oil and gas producers are required to file other production reports with other agencies, including, but not limited to, the office of oil and gas, the public service commission and county assessors. The reports required to be filed are largely duplicative, the compiling of the information in different formats is unnecessarily time consuming and costly, and the filing of one report or the sharing of information by agencies of government would reduce the cost of compliance for oil and gas producers.
(2) On or before the first day of July, two thousand three, the tax commissioner shall design a common form that may be used for each of the reports regarding production that are required to be filed by oil and gas producers, which form shall readily permit a filing without financial information when such information is unnecessary. The commissioner shall also design such forms so as to permit filings in different formats, including, but not limited to, electronic formats.