West Virginia Code 11-12C-2 – Corporate license required; tax levied; exemption from tax; effective date
(a) Corporate license required. — No corporation, domestic or foreign, may engage in any business activity in this state without paying the corporate license tax to the Tax Commissioner of the State of West Virginia, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 11-12C-2
- Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
- Business activity: means all activities engaged in or caused to be engaged in with the object of gain or economic benefit, direct or indirect, but does not mean any of the activities of foreign corporations enumerated in subsections (b), (c) and (d), section forty-nine, article one, chapter . See West Virginia Code 11-12C-1
- Commissioner: means the State Tax Commissioner. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Corporation: means a corporation or joint-stock association, organized under the laws of this state, the United States or any other state, territory or foreign country or dependency including, but not limited to, banking institutions. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
- Domestic corporation: means a corporation incorporated under the laws of this state and corporations organized under the laws of the state of Virginia before June 20, 1863, which have its principal place of business and chief works (if it has chief works) in this state. See West Virginia Code 11-12C-1
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Foreign corporation: means a corporation which is not a domestic corporation. See West Virginia Code 11-12C-1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- tax: means , in addition to the amount of corporate license tax levied pursuant to this article, all interest, additions to tax, fines and penalties, unless the intention to give the term a more limited meaning is clear from the context in which it is used. See West Virginia Code 11-12C-1
- Tax commissioner: means the Tax Commissioner of the State of West Virginia or his or her delegate. See West Virginia Code 11-12C-1
- Value: means in the case of any document not a gift, the amount of the full actual consideration for the document, paid or to be paid, including the amount of any lien or liens assumed. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
(b) Tax levied. — Every corporation shall pay an annual corporate license tax for the license year which begins on July 1, of each year and ends the thirtieth day of the following June. This tax shall be in addition to the annual fee, if any, payable to the Secretary of State as attorney-in-fact. The amount of this tax shall be as follows:
(1) Amount of license tax on domestic corporations. — Every domestic corporation shall pay an annual license tax on its charter for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, of each year, based on its authorized capital stock as follows: If the authorized capital stock be $5,000, or less, $20; if more than $5,000 and not more than $10,000, $30; if more than $10,000 and not more than $25,000, $40; if more than $25,000 and not more than $50,000, $50; if more than $50,000 and not more than $75,000, $80; if more than $75,000 and not more than $100,000, $100; if more than $100,000 and not more than $125,000, $110; if more than $125,000 and not more than $150,000, $120; if more than $150,000 and not more than $175,000, $140; if more than $175,000 and not more than $200,000, $150; if more than $200,000 and not more than $1 million, $180, and an additional 20¢ on each $1,000, or fraction thereof, in excess of $200,000; if more than $1,000,000 and not more than $15,000,000, $345, and an additional 15¢ on each $1,000, or fraction thereof, in excess of $1,000,000; if more than $15,000,000, $2,500. The license tax collected hereunder shall be in addition to the annual fee, if any, payable to the Secretary of State as statutory attorney-in-fact. For the purpose of the assessment of the license tax provided by this section, and for no other purpose, shares of stock having no par value shall be presumed to be of the par value of $25 each: Provided, That if such stock was originally issued for a consideration greater than $25 per share, such license taxes as are required to be paid to the Tax Commissioner shall be computed upon the basis of the consideration for which such stock was issued.
(2) Amount of license tax on foreign corporations. — It shall be the duty of the Tax Commissioner to assess and fix the license tax of each foreign corporation engaging in business activity in this state according to the proportion of its issued and outstanding capital stock which is represented by its property owned and used in this state, which license tax shall be at the rate prescribed in subdivision (1) of this subsection (b), plus seventy-five percent of such tax. In no event shall any such foreign corporation pay an annual license tax of less than $250, which shall be in addition to the fee of the Secretary of State as statutory attorney-in-fact. The Tax Commissioner may in any case require such additional information as he or she may deem necessary to enable him or her to assess and fix the just amount of license tax of such corporation; it shall be his or her duty to notify every such corporation of the amount so assessed; and it shall be the duty of the corporation to pay the same to the Tax Commissioner within thirty days thereafter, and if it fail to do so it shall be liable to the penalties prescribed in, or pursuant to, this article.
(c) Exemptions. — Nonprofit corporations are exempt from payment of the corporate license tax but must file with the Tax Commissioner the return required by section three of this article, and pay the annual fee of the Secretary of State as attorney-in-fact under section five of this article if applicable.