(a) General. — The Tax Commissioner shall provide sellers with as much advance notice as practicable of a rate change for a tax levied by article fifteen or fifteen-a of this chapter.

Terms Used In West Virginia Code 11-15B-21

  • Commissioner: means the State Tax Commissioner. See West Virginia Code 11-22-1
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Seller: means any person making sales, leases or rentals of personal property or services. See West Virginia Code 11-15B-2
  • State: means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See West Virginia Code 11-15B-2
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Tax: includes all taxes levied under articles fifteen and fifteen-a of this chapter and additions to tax, interest and penalties levied under article ten of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 11-15B-2
  • Tax Commissioner: means the State Tax Commissioner or his or her delegate. See West Virginia Code 11-15B-2
  • Use tax: means the tax levied under article fifteen-a of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 11-15B-2

(b) Effective date of rate changes. — Unless the Legislature expressly provides a different effective date for a rate change, the change shall take effect on the first day of the calendar quarter that begins on or after the effective date of the act of the Legislature that makes the rate change and that is more than sixty days after passage of the bill making the rate change.

(c) Notification of changes to tax base. — The Tax Commissioner shall make reasonable efforts to notify sellers of legislative changes to the tax base and to amendments to sales and use tax rules, as that term is defined in section two, article one, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

(d) Liability of seller.

(1) Failure of a seller to receive notice or failure of the state to provide notice of a rate change or a change in the tax base, or to limit the effective date of a rate change, does not relieve the seller of its obligation to collect sales or use taxes for this state.

(2) Failure of the Tax Commissioner to provide for at least thirty days between the enactment of the statute providing for a rate change and the effective date of such rate change shall relieve the seller of liability for failing to collect tax at the new rate if:

(A) The seller collected tax at the immediately preceding effective rate; and

(B) The seller's failure to collect at the newly effective rate does not extend beyond thirty days after the date of the enactment of the new rate.

(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (d)(2), if the seller fraudulently failed to collect at the new rate or solicits purchasers based on the immediately preceding effective rate this relief does not apply.