Bill Text: WV SB693 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Updating certain definitions and terms used in WV Personal Income Tax Act
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-24 - Chapter 255, Acts, Regular Session, 2021 [SB693 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2021-SB693-Introduced.html
WEST virginia legislature
2021 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 693
By Senators Blair (Mr.
President)
and Baldwin
(By Request of the Executive)
[Introduced March 22, 2021;
referred
to the Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-21-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to updating meaning of federal adjusted gross income and certain other terms used in West Virginia Personal Income Tax Act; and specifying effective dates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
Article 21. WEST VIRGINIA PERSONAL INCOME TAX.
11-21-9. Meaning of terms.
(a) Any term used in this
article has the same meaning as when used in a comparable context in the laws
of the United States relating to income taxes, unless a different meaning is
clearly required. Any reference in this article to the laws of the United States
means the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and any
other provisions of the laws of the United States that relate to the determination of income for federal income tax purposes.
All amendments made to the laws of the United States after December 31, 2019,
but prior to January 1, 2021 March 12, 2021, shall be given
effect in determining the taxes imposed by this article to the same extent
those changes are allowed for federal income tax purposes, whether the changes
are retroactive or prospective, but no amendment to the laws of the United
States made on or after January 1, 2021 March 12, 2021, may be
given any effect.
(b) Medical savings accounts. -- The term “taxable trust” does not include a medical savings account established pursuant to §33-15-20 or §33-16-15 of this code. Employer contributions to a medical savings account established pursuant to those sections are not wages for purposes of withholding under §11-21-71 of this code.
(c) Surtax. -- The term “surtax” means the twenty percent additional tax imposed on taxable withdrawals from a medical savings account under §33-15-20 of this code and the twenty percent additional tax imposed on taxable withdrawals from a medical savings account under §33-16-15 of this code which are collected by the Tax Commissioner as tax collected under this article.
(d) Effective date. -- The amendments to this section enacted in the year 2021 are retroactive to the extent allowable under federal income tax law. With respect to taxable years that began prior to January 1, 2021, the law in effect for each of those years shall be fully preserved as to that year, except as provided in this section.
(e) For purposes of the refundable credit allowed to a low income senior citizen for property tax paid on his or her homestead in this state, the term “laws of the United States” as used in subsection (a) of this section means and includes the term “low income” as defined in subsection (b), section twenty-one of this article and as reflected in the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the federal register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. § 9902(2).
(f) For taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2018, whenever this article refers to “each exemption for which he or she is entitled to a deduction for the taxable year for federal income tax purposes”, this phrase means the exemption the person would have been allowed to claim for the taxable year had the federal income tax law not been amended to eliminate the personal exemption for federal tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update the meaning of federal adjusted gross income and certain other terms used in the West Virginia Personal Income Tax Act. The bill changes the date to which amendments to federal law determining income for federal income tax purposes are given effect so that the date incorporates federal changes to the 2020 tax year that are set forth in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
