12101656D
HOUSE BILL NO. 456
Offered January 11, 2012
Prefiled January 10, 2012
A BILL to amend and reenact §58.1-339.10
of the Code of Virginia, relating to riparian forest tax credit; refunds.
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Patron-- Ware, R.L.
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Referred to Committee on Finance
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §58.1-339.10 of the Code of Virginia is amended
and reenacted as follows:
§58.1-339.10. Riparian forest buffer protection for waterways
tax credit.
A. For all taxable years beginning on or after January 1,
2000, any individual who owns land abutting a waterway on which timber is
harvested, and who forbears harvesting timber on certain portions of the land
near the waterway, shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed by §
58.1-320 as set forth in this section. For purposes of this section,
"waterway" means any perennial or intermittent stream of water
depicted on the then most current United States Geological Survey topographical
map. For purposes of this section and for taxable years beginning on and after
January 1, 2008, "individual" means an individual person and an
individual's grantor trust.
B. The State Forester shall develop guidelines setting forth
the general requirements of qualifying for the credit, including the land for
which credit is eligible. To qualify for the credit, the individual must comply
with an individualized Forest Stewardship Plan to be certified by the State
Forester. In no event shall the distance from such waterway to the far end of
the timber buffer, on which the tax credit is based, be less than thirty-five 35 feet or more than three hundred 300 feet. The minimum duration
for the buffer shall be fifteen 15 years. The State Forester
shall check each certified buffer annually to verify its continued compliance
with the individual's Forest Stewardship Plan. If the State Forester discovers
that the timber in that portion of the land retained as a buffer has been
harvested prior to the end of the required term, written notification of such
violation shall be delivered to the individual by the State Forester.
C. The tax credit shall be an amount equal to twenty-five 25 percent of the value of
timber in that portion of the land retained as a buffer. The amount of such
credit shall not exceed $17,500 or the total amount of the tax imposed by this
chapter, whichever is less, in the year that the timber outside the buffer was
harvested. If the amount of the credit exceeds the individual's liability for
such taxable year, the excess may be carried over
for credit against income taxes in the next five taxable years until the total
amount of the tax credit has been taken shall be refunded by the Tax Commissioner. Tax credits shall be refunded by the Tax
Commissioner on behalf of the Commonwealth for 100 percent of face value. Tax
credits shall be refunded within 90 days after the filing date of the income
tax return on which the individual applies for the refund.
For purposes of this section, the amount of any credit attributable to
qualified buffer protection by a partnership or electing small business
corporation (S Corporation) shall be allocated to the individual partners or
shareholders in proportion to their ownership or interest in the partnership or
S Corporation. The land which is the subject of a tax credit under this section
cannot again be the subject of a tax credit under this section for at least fifteen 15
years. The State Forester shall check each certified buffer annually to verify
its continued compliance with the individual's Forest Stewardship Plan. If the
State Forester discovers that the timber in that portion of the land retained
as a buffer has been harvested prior to the end of the required term, written
notification of such noncompliance shall be delivered to the individual by the
State Forester.
D. To claim the credit authorized under this section, the
individual shall apply to the State Forester, who shall determine the amount of
credit, using the assessed value of the timber in that portion of land retained
as a buffer, and issue a certificate thereof to the individual. The individual
shall attach the certificate to the Virginia tax return on which the credit is
claimed. In the event the timber in that portion of land retained as a buffer
is harvested by the individual or any other person prior to the end of the term
originally established in the individual's Forest Stewardship Plan, the
individual shall repay the tax credit claimed. Within sixty 60 days after receiving
written notification from the State Forester that the individual's plan no
longer qualifies for the credit, repayment shall be made to the Department of Taxation.
If repayment is not made within the sixty-day 60-day period, the State
Forester shall notify the locality's attorney for the
Commonwealth Attorney
for assistance in collecting the funds from the individual.
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