SB 243 – VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES
01/30/14 0145s
7May2014… 1554h
2014 SESSION
10/05
SENATE BILL 243
AN ACT relative to the carry forward of a credit against the business profits tax, rulemaking concerning the real estate transfer tax, the disclosure of certain department of revenue administration records, and the tax on unstamped tobacco products.
SPONSORS: Sen. Odell, Dist 8; Sen. Forrester, Dist 2; Sen. Hosmer, Dist 7; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Rausch, Dist 19; Rep. Major, Rock 14; Rep. Hess, Merr 24; Rep.?Schamberg, Merr 4; Rep. Lovejoy, Rock 36
This bill clarifies certain statutes administered by the department of revenue administration, including:
I. The taxable years for which the business profits tax credit for business enterprise tax paid may be carried forward.
II. Allowing rules concerning the real estate transfer tax to include examples.
III. The disclosure of records of the department of revenue administration to the federal Department of Justice.
IV. Payment of tax on unstamped tobacco products.
This bill is a request of the department of revenue administration.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
01/30/14 0145s
7May2014… 1554h
14-2663
10/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT relative to the carry forward of a credit against the business profits tax, rulemaking concerning the real estate transfer tax, the disclosure of certain department of revenue administration records, and the tax on unstamped tobacco products.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Business Profits Tax; Credits Carried Forward. Amend RSA 77-A:5, X to read as follows:
X. Taxes paid pursuant to RSA 77-E. Such credit shall be applied in accordance with RSA?77-E:13. No amount of tax paid pursuant to RSA 77-E and used as a credit against the taxes due under RSA 400-A shall be allowed as a credit under this paragraph except as provided in RSA?400-A:34-a. Any unused portion of the credit allowed under this paragraph from taxable periods ending on or after December 31, 2014 may be carried forward and allowed against the tax due under this chapter for 10 taxable periods from the taxable period in which the tax was paid.
2 Real Estate Transfer Tax; Rules. Amend RSA 78-B:8, I to read as follows:
I. This chapter shall be administered by the commissioner of revenue administration. The commissioner may adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to the administration of this chapter. Rules adopted under this chapter may include written examples of taxable and nontaxable real estate transactions. The commissioner shall recommend the amount of bond for each register of deeds. The cost of such bond shall be paid by the state as an expense of administering this chapter. Each register of deeds, or county if the register of deeds is on a salary basis, shall be paid for his services 4 percent of the face value of the stamps or other approved indicia of payment of the tax sold in his registry. Such payment for services shall be made prior to remitting all taxes collected, and shall be deducted from the remittance made in paragraph II. A sum sufficient to pay each register of deeds for his services pursuant to this section is hereby continually appropriated. The governor is authorized to draw [his] a warrant for the payment thereof out of any funds in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
3 New Subparagraph; Department of Revenue Administration Records; Disclosure. Amend RSA?21-J:14, V by inserting after subparagraph (f) the following new subparagraph:
(g) Disclosure of department records, files, or returns to the United States Department of Justice in accordance with compacts for the exchange of information between the department and the United States Department of Justice, but only for the purpose of, and to the extent necessary in, the administration and enforcement of RSA 541-C and RSA 541-D relative to the tobacco master settlement agreement.
4 Tobacco Tax; Affixing Stamps. Amend RSA 78:12, II to read as follows:
II. The commissioner is authorized to exempt such tobacco products, other than cigarettes in packs of 20 or 25, from the requirement of affixing stamps to their packages under paragraph I, as to which he or she finds that the affixing of stamps is physically impractical due to the size or nature of the package or that the cost of affixing the stamps is unreasonably disproportionate to the tax revenue to be collected. In lieu of stamps, the commissioner may, by rules adopted under RSA?541-A, require the submission of periodic returns to the commissioner by wholesalers thereof exempted under this paragraph, setting forth the total amount of such unstamped tobacco products distributed and transmitting payment of the tax due under this chapter.
5 Tobacco Tax; Unstamped Tobacco Products. Amend RSA 78:14 to read as follows:
78:14 [Unstamped] Tobacco Products. No sub-jobber, vending machine operator, or retailer, and no other person who is not licensed under the provisions of this chapter or licensed under the provisions of RSA 178, shall sell, offer for sale, display for sale, ship, store, import, transport, carry, or possess with or without intent to sell, any tobacco products [not properly stamped] without documentation of tax paid under RSA 78:12 or 78:13[, except as provided in RSA 78:12, II]. This section shall not prevent any unlicensed person able to purchase unstamped tobacco products by statute from possessing such products for his or her own use or consumption, if the tax otherwise due under this chapter is paid by the unlicensed person to the department directly. The provisions of this section shall not apply to common carriers transporting unstamped tobacco products. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a felony.
6 Tobacco Tax; Forfeiture of Unstamped Products. Amend RSA 78:16, I to read as follows:
I. [Unless the tobacco products are subject to the exemption under RSA 78:12, II,] Tobacco products found at any place in this state without the necessary [stamps affixed to them] documentation as provided in RSA 78:12 and RSA 78:13 to evidence the payment of the tax imposed by this chapter, unless they shall be in the possession of a licensed manufacturer or wholesaler, or unless they shall be in the course of transit by common carrier from a bonded warehouse and consigned to a licensed manufacturer, wholesaler, or anyone exempted by statute, shall be declared to be contraband goods and subject to forfeiture to the state.
7 Tobacco Tax; Records. Amend RSA 78:18 to read as follows:
78:18 Required Taxpayer Records.
I. The commissioner shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to the form for records of all tobacco products manufactured, produced, purchased, and sold. Each manufacturer, wholesaler, sub-jobber, vending machine operator, and retailer shall keep complete and accurate records of all such tobacco products. Such records shall be safely preserved for 3 years in such manner as to insure permanency and accessibility for inspection by the commissioner and the commissioner’s authorized agents. Retailers of tobacco products exempt from the requirement of affixing stamps in RSA 78:12, II shall keep such records with such exempt tobacco products, as determined by the commissioner, that document the tax imposed by this chapter on the tobacco products has been paid in full.
II. The commissioner and the authorized agents may examine the books, papers, and records of any manufacturer, wholesaler, sub-jobber, vending machine operator, or retailer doing business in this state, for the purpose of determining whether the tax imposed by this chapter has been fully paid, and they may investigate and examine the stock of tobacco products in or upon any premises where such tobacco products are possessed, stored, or sold, for the purpose of determining whether the provisions of this chapter are being obeyed. Each sampler shall keep complete and accurate records of tobacco products distributed free to consumers in New Hampshire for promotional purposes. The commissioner and the commissioner’s authorized agents may examine such records.
8 Effective Date.
I. Section 1 of this act shall take effect July 1, 2014 at 12:01 a.m. and shall apply to taxable periods ending on or after December 31, 2014.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.