BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to enhanced 911 excise taxes; amending RCW 82.14B.020, 82.14B.030, 82.14B.040, 82.14B.060, 82.32.010, and 82.32.105; adding new sections to chapter 82.14B RCW; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 82.14B.020 and 1994 c 96 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Emergency services communication system" means a multicounty, county-wide, or district-wide radio or landline communications network, including an enhanced 911 telephone system, which provides rapid public access for coordinated dispatching of services, personnel, equipment, and facilities for police, fire, medical, or other emergency services.

(2) "Enhanced 911 telephone system" means a public telephone system consisting of a network, data base, and on-premises equipment that is accessed by dialing 911 and that enables reporting police, fire, medical, or other emergency situations to a public safety answering point. The system includes the capability to selectively route incoming 911 calls to the appropriate public safety answering point that operates in a defined 911 service area and the capability to automatically display the name, address, and telephone number of incoming 911 calls at the appropriate public safety answering point.

(3) "Switched access line" means the telephone service line which connects a subscriber's main telephone(s) or equivalent main telephone(s) to the local exchange company's switching office.

(4) "Local exchange company" has the meaning ascribed to it in RCW 80.04.010.

(5) "Radio access line" means the telephone number assigned to or used by ((~~an end user~~)) a subscriber for two-way local wireless voice service available to the public for hire from a radio communications service company. Radio access lines include, but are not limited to, radio-telephone communications lines used in cellular telephone service, personal communications services, and network radio access lines, or their functional and competitive equivalent. Radio access lines do not include lines that provide access to one-way signaling service, such as paging service, or to communications channels suitable only for data transmission, or to nonlocal radio access line service, such as wireless roaming service, or to a private telecommunications system.

(6) "Radio communications service company" has the meaning ascribed to it in RCW 80.04.010.

(7) "Private telecommunications system" has the meaning ascribed to it in RCW 80.04.010.

(8) "Subscriber" means the retail purchaser of telephone service as telephone service is defined in RCW 82.04.065(3).

Sec. 2. RCW 82.14B.030 and 1994 c 96 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The legislative authority of a county may impose a county enhanced 911 excise tax on the use of switched access lines in an amount not exceeding fifty cents per month for each switched access line. The amount of tax shall be uniform for each switched access line. Each county shall provide notice of such tax to all local exchange companies serving in the county at least sixty days in advance of the date on which the first payment is due.

(2) The legislative authority of a county may also impose a county 911 excise tax on the use of radio access lines located within the county in an amount not exceeding twenty-five cents per month for each radio access line. The amount of tax shall be uniform for each radio access line. The county shall provide notice of such tax to all radio communications service companies serving in the county at least sixty days in advance of the date on which the first payment is due. Any county imposing this tax shall include in its ordinance a refund mechanism whereby the amount of any tax ordered to be refunded by the judgment of a court of record, or as a result of the resolution of any appeal therefrom, shall be refunded to the radio communications service company or local exchange company that collected the tax, and those companies shall reimburse the ((~~users~~)) subscribers who paid the tax. The ordinance shall further provide that to the extent the ((~~users~~)) subscribers who paid the tax cannot be identified or located, the tax paid by those ((~~users~~)) subscribers shall be returned to the county.

(3) Beginning January 1, 1992, a state enhanced 911 excise tax is imposed on all switched access lines in the state. For 1992, the tax shall be set at a rate of twenty cents per month for each switched access line. Until December 31, 1998, the amount of tax shall not exceed twenty cents per month for each switched access line and thereafter shall not exceed ten cents per month for each switched access line. The tax shall be uniform for each switched access line. Tax proceeds shall be deposited by the treasurer in the enhanced 911 account created in RCW 38.52.540.

(4) By August 31st of each year the state enhanced 911 coordinator shall recommend the level for the next year of the state enhanced 911 excise tax to the utilities and transportation commission. The commission shall by the following October 31st determine the level of the state enhanced 911 excise tax for the following year.

Sec. 3. RCW 82.14B.040 and 1994 c 96 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

The state enhanced 911 tax and the county enhanced 911 tax on switched access lines shall be collected from the ((~~user~~)) subscriber by the local exchange company providing the switched access line. The county 911 tax on radio access lines shall be collected from the ((~~end user~~)) subscriber by the radio communications service company providing the radio access line to the ((~~end user~~)) subscriber. The amount of the tax shall be stated separately on the billing statement which is sent to the ((~~user~~)) subscriber.

Sec. 4. RCW 82.14B.060 and 1981 c 160 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

A county legislative authority imposing a tax under this chapter shall establish by ordinance all necessary and appropriate procedures for the administration and collection of the tax, which ordinance shall provide for reimbursement to the telephone companies for actual costs of administration and collection of the tax imposed. The ordinance shall also provide that the due date for remittance of the tax collected shall be ((~~thirty days following the collection month~~)) on or before the last day of the month following the month in which the tax liability accrues.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 82.14B RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department of revenue shall administer and shall adopt such rules as may be necessary to enforce and administer the state enhanced 911 excise tax imposed by this chapter. Chapter 82.32 RCW, with the exception of RCW 82.32.045, 82.32.145, and 82.32.380, applies to the administration, collection, and enforcement of the state enhanced 911 excise tax.

(2) The state enhanced 911 excise tax imposed by this chapter, along with reports and returns on forms prescribed by the department, are due monthly on or before the last day of the month following the month in which the tax liability accrues.

(3) The department of revenue may relieve any taxpayer or class of taxpayers from the obligation of remitting monthly and may require the return to cover other longer reporting periods, but in no event may returns be filed for a period greater than one year. For these taxpayers, tax payments are due on or before the last day of the month next succeeding the end of the period covered by the return.

(4) The state enhanced 911 excise tax imposed by this chapter is in addition to any taxes imposed upon the same persons under chapters 82.08 and 82.12 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 82.14B RCW to read as follows:

(1) A local exchange company or radio communications service company shall file tax returns on a cash receipts or accrual basis according to which method of accounting is regularly employed in keeping the books of the company. A local exchange company or radio communications service company filing returns on a cash receipts basis is not required to pay tax on debts that are deductible as worthless for federal income tax purposes.

(2) A local exchange company or radio communications service company is entitled to a credit or refund for state enhanced 911 excise taxes previously paid on debts that are deductible as worthless for federal income tax purposes.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 82.14B RCW to read as follows:

The taxes imposed by this chapter do not apply to any activity that the state or county is prohibited from taxing under the constitution of this state or the constitution or laws of the United States.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 82.14B RCW to read as follows:

(1) The state enhanced 911 excise tax imposed by this chapter must be paid by the subscriber to the local exchange company providing the switched access line, and each local exchange company shall collect from the subscriber the full amount of the tax payable. The state enhanced 911 excise tax required by this chapter to be collected by the local exchange company is deemed to be held in trust by the local exchange company until paid to the department. Any local exchange company that appropriates or converts the tax collected to its own use or to any use other than the payment of the tax to the extent that the money collected is not available for payment on the due date as prescribed in this chapter is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

(2) If any local exchange company fails to collect the state enhanced 911 excise tax or, after collecting the tax, fails to pay it to the department in the manner prescribed by this chapter, whether such failure is the result of its own act or the result of acts or conditions beyond its control, the local exchange company is personally liable to the state for the amount of the tax, unless the local exchange company has taken from the buyer in good faith a properly executed resale certificate under section 9 of this act.

(3) The amount of tax, until paid by the subscriber to the local exchange company or to the department, constitutes a debt from the subscriber to the local exchange company. Any local exchange company that fails or refuses to collect the tax as required with intent to violate the provisions of this chapter or to gain some advantage or benefit, either direct or indirect, and any subscriber who refuses to pay any tax due under this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor. The state enhanced 911 excise tax required by this chapter to be collected by the local exchange company must be stated separately on the billing statement that is sent to the subscriber.

(4) If a subscriber has failed to pay to the local exchange company the state enhanced 911 excise tax imposed by this chapter and the local exchange company has not paid the amount of the tax to the department, the department may, in its discretion, proceed directly against the subscriber for collection of the tax, in which case a penalty of ten percent may be added to the amount of the tax for failure of the subscriber to pay the tax to the local exchange company, regardless of when the tax is collected by the department. For the sole purpose of applying the various provisions of chapter 82.32 RCW, the last day of the month following the tax period in which the tax liability accrued is to be considered as the due date of the tax.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. A new section is added to chapter 82.14B RCW to read as follows:

(1) Unless a local exchange company has taken from the buyer a resale certificate or equivalent document under RCW 82.04.470, the burden of proving that a sale of the use of a switched access lines was not a sale to a subscriber is upon the person who made the sale.

(2) If a local exchange company does not receive a resale certificate at the time of the sale, have a resale certificate on file at the time of the sale, or obtain a resale certificate from the buyer within a reasonable time after the sale, the local exchange company remains liable for the tax as provided in section 8 of this act, unless the local exchange company can demonstrate facts and circumstances according to rules adopted by the department of revenue that show the sale was properly made without payment of the state enhanced 911 excise tax.

(3) The penalty imposed by RCW 82.32.291 may not be assessed on state enhanced 911 excise taxes due but not paid as a result of the improper use of a resale certificate. This subsection does not prohibit or restrict the application of other penalties authorized by law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. A new section is added to chapter 82.14B RCW to read as follows:

(1) Upon termination, dissolution, or abandonment of a corporate or limited liability company business, any officer, member, manager, or other person having control or supervision of state enhanced 911 excise tax funds collected and held in trust under section 8 of this act, or who is charged with the responsibility for the filing of returns or the payment of state enhanced 911 excise tax funds collected and held in trust under section 8 of this act, is personally liable for any unpaid taxes and interest and penalties on those taxes, if such officer or other person willfully fails to pay or to cause to be paid any state enhanced 911 excise taxes due from the corporation under this chapter. For the purposes of this section, any state enhanced 911 excise taxes that have been paid but not collected are deductible from the state enhanced 911 excise taxes collected but not paid. For purposes of this subsection "willfully fails to pay or to cause to be paid" means that the failure was the result of an intentional, conscious, and voluntary course of action.

(2) The officer, member, manager, or other person is liable only for taxes collected that became due during the period he or she had the control, supervision, responsibility, or duty to act for the corporation described in subsection (1) of this section, plus interest and penalties on those taxes.

(3) Persons liable under subsection (1) of this section are exempt from liability if nonpayment of the state enhanced 911 excise tax funds held in trust is due to reasons beyond their control as determined by the department by rule.

(4) Any person having been issued a notice of assessment under this section is entitled to the appeal procedures under RCW 82.32.160 through 82.32.200.

(5) This section applies only if the department has determined that there is no reasonable means of collecting the state enhanced 911 excise tax funds held in trust directly from the corporation.

(6) This section does not relieve the corporation or limited liability company of other tax liabilities or otherwise impair other tax collection remedies afforded by law.

(7) Collection authority and procedures prescribed in chapter 82.32 RCW apply to collections under this section.

Sec. 11. RCW 82.32.010 and 1984 c 204 s 26 are each amended to read as follows:

The provisions of this chapter shall apply with respect to the taxes imposed under chapters 82.04 through 82.14 RCW, under RCW 82.14B.030(3), under chapters 82.16 through 82.29A RCW of this title, under chapter 84.33 RCW, and under other titles, chapters, and sections in such manner and to such extent as indicated in each such title, chapter, or section.

Sec. 12. RCW 82.32.105 and 1996 c 149 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) If the department of revenue finds that the payment by a taxpayer of a tax less than that properly due or the failure of a taxpayer to pay any tax by the due date was the result of circumstances beyond the control of the taxpayer, the department of revenue shall waive or cancel any penalties imposed under this chapter with respect to such tax.

(2) The department shall waive or cancel the penalty imposed under RCW 82.32.090(1) when the circumstances under which the delinquency occurred do not qualify for waiver or cancellation under subsection (1) of this section if:

(a) The taxpayer requests the waiver for a tax return required to be filed under RCW 82.32.045, section 5 of this act, 82.23B.020, 82.27.060, 82.29A.050, or 84.33.086; and

(b) The taxpayer has timely filed and remitted payment on all tax returns due for that tax program for a period of twenty‑four months immediately preceding the period covered by the return for which the waiver is being requested.

(3) The department shall waive or cancel interest imposed under this chapter if:

(a) The failure to timely pay the tax was the direct result of written instructions given the taxpayer by the department; or

(b) The extension of a due date for payment of an assessment of deficiency was not at the request of the taxpayer and was for the sole convenience of the department.

(4) The department of revenue shall adopt rules for the waiver or cancellation of penalties and interest imposed by this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. This act takes effect January 1, 1998.