Reference is to the bill as introduced.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 1, Title 6 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 6-1-180. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Municipal Association of South Carolina or any other nongovernmental entity may not collect business license taxes on behalf of a municipality or any other political subdivision. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Municipal Association of South Carolina or other nongovernmental entity may not collect a business license tax levied by a municipality on the sale of telecommunication services. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Municipal Association of South Carolina or any other nongovernmental entity may not collect an insurance premium tax or broker's premium tax pursuant to Chapter 45, Title 38."
SECTION 2. Article 3, Chapter 1, Title 6 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 6-1-340.
(A) The Secretary of State shall
collect and administer the retail telecommunications services
business license taxes imposed by any county or municipality
pursuant to Sections 58-9-2200 through 58-9-2270. Such taxes
must be paid annually to the Office of the Secretary of State
and are due by January first of the calendar year. Payments
received after January thirty-first are subject to a ten percent
penalty each month. The Secretary of State shall remit all tax
received from the retail telecommunications services business
license tax to each municipality by March first of the calendar
year. The Secretary of State is prohibited from auditing a
taxpayer's retail telecommunications services business license
tax report. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a county or
municipality also shall allow a business to elect to file and
pay its business license tax in person at a location within the
county or municipality, by telephone, or by mail.
(B) A municipality that
requires a retail telecommunications service business license
tax pursuant to Sections 58-9-2200 through 58-9-2270 shall
accept a standard business license application as established
and provided by the Secretary of State.
(C) The Secretary of
State is authorized to contract with software providers and
payment processors for the purposes of implementing the
provisions of this section.
(D)(1) The county or
municipal business license official shall serve notice of
assessment of business license tax due on the taxpayer by mail
or personal service. Within thirty days after the date of
postmark or personal service, a taxpayer may request, in writing
with reasons stated, an adjustment of the assessment. An
informal conference between the county or municipal business
license official and taxpayer must be held within fifteen days
of the receipt of the request, at which the taxpayer may present
any information or documents in support of the requested
adjustment. Within five days after the conference, the county or
municipal business license official shall issue a notice of
final assessment and serve the taxpayer by mail or personal
service with the notice and provide a form for any further
appeal of the assessment by the taxpayer.
(2)
Within thirty days after the date of postmark or personal
service, the taxpayer may appeal from the notice of final
assessment by filing the completed appeal form with the county
or municipal business license official by mail or personal
service, and by paying to the county or municipality in protest
at least eighty percent of the business license tax based on the
final assessment. The appeal must be heard and determined by the
county or municipal council or its designated appeals officer or
appeals board. The county or municipal council or its designee
shall provide the taxpayer with written notice of the hearing
and with any rules of evidence or procedure prescribed by the
county or municipal council or its designee. The hearing must be
held within thirty days after receipt of the appeal form unless
continued to another date by agreement of the parties. A hearing
by the county or municipal council, or its designee, or appeals
board must be held at a regular or special meeting of the county
or municipal council or appeals board. At the appeals hearing,
the taxpayer and the county or municipality have the right to be
represented by counsel, to present testimony and evidence, and
to cross-examine witnesses. The hearing must be recorded and
must be transcribed at the expense of the party so requesting.
The county or municipal council, or its designee, or appeals
board shall decide the assessment by majority vote. The county
or municipal council, or its designee, appeals board, or
designated appeals officer shall issue a written decision
explaining the basis for the decision with findings of fact and
conclusions and shall inform the taxpayer of the right to
request a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law
Court. The written decision must be filed with the county or
municipal business license official and served on the taxpayer
by mail or personal service. The decision is the final decision
of the county or municipality on the assessment.
(3)
Within thirty days after the date of postmark or personal
service of the county's or municipality's written decision on
the assessment, a taxpayer may appeal the decision to the
Administrative Law Court in accordance with the rules of the
Administrative Law Court. The court may affirm, reverse, or
remand the decision on assessment.
(E) In addition to
subsection (D), any audit of income or assessment of a retail
telecommunications services business license tax must be
undertaken by the county or municipality and is subject to the
provisions of Section 6-1-120. A county or municipality may
not engage a third party to conduct an audit on a contingent fee
basis.
(F) The Secretary of
State shall retain an amount of not more than one quarter of one
percent of the revenue collected, to defray the administrative
costs of administering the business license tax program, but the
Secretary of State may not retain more than its actual
administrative costs.
(G) The Secretary of
State may promulgate regulations to carry out the provisions of
this section.
(H) The Secretary of
State shall establish procedures to collect and remit the retail
telecommunication services business license tax in accordance
with Sections 58-9-2200 through 58-9-2270."
SECTION 3. Section 38-7-160 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 38-7-160.
This title may not be construed as preventing any
municipality from levying and collecting license fees or taxes
in accordance with its ordinances on risks located within the
limits of that municipality. However, for surplus lines
insurance no municipality may charge an additional license fee
or tax based upon a percentage of premiums. A municipality may
not charge a license fee to fire insurers or their agents
licensed by the director or his designee in any other manner
than on a percentage of the premiums collected in
the on risks located within the limits of that
municipality or realized from risks located within the limits of
the municipality, or both,. The license
fee may not to exceed two percent of the
premiums collected in the municipality and realized from risks
located in the municipality, except in cities of fifty thousand
inhabitants or more, where not exceeding in
which case not more than five percent may be charged.
Preference must be given hereunder to the
municipality wherein in which the
insured property is located, and, but if
a license fee or tax is levied against the insuring
company on such this basis,
that the company may not be subject to a
similar license from a municipality wherein it may collect the
premium for such transaction an insurance
risk located outside the limits of the municipality.
Notwithstanding anything in this section to the contrary, a
municipal business license tax or fee may not be levied on life
and accident and health insurers that are entities subject to
the insurance premium taxes levied pursuant to Section
38-7-20."
SECTION 4. Section 38-45-10(9) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(9)
'Municipal agent' means the Municipal Association
of South Carolina or other designated agent of the municipality
for the purpose set forth in this chapter.
Reserved"
SECTION 5. Section 38-45-60(B) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(B) As soon as
practical after December thirty-first, but no later than July
first of each year, the department shall distribute from the
special earmarked fund, distinct from the general fund, the
municipal portion of the broker's premium tax rate payment
collected for the prior tax year in accordance with the
requirements of Sections 38-45-20(5) and 38-45-30(6). This
amount must be paid directly to the municipal
agent municipality with a full accounting,
provided by the department, including, but not limited to, the
name and address of the broker, and amount of the broker's
premium tax rate payment collected from each broker, and showing
the counties in which the risk covered by the insurance is
located. The municipal agent
municipality shall distribute the funds annually to each
municipality with which it contracts based on the data submitted
by the department."
SECTION 6. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor, except Sections 1 and 4 take effect December 31, 2018, and Section 2 takes effect January 1, 2019. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.