For the purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BANKING BUSINESS; FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION. Any bank, banking association, trust company, industrial loan company, small loan company or licensee, building and loan association, savings and loan association, finance company, investment company, investment broker or dealer, and any other similar business organization at least ninety per centum of the assets of which consists of intangible personal property and at least ninety per centum of the gross receipts of which consists of dividends, interest and other charges derived from the use of money or credit.
BUILDINGS or STRUCTURES. Everything artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite mariner and attached to real property. It includes not only buildings in the general and ordinary sense, but also tanks, fences, conduits, culverts, railroad tracks, overhead and underground transmission systems, tunnels, monuments, retaining walls, bridges, trestles, parking lots and pavement for foot or vehicular traffic.
BUSINESS. All activities engaged in or caused to be engaged in with the object or gain or economic benefit, either direct or indirect. BUSINESS shall not include a casual sale by a person who is not engaged in the business of selling the type of property involved in such casual sale. BUSINESS shall include the production of natural resources or manufactured products which are used or consumed by the producer or manufacturer and shall include the activities of a banking business or financial organization.
COMPANY; PERSON. Any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, corporation, trust, estate or any other group or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular number, unless the intention to give a more limited meaning is disclosed by the context.
CONTRACTING. The furnishing of work, or both materials and work, in the fulfillment of a contract for the construction, alteration, repair, decoration or improvement of a new or existing building or structure, or any part thereof. CONTRACTING shall also include the alteration, improvement or development of real property.
CONTRACTING, REPAIRING, DECORATING or IMPROVING. The term, in addition to its ordinary meaning, includes the installing or attaching of any article of tangible personal property in or to real property, whether or not such personal property becomes a part of the realty by virtue of such installation.
GROSS INCOME. All income from whatever source derived, unless excluded by law. GROSS INCOME shall include income realized in any form, whether in money, property, or services. GROSS INCOME means the gross receipts of the taxpayer, other than a banking or financial business, received as compensation for personal services and the gross receipts of the taxpayer derived from trade, business, commerce, or sales and the value proceeding or accruing from the sale of tangible property (real or personal), or service, or both. GROSS INCOME includes all receipts by the reason of the investment of the capital of the business engaged in and shall include rents, royalties, fees, reimbursed cost or expenses or other emoluments however designated. GROSS INCOME includes all interest, carrying charges, fees or other like income, however denominated, derived by the taxpayer from repetitive carrying of accounts, in the regular course and conduct of his or her business, and extension of credit in connection with the sale of any tangible property or service. If services or property are paid for other than in money, the fair market value of the property or service taken in payment must be included in gross income. No deduction shall be allowed against gross income for the cost of property sold, the cost of materials used, labor costs, taxes, royalties paid in cash or in kind or otherwise, interest or discount paid or any other expense whatsoever.
GROSS INCOME AND GROSS PROCEEDS OF SALES. The term shall not be construed to include:
(1) Cash discounts allowed and taken on sales;
(2) The proceeds of sale of goods, wares or merchandise returned by customers when the sale price is refunded either in cash or by credit:
(3) The amount allowed as “trade-in value” for any article accepted as part payment for any article sold;
(4) Excise taxes imposed by the State of West Virginia, and certain excise taxes imposed by the U.S. government, but only those federal excise taxes which are taxes on the consumer and which are held in trust by the vendor as an agent for the federal government. These include federal excise tax paid on gasoline, diesel and lubricants; or
(5) Money or other property received or held by a professional person for the sole use and benefit of a client or another person or money received by the taxpayer on behalf of a bank or other financial institution for the repayment of a debt of another.
GROSS PROCEEDS OF SALES. The value, whether in money or other property, actually proceeding from the sale of tangible property, without any deduction on account of the cost of property sold or expenses of any kind.
MANUFACTURING. All activities of a commercial or industrial nature wherein labor or skill is applied, by hand or machinery, to materials so that as a result thereof a new, different or useful substance or article of tangible personal property is produced for sale, profit, or commercial or industrial use, and shall include the production or fabrication of special-made or custom-made articles. MANUFACTURING includes producing articles from raw materials or prepared materials by giving these matters new forms, quantities, properties, or combinations and includes such activities as making, fabricating, processing, refining, mixing and compounding.
PRIME CONTRACTOR. A person engaged in the business of performing for others, contracts for the construction, repairing, decorating or improving of new or existing buildings or other structures under, upon or above real property, either for the work or for a specific portion thereof.
SALE; SALES; SELLING. Any transfer of the ownership of, or title to, property, whether for money or in exchange for other property.
SELLING AT WHOLESALE; WHOLESALE SALES.
(1) Sales of any tangible personal property for the purpose of resale in the form of tangible personal property;
(2) Sales of machinery, supplies or materials which are to be directly consumed or used by the purchaser in the conduct of any business or activity which is subject to the municipal business and occupation tax;
(3) Sales of any tangible personal property to the United States of America, its agencies and instrumentalities, or to the state, its institutions or political subdivisions.
SERVICE BUSINESS OR CALLING. All activities engaged in by a person for other persons for a consideration, which involve the rendering of a service as distinguished from the sale of tangible property, but not including the services rendered by an employee to his or her employer. The term shall include, but not be limited to:
(1) Persons engaged in manufacturing, compounding or preparing for sale, profit or commercial use articles, substances or commodities which are owned by another or others;
(2) Persons engaged as independent contractors in producing natural resource products which are owned by another or others, as personal property, immediately after the same are severed, extracted, reduced to possession and produced; and
(3) The repetitive carrying of accounts in the regular course and conduct of business, and extension of credit in connection with the sale of any tangible personal property or in connection with the sale of any tangible personal property or service, except as to persons taxed pursuant to the provisions of § 791.11.
SPECULATIVE BUILDER. One who constructs improvements upon real property owned by him or her for sale or rental. The gross income derived by the speculative builder from the sale of real property upon which the speculative builder has constructed improvements shall be reported under the retail classification on the municipal business and occupation tax form. The sales price is the measure of the tax.
SUBCONTRACTOR. A person engaged in the business of performing a like or similar service for persons other than consumers, either for the entire work or for a specific portion thereof.
TAXPAYER. Any person liable for any tax hereunder.
TAX YEAR; TAXABLE YEAR. Either the calendar year, or the taxpayer’s fiscal year when permission is obtained from the Finance Director to use the same as the tax period in lieu of the calendar year.
(Ord. 1276, passed 6-29-00; Am. Ord. 1437, passed 2-7-05)