The following words when used in this Article
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section:
ACQUIRED COMPANY
A real estate company is an "acquired company" upon a change
in the ownership interest in the company, however affected, if the
change does not affect the continuity of the company and of itself
or, together with prior changes, has the effect of transferring, directly
or indirectly, ninety percent (90%) or more of the total ownership
interest in the company within a period of three (3) years.
ASSOCIATION
A partnership, limited partnership or any other form of unincorporated
enterprise, owned or conducted by two (2) or more persons, other than
a private trust or decedent's estate.
CORPORATION
A corporation, joint-stock association, business trust or
banking institution which is organized under the laws of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, the United States or any other state, territory or
foreign country or dependency.
DOCUMENT
Any deed, instrument or writing which conveys, transfers, demises, vests, confirms or evidences any transfer or demise of title to real estate, but does not include wills, mortgages, deeds or trust or other instruments of like character given as security for a debt and deeds of release thereof to the debtor, land contracts whereby the legal title does not pass to the grantee until the total consideration specified in the contract has been paid or any cancellation thereof unless the consideration is payable over a period of time exceeding thirty (30) years or instruments which solely grant, vest or confirm a public utility easement. A "document" shall also include a declaration of acquisition required to be presented for recording pursuant to §
99-13B hereof.
FAMILY FARM CORPORATION
A corporation of which at least seventy-five percent (75%)
of its assets are devoted to the business of agriculture and at least
seventy-five percent (75%) of each class of stock of the corporation
is continuously owned by members of the same family. The business
of agriculture shall not be deemed to include recreational activities,
such as, but not limited to, hunting, fishing, camping, skiing, show
competition or racing; the raising, breeding or training of game animals
or game birds, fish, cats, dogs or pets or animals intended for use
in sporting or recreational activities; fur farming; stockyard and
slaughterhouse operations; manufacturing or processing operations
of any kind. With respect to real estate acquired after February 16,
1986, a "family farm corporation" is an acquired company when, because
of voluntary or involuntary dissolution, it ceases to be a "family
farm corporation" or when, because of issuance or transfer of stock
or because of acquisition or transfer of assets that are devoted to
the business of agriculture, it fails to meet the minimum requirements
of a "family farm corporation" under this Article.
MEMBERS OF THE SAME FAMILY
Any individual, such individual's brothers and sisters, the
brothers and sisters of such individual's parents and grandparents,
the ancestors and lineal decedents of any of the foregoing, a spouse
of any of the foregoing and the estate of any of the foregoing. Individuals
related by half-blood or legal adoption shall be treated as if they
were related by whole blood.
PERSON
Every natural person, association or corporation. Whenever
used in any clause prescribing and imposing a fine or imprisonment,
or both, the term "person," as applied to associations, shall include
the responsible members or general partners thereof and, as applied
to corporations, the officers thereof.
REAL ESTATE:
A.
Any lands, tenements or hereditaments within
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, including, without limitation, buildings,
structures, fixtures, mines, minerals, oil, gas, quarries, spaces
with or without upper or lower boundaries, trees and other improvements,
immovables or interests which, by custom, usage or law, pass with
a conveyance of land, but excluding permanently attached machinery
and equipment in an industrial plant.
C.
A tenant-stockholder's interest in a cooperative
housing corporation, trust or association under a proprietary lease
or occupancy agreement.
REAL ESTATE COMPANY
A corporation or association which is primarily engaged in
the business of holding, selling or leasing real estate, ninety percent
(90%) or more of the ownership interest which is held by thirty-five
(35) or fewer persons and which:
A.
Derives sixty percent (60%) or more of its annual
gross receipts from the ownership or disposition of real estate; or
B.
Holds real estate, the value of which comprises
ninety percent (90%) or more of the value of its entire tangible asset
holdings, exclusive of tangible assets which are freely transferable
and actively traded on an established market.
TITLE TO REAL ESTATE:
A.
Any interest in real estate which endures for
a period of time, the termination of which is not fixed or ascertained
by a specific number of years, including, without limitation, an estate
in fee simple, a life estate or a perpetual leasehold.
B.
Any interest in real estate enduring for a fixed
period of years but which, either by reason of the length of the term
or the grant of a right to extend the term by renewal or otherwise,
consists of a group of rights approximating those of an estate in
fee simple, a life estate or a perpetual leasehold, including, without
limitation, a leasehold interest or possessory interest under a lease
or occupancy agreement for a term of thirty (30) years or more or
a leasehold interest or possessory interest in real estate in which
the lessee has equity; provided, however, that in determining the
term of a lease, it shall be presumed that a right or option to renew
or extend a lease will be exercised if the rental charge to the lessee
is fixed or if a method for calculating the rental charge is established.
TRANSACTION
The making, executing, delivering, accepting or presenting
for recording of a document.
VALUE:
A.
In the case of any bona fide sale of real estate
at arm's length for actual monetary worth, the amount of the actual
consideration therefor, paid or to be paid, including liens or other
encumbrances thereon existing before the transfer and not removed
thereby, whether or not the underlying indebtedness is assumed, and
ground rents or a commensurate part thereof, where such liens or other
encumbrances and ground rents also encumber or are charged against
other real estate, provided that where such documents shall set forth
a nominal consideration, the "value" thereof shall be determined from
the price set forth in, or actual consideration for, the contract
of sale.
B.
In the case of a gift, sale by execution upon
a judgment or upon the foreclosure of a mortgage by a judicial officer,
transactions without consideration or for consideration less than
the actual monetary worth of the real estate, a taxable lease, an
occupancy agreement, a leasehold or possessory interest, any exchange
of properties or the real estate of an acquired company, the actual
monetary worth of the real estate determined by adjusting the assessed
value of the real estate for local real estate tax purposes for the
common level ratio of assessed values to market values of the taxing
district as established by the State Tax Equalization Board, or a
commensurate part of the assessment, where the assessment includes
other real estate.
C.
In the case of an easement or other interest in real estate, the "value" of which is not determinable under Subsection
A or
B, the actual monetary worth of such interest or the actual consideration for, or actual monetary worth of, any executory agreement, for the construction of buildings, structures or other permanent improvements to real estate, between the grantor and other persons, existing before the transfer and not removed thereby, or between the grantor, the agent or principal of the grantor or a related corporation, association or partnership and the grantee, existing before or effective with the transfer.
Every person who makes, executes, delivers,
accepts or presents for recording any document or in whose behalf
any document is made, executed, delivered, accepted or presented for
recording shall be subject to pay, for and with respect to the transaction
or any part thereof or for and with respect to the vellum parchment
or paper upon which such document is written or printed, a tax payable
to the Borough of West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, at a
rate of one percent (1%) of the value of the real estate represented
by such document, which tax shall be payable at the time the document
is presented for recording or within thirty (30) days of acceptance
of such document or within thirty (30) days of becoming an acquired
company, whichever is earliest.
The United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
or any of their instrumentalities, agencies or political subdivisions
shall be exempt from payment of the tax imposed by this Article. The
exemption of such governmental bodies shall not, however, relieve
any other party to a transaction from liability for the tax.
The tax imposed by this Article shall not be
imposed upon the following transactions:
A. A transfer to the commonwealth or to any of its instrumentalities,
agencies or political subdivisions by gift, dedication or deed in
lieu of condemnation, or deed of confirmation in connection with condemnation
proceedings, or a reconveyance by the condemning body of the property
condemned to the owner of record at the time of condemnation, which
reconveyance may include property line adjustments, provided that
said reconveyance is made within one (1) year from the date of condemnation.
B. A document which the commonwealth is prohibited from
taxing under the Constitution or statutes of the United States.
C. A conveyance to a municipality, township, school district
or county pursuant to acquisition by the municipality, township, school
district or county of a tax delinquent property at sheriff sale or
tax claim bureau sale.
D. A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
which corrects or confirms a transfer previously recorded, but which
does not extend or limit existing record legal title or interest.
E. A transfer of division in kind for no or nominal actual
consideration of property passed by testate or intestate succession
and held by cotenants. However, if any of the parties take shares
greater in value than their undivided interest, tax is due on the
excess.
F. A transfer between husband and wife or between persons
who were previously husband and wife who have since been divorced,
provided that the property or interest therein subject to such transfer
was acquired by the husband and wife or husband or wife prior to the
granting of the final decree in divorce, between parent and child
or the spouse of such child, between brother or sister or spouse of
a brother or sister and and brother or sister or the spouse of a brother
or sister and between a grandparent and grandchild or the spouse of
such grandchild, except that a subsequent transfer by the grantee
within one (1) year shall be subject to tax as if the grantor were
making such transfer.
G. A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
of property passing by testate or intestate succession from a personal
representative of a decedent to the decedent's devisee or heir.
H. A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
to a trustee of an ordinary trust, where the transfer of the same
property would be exempt if the transfer was made directly from the
grantor to all of the possible beneficiaries, whether or not such
beneficiaries are contingent or specifically named. No such exemption
shall be granted unless the recorder of deeds is presented with a
copy of the trust instrument that clearly identifies the grantor and
all possible beneficiaries.
I. A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
from a trustee to a beneficiary of an ordinary trust.
J. A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
from trustee to successor trustee.
K. A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
between principal and agent or straw party; or from or to an agent
or straw party where, if the agent or straw party were his principal,
no tax would be imposed under this Article. Where the document by
which title is acquired by a grantee or statement of value fails to
set forth that the property was acquired by the grantee from, or for
the benefit of, his principal, there is a rebuttable presumption that
the property is the property of the grantee in his individual capacity
if the grantee claims an exemption from taxation under this subsection.
L. A transfer made pursuant to the statutory merger or
consolidation of a corporation or statutory division of a nonprofit
corporation, except where the department reasonably determines that
the primary intent for such merger, consolidation or division is avoidance
of the tax imposed by this Article.
M. A transfer, from a corporation or association, of
real estate held of record in the name of the corporation or association,
where the grantee owns stock or the corporation or an interest in
the association in the same proportion as his interest in or ownership
of the real estate being conveyed and where the stock of the corporation
or the interest in the association has been held by the grantee for
more than two (2) years.
N. A transfer from a nonprofit industrial development
agency or authority to a grantee or property conveyed by the grantee
to that agency or authority as security for a debt of the grantee
or a transfer to a nonprofit industrial development agency or authority.
O. A transfer from a nonprofit industrial development
agency or authority to a grantee purchasing directly from it, but
only if:
(1) The grantee shall directly use such real estate for
the primary purpose of manufacturing, fabricating, compounding, processing,
publishing, research and development, transportation, energy conversion,
energy production, pollution control, warehousing or agriculture.
(2) The agency or authority has the full ownership interest
in the real estate transferred.
P. A transfer by a mortgagor to the holder of a bona
fide mortgage in default in lieu of a foreclosure or a transfer pursuant
to a judicial sale in which the successful bidder is the bona fide
holder of a mortgage, unless the holder assigns the bid to another
person.
Q. Any transfer between religious organizations or other
bodies or persons holding title for a religious organization if such
real estate is not being or has not been used by such transferor for
commercial purposes.
R. A transfer to a conservancy which possesses a tax-exempt
status pursuant to § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1954, 68A Stat. 3, 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3), and which has
as its primary purpose preservation of land for historic, recreational,
scenic, agricultural or open-space opportunities.
S. A transfer of real estate devoted to the business
of agriculture to a family farm corporation by a member of the same
family which directly owns at least seventy-five percent (75%) of
each class of the stock thereof.
T. A transfer between members of the same family of an
ownership interest in a real estate company or family farm corporation.
U. A transaction wherein the tax due is one dollar ($1.)
or less.
V. Leases for the production or extraction of coal, oil,
natural gas or minerals and assignments thereof. In order to exercise
any exclusion provided in this section, the true, full and complete
value of the transfer shall be shown on the statement of value. For
leases of coal, oil, natural gas or minerals, the statement of value
may be limited to an explanation of the reason that such document
is not subject to tax under this Article.
The tax herein imposed shall be fully paid and
have priority out of the proceeds of any judicial sale of real estate
before any other obligation, claim, lien, judgment, estate or cost
of the sale and of the writ upon which the sale is made, and the sheriff
or other officer conducting such sale shall pay the tax herein imposed
out of the first moneys paid to him in connection therewith. If the
proceeds of the sale are insufficient to pay the entire tax herein
imposed, the purchaser shall be liable for the remaining tax.
Where real estate or an interest in real estate
lying partly within the boundaries of the Borough of West Chester
and partly without said boundaries is transferred, the tax herein
imposed shall be calculated upon such portion of the value as shall
be represented by the portion of the real estate or the interest in
real estate lying within the boundaries of the borough as determined
by the realty transfer tax statement of value filed with the Recorder
of Deeds or, if no such filing is required, by affidavit of the transferor
or as separately stated in the document of transfer; provided, however,
that such value shall in no event be less than the highest assessed
valuation for local tax purposes placed upon the real estate or the
interest in the real estate in the assessment of the property within
the borough.
Every document lodged with or presented to the
Recorder of Deeds of Chester County for recording shall set forth
therein and as a part of such document the true, full and complete
value thereof. When the full, complete and actual consideration for
the transfer which is subject to the tax is not set forth in the document,
the person liable for the tax shall, contemporaneously with the filing
of the document, file with the Recorder of Deeds a realty transfer
tax statement of value identical to that promulgated by the Department
of Revenue of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or, in the instance
of an acquired company, a realty transfer tax declaration of acquisition
identical to that promulgated by the Department of Revenue of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The provisions of this Article shall
not apply to any excludable real estate transfers which are exempt
from taxation based on family relationship.
The tax imposed hereby, including any amount payable to the Borough of West Chester based on a redetermination of the amount of tax due by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pursuant to §
99-20 hereof, shall be collected by the Recorder of Deeds of Chester County, who shall act as agent for the borough in the collection of the transfer tax as provided in 16 P.S. § 11011-6, as amended. The tax thus collected shall be payable by the Recorder to the Treasurer of the Borough of West Chester at least monthly or at such other intervals as the borough and the Recorder of Deeds shall mutually determine.
The payment of the tax imposed by this Article,
when received by the Recorder of Deeds, shall be evidenced by the
affixing of a documentary stamp or stamps or other evidence of payment
as approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.
The Treasurer of the Borough of West Chester
is hereby charged with the enforcement of the provisions of this Article
and is hereby authorized and empowered to prescribe, adopt and enforce
rules and regulations relating to the registration and notation of
transactions, the collection of transfer taxes, interest and penalties
due hereunder, the prosecution of violations hereunder and any other
matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement of the provisions
of this Article; provided, however, that the regulations which have
been promulgated by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue under 72
P.S. § 8107-C et seq., as the same are from time to time
amended, are incorporated into and made a part of this Article and
shall be deemed to have been adopted by the Borough Treasurer.
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
A. Accept or present for recording or cause to be accepted
or presented for recording any document without the full amount of
the tax thereon being duly paid; or
B. Fail, neglect or refuse to comply with or violate
the provisions of this article or the rules and regulations prescribed,
adopted and promulgated by the Treasurer under the provisions of this
article.
C. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this
article shall be guilty of a summary offense and shall be liable,
upon conviction thereof, to a fine not exceeding $300, together with
the cost of prosecution, and, in default of payment of such fine and
cost, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment in the county jail
for a period not to exceed 30 days.