Chapter 82: Taxation of Railroads

In this chapter:

I. The word "company" as used in this chapter shall apply to any enterprise, whether corporation, partnership, limited liability company, proprietorship, association, business trust, real estate trust, or other form of organization.

II. The term "express corporation or company" shall be construed to mean any corporation or company engaged in the business of transporting property as express over the lines of railroads.

III. The term "amusement railroad" means a railroad operating as a tourist, scenic, or historic operation, which provides train rides solely for one or more such purposes.

Every railroad, railway, express, and every parlor, sleeping or dining car company, or other company not a railroad company owning any cars operated for profit on any railroad in this state shall pay to the state an annual tax, as of April 1 of each year, upon the market value of its property and estate, at a rate equal as may be to the average rate of taxation at that time upon other property throughout the state.Market valuemeans the property's full and true value as defined in RSA 75:1.

The department of revenue administration, in determining said average rate of taxation, shall not consider property specially taxed, savings bank deposits and polls.

In determining the market value of the property and estate in this state of any such company, the department of revenue administration shall make careful inquiry into the condition of all of the property and estate, whether within or without the state, in order that the market value of all that portion of the property and estate of such company within this state, and subject to taxation hereunder, may be accurately fixed and determined.

I. The department shall evaluate all information utilizing generally accepted appraisal methods and techniques to determine the market value of the property, real and personal, in this state, of such railroad company. When only a portion of the property and estate of any such company is located within the state, the department of revenue administration, in determining the market value thereof, shall consider its proportionate value to all the property and estate of such company.

II. In the case of railroads operating on state-owned property, the trackage and real estate owned by the state shall not be used as evidence of value.

I. (a) On or before May 1 of each year the company shall file a form, designated by the commissioner, that details the company's actual financial operating performance, including company income and all expenses, original cost, and depreciated value of all the company's assets, since the prior April 1 of the preceding year. This statement shall include such additional information as the commissioner shall require and shall be signed by an authorized representative, subject to the pains and penalties of perjury.

(b) If by May 1 the company is unable to file the form as required under subparagraph (a), the company shall request an extension from the department. Such extension shall be valid only upon written confirmation from the department, and shall not exceed 30 days per request. No more than 2 extensions shall be granted in a given tax year.

II. Taxes and estimated taxes not paid when due shall be subject to appropriate penalties and interest under RSA 21-J:32 and RSA 21-J:33.

III. Any company that fails to file a completed form as required under paragraph I on or before May 1, or by the date granted by an extension, if applicable, shall pay a penalty of one percent of the property tax for which the person is liable. In no case, however, shall the penalty be less than $250 or more than $2,500. This penalty shall be treated as incident to the tax and shall be in addition to any other penalty applicable pursuant to paragraph II.

IV. No later than 30 days subsequent to a sale or transfer of a company's property or assets, the company acquiring such property shall notify the department in writing. Such notice shall include the name and address of the company, the date of the transfer, and all the terms of transaction.

The directors of each railroad corporation shall submit annually to the commissioner of revenue administration a report of the ownership of stock by the residence of the owner which shows the percentage of the total outstanding shares owned by residents of each town in the state. The reports shall be submitted by July 1, showing stock ownership as of April 1.

Every railroad or railway corporation or company shall, in addition, state its total trackage whether within or without the state, and its total trackage within the state.

Every express corporation or company shall state the whole length of the lines of rail or water routes over which the company did business during the preceding year, whether within or without the state, and the whole length of such lines within the state.

Every parlor, sleeping or dining-car corporation or company, or other corporation or company, not a railroad company, owning any cars operated for profit on any railroad in the state, shall state the total number of car-miles, the number of miles traversed by its cars, taken singly, whether within or without the state during the preceding year and the total number of such car-miles during the same period within the state.

Such corporations or companies shall also furnish to the department of revenue administration such further information and evidence as may be required by it.

In making its decision under the provisions of this chapter, when it shall appear to the department of revenue administration that the average rate of taxation upon other property throughout the state is, because of the undervaluation of other property, higher than it would be if such other property were appraised at its full and true value, the department shall give due consideration to the same and make such adjustment as will bring the assessment of the tax hereunder into proportion with the general level of assessments throughout the state.

Corporations or companies aggrieved by the determination by the commissioner relative to the tax assessed under this chapter may appeal such determination according to the procedures and subject to the time limits provided for other taxes administered by the department under RSA 21-J.

A taxpayer may appeal the commissioner of revenue administration's determination within 30 days by written application to the board of tax and land appeals. The board of tax and land appeals shall determine the correctness of the commissioner's action de novo.

The state or any corporation or company against whom a tax is assessed, if aggrieved by the decision of the board of tax and land appeals may appeal to the supreme court pursuant to RSA 541, as amended.

I. Based on the determination of value specified in this chapter and the rate specified in RSA 82:2, the commissioner shall assess the tax by issuing a notice to the taxpayer within 15 days of the commissioner's determination. After credit for estimated taxes paid, such net taxes shall be paid to the department within 30 days after the date of such notice.

II. At the same time payment is made as required by paragraph I, every corporation or company liable for the tax imposed under RSA 82:2 shall, in addition, file a declaration of its estimated tax for the taxable year beginning on April 1 of the following year; provided, however, that if the estimated tax is less than $200, a declaration need not be filed, and provided further that a declaration shall be filed at the end of any quarter thereafter in which the annualized estimated tax exceeds $200.

III. One quarter of the utility's estimated tax as computed under paragraph II is due and payable on April 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15 of the tax year for which the declaration of estimated taxes was filed.

IV. If the amount due under paragraph I shows an additional amount to be due, such additional amount shall be due and payable within 30 days of notification as provided in paragraph I. If the amount due under paragraph I indicates an overpayment of tax due, the commissioner shall refund or credit the overpayment to the taxpayer in accordance with the provisions of RSA 21-J:28-a.

The pendency of proceedings under RSA 82:17 and 18 shall not be a cause of delay in the payment of any tax.

If upon rehearing before the board of tax and land appeals or on appeal, the proceedings result in a decision for the reduction of the tax previously assessed, the board shall certify that fact to the state treasurer and the treasurer shall refund to the taxpayer the amount of any overpayment of the tax upon any funds not otherwise appropriated. And, if upon such rehearing or appeal it shall be found that the tax against such corporation or company was less than the same should have been, the difference between the amount assessed and the amount that should have been assessed shall forthwith be paid by the corporation or company as of the date of the decision.

If any tax is not paid when due, interest shall be added as prescribed in RSA 21-J:28.

Upon written request of the commissioner of revenue administration, the state treasurer shall issue his extent for the sum unpaid and interest against the company or corporation in default; and all the property owned by such company or corporation on April 1 preceding shall be liable for the payment thereof.

With regard to any railroad company or corporation, the governor and council may, after consultation with the commissioner of revenue administration, abate or accept partial payment of any taxes and/or interest or penalties unpaid for the current year and/or any prior year or years as deemed in the best interest of the state.

Any portion of a railroad which has not been completed and opened for use for a period of 10 years next prior to September 15 next preceding the time when a railroad tax is to be assessed shall be exempt from taxation.

The property of amusement railroads shall be appraised and taxed pursuant to the provisions of RSA 72, and shall not be subject to the provisions of this chapter.

Any corporation owning or operating a street railway property within this state, which is incapable under proper management of earning sufficient money to pay its operating expenses and fixed charges, including taxes and excluding interest on its indebtedness, and to provide for the necessary repairs and maintenance of its properties and adequate reserves for depreciation thereof, may be exempted from the payment of taxes to the extent and subject to the limitations of the following sections.

Any such corporation may apply to the public utilities commission by written petition to determine the facts upon which such tax exemption depends and to certify such facts to the commissioner of revenue administration.

Thereupon the public utilities commission, after such notice as it may consider proper to the commissioner of revenue administration and the attorney general, shall hear all parties desiring to be heard and shall make such further investigation, if any, as it may consider proper.

If the public utilities commission shall, on or before September 15 in any year, file with the commissioner of revenue administration a certificate that any such street railway property has failed during the preceding calendar year or later period of 12 months to earn the amounts specified in RSA 82:26, and that in the opinion of the public utilities commission such property is unable during the current calendar or fiscal year to earn such amounts, then the property and estate within the state owned or operated by such corporation in its ordinary business as a street railway shall not be taxed the same year in which such certificate shall be filed.

It shall be the duty of the public utilities commission to determine before September 10 the facts upon any petition filed under the provisions of this chapter prior to May 1 in the same year.

The commissioner of revenue administration shall annually apportion all railroad taxes paid in each fiscal year for distribution in the following manner:

I. To the towns in which any railroad is located, 1/4 of the tax paid by the railroad corporation. Each town shall receive its share according to the fraction resulting when the trackage owned by the corporation and located in the town is compared to the total trackage owned by the corporation in the state.

II. To the special railroad fund established by RSA 228:68, 1/4 of the tax paid by the railroad corporation.

III. The remainder for the use of the state.

The directors of each railroad corporation shall, on July 1 in the year 1942 and in every fifth year thereafter, make a return, under oath, to the commissioner of revenue administration showing the share of the capital of the corporation expended in each town for buildings and right-of-way.

By July 30 each year, the commissioner of revenue administration shall pay to each town its proportion of each railroad tax paid during the previous fiscal year to be appropriated as other town money.

The commissioner of revenue administration shall incorporate in his report all facts as to the total market value of the stocks and bonds and other funded or floating debt of such corporation or company and the capitalized value ascertained as herein provided, all facts relative to the total trackage of such railroad or railway corporation or company, the total number of car-miles of each parlor, sleeping or dining car corporation or company, and the total length of lines of rail or water-routes of each express corporation or company, together with such other information as it may deem proper.

The real estate of any railroad, railway, express, and parlor, sleeping or dining car corporation or company, or other corporations or companies, not railroad companies, owning any cars operated for profit on any railroad in this state, not used in its ordinary business, shall be appraised and taxed under RSA 72.

The property of the Mount Washington Cog Railway shall be appraised and taxed pursuant to the provisions of RSA 72, and shall not be subject to the provisions of this chapter.