BILL 11 – 2008
SMALL BUSINESS AND REVENUE STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT, 2008

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Assessment Act

1 Section 1 (1) of the Assessment Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 20, is amended by adding the following definition:

"assessment roll number" means the alphanumeric identifier described as an assessment roll number on an assessment roll and used to identify a particular property; .

2 Section 19 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by adding the following definitions:

"accommodation unit" means a unit that is rented or offered for rent as overnight accommodation for periods of less than 28 days for at least the prescribed percentage of the 12-month period ending June 30 of the year previous to the taxation year for which the assessment roll is completed;

"eligible supportive housing property", in relation to a taxation year, means property that is used by or on behalf of a person who received funding from the government in the preceding calendar year for the provision of supportive housing on that property;

"leasehold accommodation property" means a parcel of land or contiguous parcels of land on which there are buildings that

(a) collectively include at least a prescribed number of leasehold units, and

(b) do not consist of any strata lots;

"leasehold unit" means an accommodation unit

(a) that is leased for a term of at least a prescribed number of years, and

(b) for which the lease is registered in the land title office; ,

(b) in subsection (1.1) by striking out 'the definition of "strata accommodation property", a strata lot' and substituting 'the definitions of "accommodation unit" and "strata accommodation property", an accommodation unit or a strata lot',

(c) in subsection (1.1) by striking out "the strata lot" and substituting "the accommodation unit or strata lot",

(d) by adding the following subsections:

(14.01) If the Lieutenant Governor in Council prescribes supportive housing property as a class of property under subsection (14), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation, designate eligible supportive housing property as included in the supportive housing property class for a taxation year rather than defining the types or uses of land or improvements to be included in that property class.

(14.02) A designation under subsection (14.01)

(a)  is to be by assessment roll number, and

(b)  applies to the property that is identified by the assessment roll number and that is used for the provision of supportive housing or for purposes ancillary to the provision of supportive housing.

(14.03) Subject to subsection (14.04), in order to be effective for a taxation year, a regulation under subsection (14.01) must be in force on or before October 31 in the preceding year.

(14.04) If eligible supportive housing property

(a) is included on a supplementary roll under section 26 (5) (a), and

(b) is designated under subsection (14.01) of this section,

the designation, regardless of when the regulation under subsection (14.01) comes into force, is effective for that portion of the taxation year on and after the date that the assessor made the entry on the supplementary roll. ,

(e) in subsection (14.1) by adding the following paragraphs:

(a.1) for the purposes of the definition of "accommodation unit", prescribing a percentage;

(a.2) for the purposes of the definition of "leasehold accommodation property", prescribing a number of leasehold units;

(a.3) for the purposes of the definition of "leasehold unit", prescribing a number of years;

(c.1) providing that leasehold accommodation property is not included in the class 1 property class if a lessee of a leasehold unit in the leasehold accommodation property, and if the lessee is a corporation, any affiliate, as defined in the Business Corporations Act, of the lessee, lease more than a prescribed number or percentage of the leasehold units in the leasehold accommodation property;

(c.2) providing that leasehold accommodation property is not included in the class 1 property class if the property has more than a prescribed number or percentage of accommodation units that are not leasehold units;

(d.1) requiring the owner of a prescribed type of leasehold accommodation property to supply to the assessment authority, by a prescribed date, prescribed information respecting the property required by the assessment authority to assess the property, and different dates and information may be prescribed for different types of properties; , and

(f) in subsection (14.1) (b) by adding "leasehold accommodation property or" before "strata accommodation property".

3 Sections 20.2 (1) and 20.3 (1) are amended by repealing the definition of "assessment roll number".

4 The following section is added:

Special valuation rules for supportive housing property

20.4  (1) Despite any other section of this Act, the actual value of a property in the supportive housing property class is the actual value otherwise determined under this Act reduced by an amount established by the Lieutenant Governor in Council by regulation.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) establishing the amount for the purposes of subsection (1);

(b) establishing rates, formulas, rules or principles for determining the amount for the purposes of subsection (1);

(c) respecting the apportionment of the actual value of property in the supportive housing property class between land and improvements for the purposes of entry on the assessment roll.

Hotel Room Tax Act

5 Section 1 of the Hotel Room Tax Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 207, is amended by repealing the definition of "mistake of law".

6 Section 10 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) If the director is satisfied that an amount has been paid as tax in circumstances where there was no legal obligation to pay the amount as tax, the director must refund from the consolidated revenue fund that amount to the person entitled to it.

7 Section 12 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) (b) by striking out "the tax was paid." and substituting "the amount claimed was paid.", and

(b) by repealing subsection (2) and substituting the following:

(2) Despite the Limitation Act, an action for a refund must not be brought more than 4 years after the date on which the amount claimed was paid.

8 Section 13 is repealed.

9 Section 18 (1) (a) is amended by striking out "10, 13 (3) or 23.2 (2)" and substituting "10 or 23.2 (2)".

Income Tax Act

10 Section 4.32 of the Income Tax Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 215, is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by repealing the description of "B" and substituting the following:

B is the smaller of

(a) $1 000, and

(b) the amount that is the individual's eligible pension income used in computing the deduction under section 118 (3) of the federal Act for the taxation year. , and

(b) by repealing subsection (2).

Insurance Premium Tax Act

11 Section 6 (2) of the Insurance Premium Tax Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 232, is amended by striking out "30 days" and substituting "90 days".

12 Section 11 is amended

(a) in subsection (2) by striking out "taxpayer" in both places and substituting "taxable insurer", and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

(3) If a taxpayer, other than a taxable insurer, refuses or neglects to pay the tax as required by this Act, the taxpayer is liable to pay interest on the amount unpaid calculated at the rate and in the manner prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council from 90 days after the date a contract referred to in paragraph (b) or (b.1) of the definition of "taxpayer" was entered into until the day of payment.

Social Service Tax Act

13 Section 1 of the Social Service Tax Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 431, is amended by repealing the definition of "mistake of law".

14 Section 5 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(1.1) Subsection (1) does not apply to a purchaser of a vehicle if the vehicle is purchased to be used for interjurisdictional commercial purposes and is to be immediately licensed in British Columbia as described in section 29 (1) (a) (i) or (ii), whether as part of a fleet or not.

15 Section 80 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) (b) by striking out "the tax was paid." and substituting "the amount claimed was paid.", and

(b) by repealing subsection (2) and substituting the following:

(2) Despite the Limitation Act, an action for a refund must not be brought more than 4 years after the date on which the amount claimed was paid.

16 Section 82 (1) and (2) to (4) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) If the commissioner is satisfied that an amount has been paid as tax in circumstances where there was no legal obligation to pay the amount as tax, the commissioner must refund from the consolidated revenue fund that amount to the person entitled to it.

17 Section 88.1 (7) is repealed.

Tobacco Tax Act

18 Section 1 (1) of the Tobacco Tax Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 452, is amended by repealing the definition of "mistake of law".

19 Section 7 is amended by adding the following subsections:

(4.1) The director must cancel a person's dealer's permit in prescribed circumstances.

(4.2) The director

(a) may cancel a person's dealer's permit under subsection (4.1) without advance notice to the person, and

(b) must provide written reasons to the person whose dealer's permit has been cancelled under subsection (4.1).

(4.3) The director may cancel a person's dealer's permit or a person's retail authorization in prescribed circumstances.

(4.4) Before exercising the power under subsection (4.3), the director must

(a) deliver written notice of the proposed cancellation and the reasons for it to the person, and

(b) give the person an opportunity to show why the dealer's permit or retail authorization should not be cancelled under that subsection.

(6) Subsection (5) does not apply to a person whose dealer's permit has been cancelled under subsection (4.1).

20 Section 17 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) If the director is satisfied that an amount has been paid as tax or security in circumstances where there was no legal obligation to pay the amount as tax or security, the director must refund from the consolidated revenue fund that amount to the person entitled to it.

21 Section 19 (2) is repealed and the following substituted:

(2) Despite the Limitation Act, an action for a refund must not be brought more than 4 years after the date on which the amount claimed was paid.

22 Section 20 is repealed.

23 Section 23 (1) is amended

(a) in paragraph (d) by striking out "section 7" and substituting "section 7 (2), (3) or (4.3)", and

(b) in paragraph (f) by striking out "17, 17.1 or 20 (3)," and substituting "17 or 17.1,".

24 Section 44 (2) is amended by adding the following paragraphs:

(i.3) prescribing the circumstances in which the director must cancel a person's dealer's permit, including the power to establish different circumstances for different permits or persons or classes of permits or persons;

(i.4) prescribing the circumstances in which the director may cancel a person's dealer's permit or a person's retail authorization, including the power to establish different circumstances for different permits, authorizations or persons or classes of permits, authorizations or persons; .

Transitional Provisions

Transition — Hotel Room Tax Act and Tobacco Tax Act

25  The Hotel Room Tax Act and the Tobacco Tax Act, as they were immediately before the coming into force of this Act, continue to apply to

(a) an application for a refund received by a director under either of those Acts, and

(b) an action commenced under either of those Acts

before the date this Act comes into force.

Transition — Social Service Tax Act

26  The Social Service Tax Act, as it was immediately before the coming into force of this Act, continues to apply to

(a) an application for a refund received by the commissioner under that Act, and

(b) an action commenced under that Act

before the date this Act comes into force.

Commencement

27  The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table: