W.Va. Department of Revenue News Release:
Severance, Sales up, but Personal Income, Corporate Net stumble
CHARLESTON, W.VA. – The West Virginia Department of Revenue today released General Revenue Fund collection numbers for September of $376.1 million that were nearly $32.3 million below estimate.
Three months into Fiscal Year 2016, cumulative collections of $914.8 million were $81.2 million below estimate and $15 million below prior year receipts.
September numbers show that both Personal Income and Corporate Net Income taxes were hardest hit last month; however, Consumer Sales Tax numbers were up and Severance Tax experienced a slight uptick.
Detailed collections of interest in September include:
- Severance Tax collections totaled $26.2 million for the month, an amount that was nearly $0.2 million above estimate and 7.6 percent above prior year receipts. Cumulative General Revenue Fund Severance tax collections of slightly more than $38.3 million were still $14.4 million below estimate and 2 percent below prior year receipts. Lower-than-anticipated natural gas prices were the major contributing factor to the recent deficit.
- Personal Income Tax collections were 6.1 percent below prior year receipts due to a 30 percent ($3.2 million) decline in monthly nonresident withholding tax receipts and a decline of more than 14 percent in estimated tax and return payment tax receipts ($9.3 million). Withholding tax collections rose by a slower-than-expected 0.7 percent during the month due to lower-than-anticipated employment increase. Collections fell $30.5 million below the $204.2 million estimate for the month. Cumulative collections were $44.2 million below the $469.3 million estimate and 3.6 percent below prior year receipts.
In addition, year-to-date tax refunds were up by nearly 12 percent from last year to nearly $15 million.
- Corporation Net Income Tax collections totaled less than $23.6 million and cumulative collections totaled $28 million. September collections were $5.4 million below estimate and 34 percent below prior year receipts. Cumulative receipts were $10 million below estimate and more than 40 percent below prior year receipts.
- Consumer Sales Tax collections were 8.5 percent above prior year receipts and nearly $3.8 million above estimate following two consecutive months of decline. After discounting temporary gains from additional local sales tax collections, net collections were up by roughly 6.2 percent from prior year receipts. The cumulative deficit in General Revenue Fund sales tax collections fell to $22.3 million with most of the shortfall attributable to July collections.
- B&O Tax collections of less than $8.9 million were $0.7 million below estimate and 7.7 percent below prior year receipts. Year-to-date collections of $28.2 million were more than $0.2 million above estimate and 3.7 percent below prior year receipts.
- Tobacco Product Excise Tax collections totaled nearly $19.4 million. Monthly collections were more than $0.3 million above estimate. Cumulative collections of $57.3 million were $8.2 million above estimate and more than double prior year receipts.
- State Road Fund collections of more than $61.3 million were nearly $4.8 million above estimate, but 4.6 percent below prior year receipts. Cumulative State Road Fund collections of more than $186.9 million were $10.7 million above estimate and 0.6 percent below prior year receipts.
For a detailed look at West Virginia’s revenue reports, please visitwww.budget.wv.gov/reportsandcharts/revenuereports.