§ 44-34-4 - Vehicle and trailer tax situs – Apportionment for interstate fleets.
SECTION 44-34-4
§ 44-34-4 Vehicle and trailer tax situs– Apportionment for interstate fleets. – (a) Tax situs of each vehicle or trailer shall be in the town or city ofpermanent abode of the owner at the end of the calendar year of proration if anindividual, or at the principal place of business in this state, if apartnership, corporation, joint stock company, or association, except that if avehicle or trailer is customarily kept in some other town or city, then taxsitus will be in that municipality.
(b) Rented or leased vehicles shall have tax situs in thetown or city where they are customarily kept by the renter or lessee if therental or leasing contracts shall be long term. For the purpose of thischapter, long-term contracts are for six (6) months or more. If vehicles arerented or leased for less than six (6) months or on a transient basis, then taxsitus for the vehicles shall be the town or city where the leasing company oragency stores the vehicles when they are not being rented or leased.
(c) In the case of fleets of vehicles and trailers engaged ininterstate commerce the following rules of just apportionment shall apply:
(1) If the fleet owner has a terminal where a number of itsvehicles are parked, then the average number of vehicles so parked inproportion to its total fleet value shall determine the excise;
(2) If the fleet owner does not have vehicles parked in thisstate but has a pickup and drop-off station, then the number of miles traveledby its fleet in this state in proportion to the total number of miles traveledby its fleet shall be the percentage of the total value of its fleet used todetermine the excise.
(d) Tax situs for a fleet shall be the town or city where theterminal or station is located.
(e) In the case of more than one pickup and drop-off stationof a fleet owner located in the state, the communities in which the stationsare situated shall share equally the excise levied against the fleet owner.
(f) The tax assessor may require an owner to disclose any orall information necessary to determine tax situs and value of the vehicles andtrailers that are subject to excise.
(g) If the owner fails to supply the requested information,then the tax assessor shall assess the vehicles and trailers at what he or shedeems to be their value, and the owner, if overtaxed, shall have no remedy forthis assessment.