West Virginia Supreme Court Affirms Severance Tax Refunds, Reverses Timeliness Ruling

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia issued a decision affirming the taxpayer’s severance tax refund calculations while reversing the timeliness ruling. The taxpayer, a natural gas producer, sought over $19 million in severance tax refunds, disputing whether gross proceeds should reflect third-party processing sales or actual receipts from the processor. The court held that actual proceeds received by the taxpayer, not downstream processing values, determine the severance tax base, and that a refund check constituted written notice restarting the appeal deadline. [Statoil USA Onshore Properties Inc./Equinor USA Onshore Properties Inc. v. Matthew R. Irby, State Tax Commissioner, W. ...