I, along with my brother, sister and 2 cousins all live in Florida, but are mineral rights owners to property in Ritchie County. According to Antero Resources, we would each be receiving a tax bill in the fall. Is this correct? If so, I know we’ve just gotten into Fall, but we haven’t received any notice. I am fearful as I’ve heard/rumor that anyone can show up at the courthouse in Ritchie Co. and pay my taxes thus getting ownership to my mineral rights. Is this true? I searched the tax assessor page but nothing is coming up under my name. Any and all helpful info is greatly appreciated.
The tax bills came out late summer. If your family never had the interest put in your names, then it may be in say, a father/mother/ or even grand parents name. There is a tax ticket for your mineral interest and maybe a cousin or uncle who is part owner receives the ticket. If the mineral property has not been drilled or leased then the taxes would be small so they would probably just pay them. Nancy Mosley is the guru on searching and she will probably chime in here soon.
Hi DT here is the Ritchie county tax website Ritchie County tax website and here is the Ritchie county documents database Ritchie county documents For this one, you have to select Ritchie as the county. For the documents from 1985 to today select Index search. For the older ones select Archive. The Archive one is complicated. If you know your ancestor’s name you can research the interest. Ask if you have questions. DT there are times when someone’s interest is not on the tax books. Sometimes when the property is sold and minerals retained, the assessor fails to record the mineral interest and just lists the surface. Sometimes when things are split up among a family, one or more gets left off, again by mistake. If Antero said that you and relatives will get a tax ticket, that could be a mistake in the sense that it might be next year or even the following year before the taxes get listed then sent out. There is a delay of at least a year on the taxes. Probably call Antero and ask, or call the Ritchie county assessor with as much information as you have and ask for the one handling oil and gas interests. She might need to ask the Assessor who is Arlene Mossor. See where you get with that and please ask if you need more information or help. We might be able to help some more. DT has been through a lot in dealing with that family’s interests.
Clarification on taxes: I (a novice) have read that there are 3 taxes potentially due on minerals production. (1) a severance tax, paid at the point of production by the producer (oil co.); (2) ad valorem tax on all properties owned in W.Va./Ritchie Co., owed and to be paid on a yearly basis by the minerals owner, and calculated based on royalties received; and (3) any income taxes at state and Federal levels, reported in your yearly income tax process…
Is that a correct summary? If so, I then surmise that the taxes discussed on this thread are the ad valorem taxes.
yes Ad Valorem Taxes but I know them as property taxes. That is done by the county. Valued by the assessor’s office and taxed using the tax rate set by the County Commission. Mineral interests are considered real property.
Dmmsj,
Indirectly you are correct, however I might offer some additional insight. The producer pays the Severance Tax, not the mineral owner. (Unless the producer is EQT and Severance Taxes are deducted illegally) Property tax are Ad Valorem Taxes as mentioned by Nancy, plus any income tax.
A word to the wise, IF you live outside of WV and collect income from royalties on wells from WV, you are required to file WV Income Tax, in addition to any income tax collected by the State of your residence.
We aren’t quite there yet (we have to GET some income before we owe tax on it), but I suspected that a W.Va. income tax would be due. One wrinkle: if the production is in W.Va. but the producing company is in another state (e.g., Pennsylvania) and pays royalties from offices/bank accounts in other that state, which state counts as the “income tax” state?
I’ve heard about the EQT controversy-- I’ll never understand why a company in a competitive market would do things to degrade its reputation. Makes no business sense.
Income state is the state where the income is produced (i.e. in your example West Virginia). I believe that in West Virginia, there is a minimum amount of income you must receive from a WV resource before you owe any taxes, but don’t take my word for it! RE the companies’ doing the wrong thing about royalty payments: many companies do it the correct way so it is not necessary. However, they might be bad money managers and try to avoid bankruptcy by cheating the royalty owners, hoping that they can get away with it often enough to serve their purposes. That is why this and similar forums are so helpful to spread the word.
Here’s what I’ve learned (so far) re taxes: Best practice is to submit income tax returns in your home state. West Va. or other states may technically require a return, but often various considerations (deductions, etc.) make tax debts in the state of production so small that they don’t pursue this with taxpayers. For oil and gas, these are the taxes I’ve identified: Severance tax, due at the “point of production” from the oil company. These are often deducted from royalty payments, and what share the oil company pays and what they deduct from owners depends on the company (i.e., these are either shared by oil co. and minerals owner, or minerals owner pays all, depending on the company). Ad valorem taxes: these are calculated by the state based on an assessment of production value. The oil company reports production to the state; the state reports it to the county; the county issues tax bills to the owner. In West Va., these tax bills are generated in July each year; they’re past due by April following year; and if they remain unpaid by the following November (1.4 years), the property can be seized and sold. These are called by various names, such as “real estate” taxes or “local” taxes.
With oil company deductions for production costs, and then severance taxes, ad valorem taxes, and income taxes, the owner winds up with cash money of maybe 50% of their royalty amount.