Chap. 138.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 121 of the Tax Code of
Virginia, as heretofore amended, in relation to recordation taxes. [H 23]

Approved March 6, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

_1. That section one hundred twenty-one of the Tax Code of
Virginia, as heretofore amended, be amended and reenacted so as
to read as follows:

Section 121. Recordation tax on deeds, deeds of trust, mort-
gages, leases, contracts and agreements.—On every deed, except a
deed exempt from taxation by law, which is admitted to record,
the tax shall be fifteen cents on every hundred dollars or fraction
thereof of the consideration of the deed or the actual value of the
property conveyed, whichever is greater ;

On deeds of trust or mortgages such tax shall be upon the
amount of bonds or other obligations secured thereby ;

On deeds of trust or mortgages upon the works and property
of a railroad or other internal improvement company, lying partly
in this State and partly in another state, such tax shall be upon
such proportion of the amount of bonds, or other obligations
secured thereby as the number of miles of the line of such company
in this State bears to the whole number of miles of the lines of
such company conveyed by such deed of trust or mortgage;

Upon deeds conveying property lying partly within this State
and partly without this State, the tax herein imposed shall apply
only to the value of so much of the property conveyed in the State
as is situated within the State of Virginia, and upon deeds of trust
or mortgages conveying property lying partly within this State
and partly without this State the tax herein imposed shall be only
upon such proportion of the debt secured as the value of the prop-
erty located within this State, or which may be brought into this
State, bears to the entire amount of property conveyed by such
deed of trust or mortgage;

The tax on a deed of release shall be fifty cents ;

The tax on any deed of partition among joint tenants, tenants
in common or copartners, shall be fifty cents.

On every contract relating to real or personal property, except
as hereinafter provided, which is admitted to record, the tax shall
be fifteen cents on every hundred dollars or fraction thereof of
the consideration or value contracted for; provided, however, that
the tax for recording a deed of lease for a term of years shall be
taxed according to the provisions of this section, except where the
annual rental, multiplied by the term for which the lease runs,
equals or exceeds the actual value of the property leased, then the
tax for recording the deed of lease shall be based upon the actual
value of the property at the date of lease.

On every contract or agreement relating to the sale of rolling
stock or equipment (whether the title is reserved in the vendor or
not), with a railroad corporation or other corporation or with a
person, firm or company, admitted to record, the tax shall be
fifteen cents on every hundred dollars or fraction thereof, of the
amount contracted for in such contract or agreement, except in the
case of a railroad corporation lying partly in this State and partly
in another State, in which case the tax shall be upon such propor-
tion of the amount contracted for as the number of miles of the
line of such railroad corporation in this State bears to the whole
number of miles of line of such railroad corporation.

This section is not to be construed as requiring the payment of
any tax for the admitting to record of any deed of trust, mortgage,
contract, agreement, or other writing supplemental to any deed of
trust, mortgage, contract, agreement, or other writing theretofore
admitted to record and upon which the tax herein imposed has been
paid, hereinafter called the original instrument, where the sole
purpose and effect of the said supplemental deed of trust, mort-
gage, contract, agreement, or other writing is to convey, set over,
or pledge property, real or personal, in addition to or in substitution
(in whole or in part) of the property conveyed, set over, or pledged
in the original instrument, to secure or to better secure the payment
of the amount contracted for in the original instrument; but in
such case there shall be no tax for the admitting to record of said
supplemental deed of trust, mortgage, contract, agreement, or other
writing.

No’ additional recordation tax shall be required for admitting
to record any deed of confirmation or deed of correction where the
tax has been paid at the time of the recordation of the original deed ;
provided, that, if the said tax already paid is less than a proper tax
based upon the full amount of consideration or actual value of the
property involved in the transaction, an additional tax shall be paid
based on the difference between the full amount of such considera-
tion or actual value and the amount on which the tax has been paid.

On deeds of trust or mortgages, which provide for an initial
issue of bonds, and thereafter additional bonds, unlimited in amount,
if such deed of trust or mortgage shall provide that as and when
such additional bonds are issued a supplemental indenture shall be
recorded in the office in which the original deed of trust or mort-
gage is first recorded, which supplement shall contain a statement
as to the amount of the additional bonds to be issued, then the tax
shall be paid upon the initial amount of bonds when the original
deed of trust is recorded and on each additional amount of bonds
when the supplemental indenture, relating to such additional bonds,
shall be recorded.

When the charter of a corporation is amended, and the only
effect of such amendment is to change the corporate name of such
corporation, the tax upon the recordation of a deed conveying to,
or vesting in, such corporation under its changed name, the title
to any or all of the real or personal property of such corporation
held in its name as it existed immediately prior to such amendment,
shall be fifty cents.

The tax on every deed, contract or other instrument shall be
determined and collected by the clerk in whose office it is first
offered for recordation, and may thereafter be recorded in the
office of any other clerk without the payment of any tax.

Any instrument may be re-recorded free of tax in the same
clerk’s office when the record containing such instrument has been
destroyed by fire or otherwise.