SECTION .1500 ‑ STANDARDS FOR SPECIAL TAX TREATMENT OF RECYCLING AND RESOURCE RECOVERY EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES

15A NCAC 13B .1501 DEFiNITIONS

The definitions in Article 9 of Chapter 130A of the General Statutes and the following definitions shall apply to the rules of this Section.

(1) "Applicant" means a person that submits an application to the Department to request tax certification for real property or personal property. The applicant shall be a business conducting a recycling or resource recovery process or shall be a person that owns real or personal property that is being used by or leased to a business conducting a recycling or resource recovery process.

(2) "County assessor" means the county assessor established by Article 16 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes.

(3) "Incidental or supportive equipment" means personal property that is used at any time for a purpose other than recycling or resource recovery; is not necessary for recycling or resource recovery to occur; or has a primary purpose that is not recycling or resource recovery. Incidental or supportive equipment includes personal property that is used at any time for administrative, safety, or maintenance services, even though it may be used in support of a recycling or resource recovery process, or that is used to provide comfort, safety, or convenience for employees such as:

(a) spare parts;

(b) office furniture or equipment;

(d) kitchen or breakroom furniture, equipment, or appliances;

(e) heating or air conditioning equipment for employee comfort;

(f) fire alarms or fire suppression systems;

(g) vehicles used to transport employees, new materials, or waste for disposal at any time; and

(h) landfill gas vents or wells that are required by a permit issued by the Department.

(4) "Incidental or supportive facilities" means real property or parts thereof that is used at any time for a purpose other than recycling or resource recovery; is not necessary for recycling or resource recovery to occur; or has a primary purpose that is not recycling or resource recovery. Incidental or supportive facilities include real property that is used at any time for administrative, safety, or maintenance services, even though it may be used in support of a recycling or resource recovery process, or that is used to provide comfort, safety, or convenience for the employees such as:

(a) office space;

(b) conference rooms;

(d) kitchens;

(e) employee breakrooms;

(f) employee parking;

(g) maintenance sheds;

(h) maintenance areas;

(i) stormwater basins; and

(j) unused areas.

(5) "New material" means a material that has been chemically or mechanically changed through a recycling process so that it can be introduced into a production process or can be marketed for sale as a good.

(6) "Personal property" means equipment that is used by a business that is not permanently affixed to real property.

(7) "Production process" means a process by which goods are produced for sale or use from raw materials, or from new materials, or a combination of these materials.

(8) "Production scrap" means excess or unusable material that is generated during a production process and is returned to be reused in the same production process. An example of production scrap is excess metal or cardboard or textiles from a sheet of metal or cardboard or batting that remains after a portion of the sheet is cut, stamped, trimmed, or formed to make a product, and the excess material is collected and returned to the process or equipment where the original sheet or batting was created. Another example of production scrap is a material that does not meet the quality standards or customer specifications for sale or use as determined by the person or business, and are returned to the production process. Production scrap does not include excess materials that are combined with recovered materials and returned to be reused in a recycling process.

(9) "Qualifying property" means requested property that meets the standards set forth in Rule .1503(b) or (c) of this Section to qualify for certification as a recycling or resource recovery facility or as recycling or resource recovery equipment for the purpose of special tax classification or treatment in accordance with G.S. 130A-294(a)(3) to be eligible for exclusion from the tax base as set forth in G.S. 105-275(8)(b).

(10) "Real property" means land and buildings, structures, improvements, or permanent fixtures on land, or a portion thereof.

(11) "Requested property" means the real and personal property that have been included in an application for tax certification submitted in accordance with Rule .1502 of this Section because the applicant is requesting that the Department make a determination on whether the property qualifies for exclusion from the property tax base.

(12) "Spare parts" means parts of equipment that are purchased for future or speculative use, but that have not been installed in the equipment for which they were purchased.

(13) "Tax certification" means a certification issued by the Department of Environmental Quality certifying that the Department has determined that the real or personal property listed on the certification document meets the requirements of the rules of this Section to qualify for certification as a recycling or resource recovery facility or as recycling or resource recovery equipment for the purpose of special tax classifications or treatment in accordance with G.S. 130A-294(a)(3) to be eligible for exclusion from the tax base as set forth in G.S. 105-275(8)(b).

History Note: Authority G.S. 130A‑294(a)(3);

Eff. June 2, 1976;

Readopted Eff. December 5, 1977;

Amended Eff. December 6, 1991;

Readopted Eff. March 1, 2021.