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Land Records Bulletin No. 28
<br />
<br />August 2000
<br />
<br />pardes to the document agree to use them. and also
<br />authorizes electronic notarization of documents. An
<br />electronic sigr~ure is defined as"an elec~onic sound,
<br />symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated
<br />with a contract or other record and executed or adopted
<br />by a person with the intent to sign the record.' The act
<br />preempts any inconsistent sine laws, with the excep-
<br />tion that if a stale has enacted the Uniform Electronic
<br />Transactions Act (known as "UETA"), th~_ act governs
<br />electronic s/gnatures and commerce. The 2000 General
<br />A.nsembly enacted UETA as article 40 of Chapter 66 of
<br />the General Statutes [S.L. 2000-152 (S. 1266)]. This
<br />act is more comprehensive that the federal act but gen-
<br />erally follows it, These acts, once hanka and other
<br />major commercial actors begin to take advantaSe of
<br />them, will likely increase the demand for the electronic
<br />recordiag of in-.nrtunents such as d __,~ls, deeds of trust,
<br />and UCC financing statements. For registers of
<br />perhaps the most importsnt provision of UET& as
<br />enacted in North Carolina, is G.S. 66.308.11, regard-
<br />ins the retention of electronic records. Subsection (g)
<br />of this statute provides: "This section docs not
<br />elude a governmental agency of this Slate from speci-
<br />fying additional requirements for the mention of a
<br />record subject to thc asency's jurisdiction." Pum~nt
<br />to this pr~vision, a register of deeds can still require
<br />that all documents filed for recordin8 be on paper ~mtll
<br />the office is ready to accel ¢lectxonic recolxlln~. BOth
<br />the state and federal acts are efl'ective October 1, :1000.
<br />
<br />Real property records
<br />
<br />Real estate excise tax
<br />Two bills make important changes in the real estate
<br />excise tax statutes. The first, S.L. 2000-16 (H 1545),
<br />amends G.S. 105-228.30 to provide that when an in-
<br />strument conveying an interest in standing limber is
<br />recorded, the excise tax must be paid. It makes no dif-
<br />ference whether the instrument is called a !jmher deed
<br />or a ¢onwact for the sale of tlmher, the excise tax is
<br />still owed. This act became n__~,~y, if the excise tax
<br />was to continue to be collected on timber ,L_o~_s and
<br />contract, a~er the decisions in ~lills v. ~Vew River
<br />· 'ood Corp., 7'7 N.C. App. 576, 335 $.E.2d ?59 (1985)
<br />and Fordham ¥. Eason, 521 SJ~.2d 701 (N.C. 1999).
<br />Those cases held tl~ c, onuacts (and a'timber, decd is a
<br />contract) for the sale of standing timber conveyed in-
<br />terests in personal property, not real property, and were
<br />governed by Article 2 of the Uniform Common,al
<br />Cede. The act became effective July I, 2000, a~l ap-
<br />plies to timber deeds and contracts executed on or after
<br />that date.
<br />
<br /> 'Cae second bill, $.L. 2000-170 (It 1544), enacts
<br />new G.S. 105-228.37 to establish a procedtu~ for re-
<br />questing a refund of an excise tax that was improperly
<br />paid. The procedure requires any person who believes
<br />Ih. at he or she paid more tax than was due, to file a
<br />written reque~ for a refund with thc board of county
<br />commissioners w/thin six months of the date thc tax
<br />was paid. The board mm't hold a heating on the requesl
<br />with!~ 90 days of the date of the reque~ If the board
<br />declines to refund the tax, the taxpayer may appeal the
<br />board's decision to the Secretary of Revenue, ,ruq the
<br />secrecy's decision is binding o~1 the county. A tax.
<br />payer uahapVy with the secretary's decision may ap-
<br />peal to the superior cou~t. If either the county board or
<br />the secretasy orders a refund, interest may have to be
<br />paid on the amora ~fimded. New G.S. 105-228.37(f)
<br />provides that interest begins to accrue on overpay-
<br />ment~ of the tax thkty days after the request for a re-
<br />fund is filed with the board of county commissioner~.
<br />Th~ rate of interest is that set by the Secretary of
<br />Revenue pursuant to G.S. 105-241.1(i). The
<br />rote is eight percent a year.
<br /> Before a h~x is refunded, the taxpayer m~t record
<br />a new/nstrument with the register of d__~eds showing
<br />the correct amo~ of tax. If no tax was owed because
<br />the or/~i instrument was recorded in the wrong
<br />county, the correction insw~ment mnst state that no tax
<br />~ owed I:~:ause it was r~:orded in tl~ wrong
<br />county. The mn'~ion immanent mu..q inch~:le the
<br />nam~ of tl~ 8maters ~ ~ in tl~ ori~'~ in-
<br />mmnent and thc hook and page where that i~x~'m~ment
<br />is r~o~_ When a haxpayer records a correctio/~
<br />~um.m~nt pm'~nt to tld~ procedure, he or ~he mnst
<br />infom the rel~'~er of the reason for recordin8 the cor-
<br />rec'don. The taxpayer mu~ al~o giro thc regi~r a copy
<br />of the d~ision granfi~8 the mflmd In the ~ ora
<br />con'~'tion inma.ma~t reducing the amount of tbe mx,
<br />tho taxpayer m.qy record a COl~' oftl~ original ira-tm-
<br />merit with a ~atement tach ~ ~¢orr~"dng mount of
<br />exci.~ tax." In the ~ of an in~nt ~:orded to
<br />show thai tl~ o~ginal in.mnment wa~ ~.~ord~ in the
<br />wrong county, the taxpayer will have to prepare a
<br />completely new instrmne~ and sign it. This imm'ument
<br />should be acknowledged. After/he correction i~xsu'u-
<br />ment h~_~ been recorded, the register must inform the
<br />county ~n.~nce ot~cer ~nd the Secretary of Revenue
<br />that the correction instrument h~ been recorded. This
<br />no~ificat/on is necessary so that the refund can be paid.
<br />This notification can be accomp~hed by sending a
<br />copy of the recorded correction insW~ment to the fi-
<br />r~nce officer, with a request that the finance officer
<br />Wa~nmi~ it to the secretary.
<br /> This act be~_ ~e effective August 2, 2000, and is
<br /> retroactive to January 1, 2000, which means that a re-
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