A. Every domestic limited partnership, and every foreign limited partnership registered to transact business in the Commonwealth, shall pay into the state treasury on or before October 1 in each year after the calendar year in which it was formed or registered to transact business in the Commonwealth an annual registration fee of $50, provided that the initial annual registration fee to be paid by a domestic limited partnership created by an entity conversion from a domestic stock corporation shall be due in the year after the calendar year in which the conversion became effective when the annual registration fee of the domestic stock corporation was paid for the calendar year in which the conversion became effective. The annual registration fee shall be imposed irrespective of any specific license tax or other tax or fee imposed by law upon the domestic or foreign limited partnership for the privilege of carrying on its business in the Commonwealth or upon its franchise, property, or receipts.
B. Each year, the Commission shall ascertain from its records each domestic limited partnership and each foreign limited partnership registered to transact business in the Commonwealth as of July 1 and, except as provided in subsection A, shall assess against each such limited partnership the annual registration fee herein imposed.
C. A statement of the assessment, when made, shall be forwarded by the clerk of the Commission to the Comptroller and to each domestic and foreign limited partnership.
D. A domestic or foreign limited partnership shall not be required to pay the annual registration fee assessed against it pursuant to subsection B in any year if (i) the Commission issues or files any of the following types of certificate or instrument and (ii) the certificate or instrument is effective on or before the annual registration fee due date:
1. A certificate of cancellation of existence for a domestic limited partnership;
2. A certificate of cancellation for a foreign limited partnership;
3. A certificate of merger or an authenticated copy of an instrument of merger for a domestic or foreign limited partnership that has merged into a surviving domestic limited partnership or other business entity or into a surviving foreign limited partnership or other business entity; or
4. An authenticated copy of an instrument of entity conversion for a foreign limited partnership that has converted into a different entity type. The Commission shall cancel the annual registration fee assessments specified in this subsection that remain unpaid.
E. Annual registration fee assessments that have been paid shall not be refunded.
F. The fees paid into the state treasury under this section and the fees collected under subsection B of § 50-73.17 shall be set aside and paid into the special fund created under § 13.1-775.1, and shall be used only by the Commission as it deems necessary to defray the costs of the Commission and of the office of the clerk of the Commission in supervising, implementing, administering and enforcing the provisions of this chapter. The projected excess of fees collected over the costs of administration and enforcement so incurred shall be paid into the general fund prior to the close of each fiscal year, based on the unexpended balance of the special fund at the end of the prior fiscal year. An adjustment of this transfer amount to reflect actual fees collected shall occur during the first quarter of the succeeding fiscal year.