626 ARTICLE 48A.

hereinafter specified. All licenses issued for a period less than a year, ex-
cept in the case of domestic companies embraced within the provisions
of Section 38, shall pay pro rata for such fractional part of the year. Pro-
vided, however, that all such licenses to be issued January 1, 1928, shall
be issued and paid for pro rata for the period of eighteen months ending
June 30, 1929.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 39. 1922, ch. 492, sec. 39. 1922, ch. 547. 1935, ch. 148.

39. Tax on Premiums. Every insurance company (including fidelity,
surety, casualty, liability, compensation, livestock and miscellaneous com-
panies), other than such as may be chartered under the laws of the State
of Maryland, and every company of this State writing fidelity, surety,
casualty, liability and compensation insurance, shall pay annually to the
Insurance Commissioner a tax on gross premiums written in this State
during the preceding year, without deduction for any cause whatever ex-
cept as herein provided, which said tax shall be at the rate of two per
cent, for foreign companies on their fire or marine insurance writings,
at the rate of one per cent, for all companies, foreign and domestic, on their
fidelity, surety, casualty, liability and compensation insurance writings,
and at the rate of one and one-half per cent, for foreign companies on
insurance writings other than those above mentioned. A report under oath
of the premiums so written during the preceding year must be made to the
Insurance Commissioner in January of each year by the chief accounting
officer or officers of such company, and the premium tax as above on each
policy written in this State shall be due and payable when said policy is
written, but for convenience of payment, the company may report and pay
same in the month of January following, except in the case of Companies
retiring from the State, either voluntarily or involuntarily, in which case
the tax shall be reported and paid immediately after so retiring. All
premium taxes due and payable as above that remain unpaid after March
first, or thirty days after a company shall have voluntarily retired from
this State subsequently to March first of any year, or six months after the
date any company is taken over for liquidation or rehabilitation, shall be
subject to a penalty of five per cent, and interest at the rate of one per
cent, per month from January first, except that interest shall be computed
from the date of retiring in the case of any company voluntarily or involun-
tarily retiring from this state. The Insurance Commissioner, in computing
taxes upon premiums written in this State by insurance companies shall
allow credit for return premiums on cancelled policies and for premiums
on reinsurance effected in companies authorized to do business in this State.

An. Code, 1924, sec. 40. 1922, ch. 492, sec. 40. 1929, ch. 424.

40. Miscellaneous Fees. Every insurance company doing business in
this State shall also pay the following fees to the Insurance Commissioner:

(a) For filing the certified copy of charter, declaration of organization
or deed of settlement required by this Article to be filed as a condition
precedent to doing business in this State, the sum of twenty-five dollars.