Scope
Section 11.3 of North Carolina Session Law 2026-42 (House Bill 56) adds G.S. 105-251.2(c1), requiring a person that purchases electricity for use at a qualifying datacenter or an eligible internet datacenter to report the tax paid on that electricity to the Secretary of Revenue within 30 days after the end of each quarter. It also excludes those tax proceeds from city electricity-tax distributions and changes the timing of the separate 2026 repeal of the datacenter electricity exemptions to the first billing period at least 30 days after enactment.
- Geographic scope
- North Carolina
- Jurisdiction
- State
- Authority type
- Legislature
- Issuing authority
- North Carolina General Assembly
Dates
- Adopted
- 7 July 2026
- Effective
- 7 July 2026
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The section states no expiration. Quarterly report dates are compliance deadlines, not end dates.
- Source document
- 7 July 2026
- Last checked
- 22 September 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
North Carolina Session Law 2026-42, section 11.3, took effect when it became law on 7 July 2026. It requires buyers of electricity for qualifying and eligible internet datacenters to report the sales tax paid to the Secretary of Revenue each quarter, keeps those proceeds out of city electricity-tax distributions, and sets when the repeal of the datacenter electricity exemptions starts to apply. The repeal itself is in Session Law 2026-41 and is not part of this record.
What this does not establish
- Section 11.3 applies only "If Section 44.4 of Senate Bill 257, 2025 Regular Session, becomes law". That condition was met: Senate Bill 257 became Session Law 2026-41, approved at 10:30 a.m. on 7 July 2026, before this act was approved at 11:06 a.m. the same day.
- The first quarterly report date comes from a Department of Revenue notice and is a compliance deadline, not an end date.
- Session Law 2026-41, which repealed the datacenter electricity exemptions, is a separate instrument and is not part of this record.
- The datacenter equipment exemptions that remain in G.S. 105-164.13 are not part of this record.
Unresolved questions
None recorded.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- Related, not a replacement Sales tax exemptions for datacenter equipment (G.S. 105-164.13) (In effect)
- Related, not a replacement S.L. 2026-41 s. 44.4 repeals datacenter electricity exemptions (In effect)
- Related, not a replacement NCDOR notice on the datacenter electricity-exemption repeal (Informational—not binding)
Sources
https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2025-2026/SL2026-42.html