Virginia Code 4.1-235: Collection; computation, distribution of tax on wine and other alcoholic beverages; refunds and adjustments
A. The Board shall collect the state taxes levied pursuant to §§ 4.1-213 and 4.1-234 as follows:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 4.1-235
- Alcoholic beverages: includes alcohol, spirits, wine, and beer, and any one or more of such varieties containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, including mixed alcoholic beverages, and every liquid or solid, powder or crystal, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine, or beer and capable of being consumed by a human being. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
- Board: means the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
- Container: means any barrel, bottle, carton, keg, vessel, or other receptacle used for holding alcoholic beverages. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
- farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
- Farm winery: means (i) an establishment or cooperative located in the Commonwealth on land zoned agricultural that has (a) a vineyard, orchard, or similar growing area that produces fruits or other agricultural products used to manufacture the wine of such farm winery, subject to the requirements set forth in § 4. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
- Licensee: means any person to whom a license has been granted by the Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
- Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
- Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
- Spirits: means any beverage that contains alcohol obtained by distillation mixed with drinkable water and other substances, in solution, and includes, among other things, brandy, rum, whiskey, and gin, or any one or more of the last four named ingredients, but shall not include any such liquors completely denatured in accordance with formulas approved by the United States government. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Wine: includes any wine to which wine spirits have been added, as provided in the Internal Revenue Code, to make products commonly known as "fortified wine" which do not exceed an alcohol content of 21 percent by volume. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
1. Collection shall be from the purchaser at the time of or prior to sale, except as to sales made to wholesale wine licensees. Wholesale wine licensees shall collect the taxes at the time of or prior to sale to retail licensees, and shall remit such taxes monthly to the Board, along with such reports as may be required by the Board, at the time and in the manner prescribed by the Board.
2. In establishing the prices for items sold by it to persons other than wholesale licensees, the Board shall include a reasonable markup. The liter tax or 20 percent tax, as appropriate, shall then be added to the price of each container of alcoholic beverages. The four percent tax on vermouth and farm winery wines and ciders shall then be added for those products. In all cases the final price for each container may be established so as to be a multiple of five or rounded to end with a nine.
In accounting for the state tax on sales the Board shall divide the net sales for the quarter by 1.20 and multiply the result by 20 percent. As to the sale of vermouth and farm winery wine and cider, the Board shall divide the net sales for the quarter by 1.04 and multiply the result by four percent.
B. The amount of tax collected under this section during each quarter shall, within 50 days after the close of such quarter, be certified to the Comptroller by the Board and shall be transferred by him from the special fund described in § 4.1-116 to the general fund of the state treasury. The Board shall, not later than June 20 of every year, estimate the yield of the state tax on sales imposed by §§ 4.1-213 and 4.1-234 for the quarter ending June 30 and certify the amount of such estimate to the Comptroller, whereupon the Comptroller shall, before the end of the month, transfer the amount of such estimate from the special fund described in § 4.1-116 to the general fund of the state treasury, subject to such adjustment on account of an overestimate or underestimate as may be indicated within 50 days after the close of the quarter ending on June 30.
Forty-four percent of the amount derived from the liter tax levied pursuant to §§ 4.1-213 and 4.1-234 shall be transferred to the general fund and paid to the several counties, cities, and towns of the Commonwealth in proportion to their respective populations, and is appropriated for such purpose.
The counties, cities, and towns shall in no event receive from the taxes derived from the sale of wines less revenue than was received by such counties, cities, and towns for the year ending June 30, 1976.
The portion of wine liter tax and cider markup collected pursuant to §§ 4.1-213 and 4.1-234 that is attributable to the sale of wine and cider produced by a farm winery shall be deposited in the Virginia Wine Promotion Fund established pursuant to § 3.2-3005.
Twelve percent of the amount derived from the liter tax levied shall be retained by the Board as operating revenue and distributed as provided in § 4.1-117.
Twenty percent of the portion of tax collected pursuant to subsection B of § 4.1-234 that is attributable to the sale of spirits produced by a distiller licensee shall be deposited in the Virginia Spirits Promotion Fund established pursuant to § 3.2-3012.
C. As used in this section, the term “net sales” means gross sales less refunds to customers.
D. The Board may make a refund or adjustment of any tax paid to it under this section when (i) the wine upon which such tax has been paid has been condemned and is not permitted to be sold in the Commonwealth, or (ii) wine is returned by a retail licensee to a wholesale wine licensee for refund in accordance with Board regulations or approval. Any claim for such refund or adjustment shall be made to the Board in the report filed with the Board by the wholesale wine licensee for the period in which such return and refund occurs.
1980, c. 624, § 4-22.1; 1981, c. 407; 1982, cc. 540, 556; 1984, c. 200; 1985, cc. 222, 457; 1986, c. 130; 1993, c. 866; 2010, cc. 247, 362; 2015, cc. 4, 21; 2016, cc. 24, 140; 2022, cc. 84, 85.