A. The council of any city and the governing body of any county which has levied or may hereafter levy a city or county sales tax under § 58.1-605 may levy a city or county use tax at the rate of one percent to provide revenue for the general fund of such city or county. Such tax shall be added to the rate of the state use tax imposed by this chapter and shall be subject to all the provisions of this chapter, and all amendments thereof, and the rules and regulations published with respect thereto, except that no discount under § 58.1-622 shall be allowed on a local use tax.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 58.1-606

  • Business: includes any activity engaged in by any person, or caused to be engaged in by him, with the object of gain, benefit or advantage, either directly or indirectly. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
  • City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
  • dealer: includes every person that:

    1. See Virginia Code 58.1-612

  • Distribution: means the transfer or delivery of tangible personal property for use, consumption, or storage by the distributee, and the use, consumption, or storage of tangible personal property by a person that has processed, manufactured, refined, or converted such property, but does not include the transfer or delivery of tangible personal property for resale or any use, consumption, or storage otherwise exempt under this chapter. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
  • Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • 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
  • Tangible personal property: includes (i) telephone calling cards upon their initial sale, which shall be exempt from all other state and local utility taxes, and (ii) manufactured signs. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
  • Use: means the exercise of any right or power over tangible personal property incident to the ownership thereof, except that it does not include the sale at retail of that property in the regular course of business. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
  • Use tax: refers to the tax imposed upon the use, consumption, distribution, and storage as defined in this section. See Virginia Code 58.1-602

B. The council of any city and the governing body of any county desiring to impose a local use tax under this section may do so in the manner following:

1. If the city or county has previously imposed the local sales tax authorized by § 58.1-605, the local use tax may be imposed by the council or governing body by the adoption of a resolution by a majority of all the members thereof, by a recorded yea and nay vote, stating its purpose and referring to this section, and providing that the local use tax shall become effective on the first day of a month at least 60 days after the adoption of the resolution. A certified copy of such resolution shall be forwarded to the Tax Commissioner so that it will be received within five days after its adoption. The resolution authorized by this paragraph may be adopted in the manner stated notwithstanding any other provision of law, including any charter provision.

2. If the city or county has not imposed the local sales tax authorized by § 58.1-605, the local use tax may be imposed by ordinance together with the local sales tax in the manner set out in subsections B and C of § 58.1-605.

C. Any local use tax levied under this section shall be administered and collected by the Tax Commissioner in the same manner and subject to the same penalties as provided for the state use tax.

D. The local use tax authorized by this section shall not apply to transactions to which the sales tax applies, the situs of which for state and local sales tax purposes is the city or county of location of each place of business of every dealer paying the tax to the Commonwealth without regard to the city or county of possible use by the purchasers. However, the local use tax authorized by this section shall apply to tangible personal property purchased without this Commonwealth for use or consumption within the city or county imposing the local use tax, or stored within the city or county for use or consumption, where the property would have been subject to the sales tax if it had been purchased within this Commonwealth. The local use tax shall also apply to leases or rentals of tangible personal property where the place of business of the lessor is without this Commonwealth and such leases or rentals are subject to the state tax. Moreover, the local use tax shall apply in all cases in which the state use tax applies.

E. Out-of-state dealers who hold certificates of registration to collect the use tax from their customers for remittance to this Commonwealth shall, to the extent reasonably practicable, in filing their monthly use tax returns with the Tax Commissioner, break down their shipments into this Commonwealth by cities and counties so as to show the city or county of destination. If, however, the out-of-state dealer is unable accurately to assign any shipment to a particular city or county, the local use tax on the tangible personal property involved shall be remitted to the Commonwealth by such dealer without attempting to assign the shipment to any city or county.

F. Local use tax revenue shall be distributed among the cities and counties for which it is collected, respectively, as shown by the records of the Department, and the procedure shall be the same as that prescribed for distribution of local sales tax revenue under § 58.1-605. The local use tax revenue that is not accurately assignable to a particular city or county shall be distributed monthly by the appropriate state authorities among the cities and counties in this Commonwealth imposing the local use tax upon the basis of taxable retail sales in the respective cities and counties in which the local sales and use tax was in effect in the taxable month involved, as shown by the records of the Department, and computed with respect to taxable retail sales as reflected by the amounts of the local sales tax revenue distributed among such cities and counties, respectively, in the month of distribution. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the Tax Commissioner shall develop a uniform method to distribute local use tax. Any significant changes to the method of local use tax distribution shall be phased in over a five-year period. Distribution information shall be shared with the affected localities prior to implementation of the changes.

G. All local use tax revenue shall be used, applied or disbursed by the cities and counties as provided in § 58.1-605 with respect to local sales tax revenue.

Code 1950, § 58-441.49:1; 1968, c. 191; 1984, c. 675; 1999, c. 156; 2004, Sp. Sess. I, c. 3; 2007, c. 896; 2008, cc. 484, 488; 2013, c. 766.

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