Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 58.1 > Subtitle I > Chapter 6 - Retail Sales and Use Tax

• Accommodations: means any room or rooms, lodgings, or accommodations in any hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, tourist cabin, camping grounds, club, short-term rental, or any other place in which rooms, lodging, space, or accommodations are regularly furnished to transients for a consideration. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Accommodations fee: means the room charge less the discount room charge, if any, provided that the accommodations fee shall not be less than $0. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Accommodations intermediary: means any person other than an accommodations provider that (i) facilitates the sale of an accommodation and (ii) either (a) charges a room charge to the customer, and charges an accommodations fee to the customer, which fee it retains as compensation for facilitating the sale; (b) collects a room charge from the customer; or (c) charges a fee, other than an accommodations fee, to the customer, which fee it retains as compensation for facilitating the sale. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Accommodations provider: means any person that furnishes accommodations to the general public for compensation. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Advertising: means the planning, creating, or placing of advertising in newspapers, magazines, billboards, broadcasting and other media, including, without limitation, the providing of concept, writing, graphic design, mechanical art, photography and production supervision. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Affiliate: means the same as such term is defined in § 58. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assessment: as used in this subtitle , shall include an assessment made pursuant to notice by the Department of Taxation and self-assessments made by a taxpayer upon the filing of a return or otherwise not pursuant to notice. See Virginia Code 58.1-1820
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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
• commonly controlled person: means any person that is a member of the same "controlled group of corporations" as defined in § 1563(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended or renumbered, as the dealer or any other entity that, notwithstanding its form of organization, bears the same ownership relationship to the dealer as a corporation that is a member of the same "controlled group of corporations" as defined in § 1563(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended or renumbered. See Virginia Code 58.1-612
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Cost price: means the actual cost of an item or article of tangible personal property computed in the same manner as the sales price as defined in this section without any deductions therefrom on account of the cost of materials used, labor, or service costs, transportation charges, or any expenses whatsoever. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• dealer: includes every person that:

  1. See Virginia Code 58.1-612

• Discount room charge: means the full amount charged by the accommodations provider to the accommodations intermediary, or an affiliate thereof, for furnishing the accommodations. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• facilitates the sale: includes brokering, coordinating, or in any other way arranging for the purchase of the right to use accommodations via a transaction directly, including via one or more payment processors, between a customer and an accommodations provider. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• 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
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gross proceeds: means the charges made or voluntary contributions received for the lease or rental of tangible personal property or for furnishing services, computed with the same deductions, where applicable, as for sales price as defined in this section over the term of the lease, rental, service, or use, but not less frequently than monthly. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Gross sales: means the sum total of all retail sales of tangible personal property or services as defined in this chapter, without any deduction, except as provided in this chapter. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• in the Commonwealth: means within the limits of the Commonwealth of Virginia and includes all territory within these limits owned by or ceded to the United States of America. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• industrial in nature: includes , but is not limited to, those businesses classified in codes 10 through 14 and 20 through 39 published in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual for 1972 and any supplements issued thereafter. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Integrated process: when used in relation to semiconductor manufacturing, means a process that begins with the research or development of semiconductor products, equipment, or processes, includes the handling and storage of raw materials at a plant site, and continues to the point that the product is packaged for final sale and either shipped or conveyed to a warehouse. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Internet: means , collectively, the myriad of computer and telecommunications facilities, which comprise the interconnected worldwide network of computer networks that employ the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, or any predecessor or successor to such protocol, to communicate information of all kinds by wire or radio. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Internet service: means a service that enables users to access content, information, and other services offered over the Internet. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lease or rental: means the leasing or renting of tangible personal property and the possession or use thereof by the lessee or renter for a consideration, without transfer of the title to such property. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Marketplace facilitator: means a person that contracts with a marketplace seller to facilitate, for consideration and regardless of whether such consideration is deducted as fees from transactions, the sale of such marketplace seller's products through a physical or electronic marketplace operated by such person. See Virginia Code 58.1-612.1
• Marketplace seller: means a person that is not a commonly controlled person, as defined in subsection D of § 58. See Virginia Code 58.1-612.1
• Modular building: means , but is not limited to, single and multifamily houses, apartment units, commercial buildings, and permanent additions thereof, comprised of one or more sections that are intended to become real property, primarily constructed at a location other than the permanent site, built to comply with the Virginia Industrialized Building Safety Law (§ 36-70 et seq. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Modular building manufacturer: means a person that owns or operates a manufacturing facility and is engaged in the fabrication, construction and assembling of building supplies and materials into modular buildings, as defined in this section, at a location other than at the site where the modular building will be assembled on the permanent foundation and may or may not be engaged in the process of affixing the modules to the foundation at the permanent site. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Modular building retailer: means any person that purchases or acquires a modular building from a modular building manufacturer, or from another person, for subsequent sale to a customer residing within or outside of the Commonwealth, with or without installation of the modular building to the foundation at the permanent site. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Motor vehicle: means a "motor vehicle" as defined in § 58. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• network: includes modems, fiber optic cables, coaxial cables, radio equipment, routing equipment, switching equipment, a cable modem termination system, associated software, transmitters, power equipment, storage devices, servers, multiplexers, and antennas, which network is used to provide Internet service, regardless of whether the provider of such service is also a telephone common carrier or whether such network is also used to provide services other than Internet services. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Occasional sale: means a sale of tangible personal property not held or used by a seller in the course of an activity for which it is required to hold a certificate of registration, including the sale or exchange of all or substantially all the assets of any business and the reorganization or liquidation of any business, provided that such sale or exchange is not one of a series of sales and exchanges sufficient in number, scope and character to constitute an activity requiring the holding of a certificate of registration. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Open video system: means an open video system authorized pursuant to 47 U. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes any individual, firm, copartnership, cooperative, nonprofit membership corporation, joint venture, association, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, trustee in bankruptcy, receiver, auctioneer, syndicate, assignee, club, society, or other group or combination acting as a unit, body politic or political subdivision, whether public or private, or quasi-public, and the plural of "person" means the same as the singular. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Prewritten program: means a computer program that is prepared, held or existing for general or repeated sale or lease, including a computer program developed for in-house use and subsequently sold or leased to unrelated third parties. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Qualifying locality: means Charlotte County, Gloucester County, Halifax County, Henry County, Mecklenburg County, Northampton County, Patrick County, Pittsylvania County, or the City of Danville. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Railroad rolling stock: means locomotives, of whatever motive power, autocars, railroad cars of every kind and description, and all other equipment determined by the Tax Commissioner to constitute railroad rolling stock. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remote seller: means any dealer deemed to have sufficient activity within the Commonwealth to require registration under § 58. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Retailer: means every person engaged in the business of making sales at retail, or for distribution, use, consumption, or storage to be used or consumed in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Room charge: includes any fee charged to the customer and retained as compensation for facilitating the sale, whether described as an accommodations fee, facilitation fee, or any other name. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Sale: means any transfer of title or possession, or both, exchange, barter, lease or rental, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of tangible personal property and any rendition of a taxable service for a consideration, and includes the fabrication of tangible personal property for consumers who furnish, either directly or indirectly, the materials used in fabrication, and the furnishing, preparing, or serving for a consideration of any tangible personal property consumed on the premises of the person furnishing, preparing, or serving such tangible personal property. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• sale at retail: means a sale to any person for any purpose other than for resale in the form of tangible personal property or services taxable under this chapter, and shall include any such transaction as the Tax Commissioner upon investigation finds to be in lieu of a sale. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Sales price: means the total amount for which tangible personal property or services are sold, including any services that are a part of the sale, valued in money, whether paid in money or otherwise, and includes any amount for which credit is given to the purchaser, consumer, or lessee by the dealer, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of materials used, labor or service costs, losses or any other expenses whatsoever. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Semiconductor cleanrooms: means the integrated systems, fixtures, piping, partitions, flooring, lighting, equipment, and all other property used to reduce contamination or to control airflow, temperature, humidity, vibration, or other environmental conditions required for the integrated process of semiconductor manufacturing. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Semiconductor equipment: means (i) machinery or tools or repair parts or replacements thereof; (ii) the related accessories, components, pedestals, bases, or foundations used in connection with the operation of the equipment, without regard to the proximity to the equipment, the method of attachment, or whether the equipment or accessories are affixed to the realty; (iii) semiconductor wafers and other property or supplies used to install, test, calibrate or recalibrate, characterize, condition, measure, or maintain the equipment and settings thereof; and (iv) equipment and supplies used for quality control testing of product, materials, equipment, or processes; or the measurement of equipment performance or production parameters regardless of where or when the quality control, testing, or measuring activity takes place, how the activity affects the operation of equipment, or whether the equipment and supplies come into contact with the product. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Short-term rental: means the same as such term is defined in § 15. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Storage: means any keeping or retention of tangible personal property for use, consumption or distribution in the Commonwealth, or for any purpose other than sale at retail in the regular course of business. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• 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
• Taxpayer: includes every person, corporation, partnership, organization, trust or estate subject to taxation under the laws of this Commonwealth, or under the ordinances, resolutions or orders of any county, city, town or other political subdivision of this Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 58.1-1
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tier-city: means an incorporated community within a consolidated county that (i) has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more, (ii) has been designated as a tier-city by the General Assembly, and (iii) has both the powers of a town and such additional powers as may be granted tier-cities by the General Assembly. See Virginia Code 1-252
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes 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 1-255
• 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
• used directly: refers to the activities specified in this definition and, in addition, any reclamation activity of the land previously mined by the mining company required by state or federal law. See Virginia Code 58.1-602
• Video programming: means video and/or information programming provided by or generally considered comparable to programming provided by a cable operator, including, but not limited to, Internet service. See Virginia Code 58.1-602