Form ST-11: Virginia Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption

Virginia Form ST-11 is the Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption that a business gives to its supplier so qualifying purchases of tangible personal property can be made without Virginia sales tax. It covers eleven specific commercial, industrial, and agricultural uses, and only those. Hand a completed form to your vendor once, and the vendor stops charging you tax on future purchases that fit the exemption category you checked.¹

What Purchases Qualify

The form lists eleven numbered categories. You check the one that matches the exempt purpose of what you’re buying:¹

Industrial materials that enter into the manufacturing or processing of goods for resale, including materials coated or impregnated into the product at any production stage.
Machinery, tools, replacement parts, equipment, fuel, power, energy, and supplies used directly in manufacturing, processing, refining, mining, or converting products for sale.
Items used directly in drilling, extracting, or processing natural gas or oil for sale, including equipment for well-site reclamation required by law.
Raw agricultural products and seafood purchased for use in preparing or manufacturing those commodities for the retail consumer trade. Finished products sold directly to consumers do not qualify.
Property purchased for use directly and exclusively in basic research or R&D in an experimental or laboratory setting.
Certified pollution control equipment and facilities approved by the appropriate state or local certifying authority.
Containers, labels, boxes, bags, drums, and similar materials used to package goods for shipment or sale.
Equipment, materials, and supplies used directly in producing a publication issued at regular intervals of three months or less.
Electrostatic duplicators or similar machines capable of 4,000 or more impressions per hour, purchased or leased by businesses primarily engaged in printing or photocopying for sale.
Qualifying property used predominantly in manufacturing by licensed brewers, including machinery, raw ingredients that become part of the beer, and packaging materials.
Qualifying property used predominantly in advanced recycling operations.

The categories are narrowly drawn. If your purchase doesn’t fit cleanly into one of them, ST-11 is the wrong form, and checking a box that doesn’t match your actual use creates fraud exposure.

Who Should Use It, and Who Shouldn’t

ST-11 is for businesses buying raw materials, equipment, or supplies that will be consumed or used directly in an exempt production activity. Manufacturers, processors, miners, farmers, commercial fisheries, research facilities, publishers, and licensed brewers are the typical users. The purchase has to feed production, not general operations.¹

Several groups commonly reach for ST-11 by mistake. Retailers and wholesalers buying inventory for resale use Form ST-10. Nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), or 501(c)(19) status apply separately through Virginia Tax for an NP-1 certificate, and they must meet state criteria beyond federal tax-exempt status, including keeping administrative costs below 40% of gross revenue.² Nonprofit churches self-issue Form ST-13A for worship and ministry purchases.³ Government agencies rely on the exemption at Virginia Code 58.1-609.1(4) for property purchased for government use.⁴

How To Complete and Deliver the Form

Download Form ST-11 from the Virginia Department of Taxation’s forms library. The fields are short, but errors can cost your supplier its liability protection, so fill it out carefully.¹

Enter the supplier’s name and address.
Enter your business name and address.
Add your Virginia sales tax certificate of registration number, if you have one.
Check the numbered item (1 through 11) that matches your exempt purpose.
Have an authorized person sign: a corporate officer, partner, association member, or sole proprietor. An employee without signing authority cannot execute the certificate.

Give the signed form to the supplier. The supplier keeps it on file and stops charging sales tax on your qualifying orders going forward. Virginia law allows only one certificate per purchaser on file with a given supplier, so you don’t fill out a new form for each transaction. The certification language on the form covers all future qualifying purchases from that supplier unless a specific order says otherwise.

How Long the Certificate Lasts

ST-11 has no built-in expiration date. It stays in effect until the Virginia Department of Taxation revokes it in writing. You should give the supplier an updated certificate if your business address, registration number, or exemption category changes. If you place an order that falls outside the exemption category you checked, standard sales tax applies to that order.

Supplier’s Liability Protection

Under Virginia Code 58.1-623, all sales are presumed taxable until the seller can prove otherwise. A properly completed ST-11 on file shifts that burden and relieves the supplier of liability for collecting or paying tax on the covered transactions, unless and until the Tax Commissioner notifies the supplier the certificate is no longer acceptable.⁵ Without a certificate on file, the supplier bears the risk if an audit determines the sale should have been taxed, which is why vendors ask for the paperwork before dropping tax from your invoices.

If You Use the Property for a Non-Exempt Purpose

Buying something tax-free under an ST-11 and then using it for something the exemption doesn’t cover triggers a tax obligation. Virginia treats that use as a taxable sale, with the tax calculated on your original cost for the property as of the date you first put it to the non-exempt use.⁵ You need to self-report it. A classic example is buying manufacturing equipment tax-free and later moving it to a corporate lobby as a display piece.

Recordkeeping on Both Sides

Virginia requires taxpayers to keep records substantiating any tax return for at least three years from the date the return was required to be filed, with the clock running from an extended filing date if an extension was granted.⁶ For suppliers, that means holding each ST-11 for at least three years after the last covered sale. Because the certificate has no fixed expiration, the retention clock effectively restarts with every new exempt transaction.

Keep your own copy too. On a Department of Taxation audit, a supplier with no certificate on file loses liability protection and can be assessed for the uncollected tax plus interest. A purchaser who can’t show the property was actually used for the exempt purpose checked on the form owes the tax plus any applicable penalties.

Penalties for Fraudulent Use

Filing a false or fraudulent exemption certificate is not just a paperwork issue. Under Virginia Code 58.1-635, willfully filing a fraudulent return or document with intent to defraud the state carries a penalty of 50% of the proper tax, on top of the tax owed and interest.⁷ For non-fraud failures, such as late filing or payment, the penalty starts at 6% of the tax due for the first month and adds another 6% per month up to a 30% maximum, with a $10 minimum.

Watch the fraud threshold. Reporting gross sales or cost price at 50% or less of the actual amount is treated as prima facie evidence of intent to defraud. Systematically understating purchase values, or checking an ST-11 exemption category that doesn’t apply so you can skip tax on non-qualifying items, can cross that line fast.

1
Virginia Department of Taxation. Form ST-11 – Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-609.11 – Exemptions for Nonprofit Entities
3
Virginia Department of Taxation. Nonprofit Organizations
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-609.1 – Governmental and Commodities Exemptions
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-623 – Sales or Leases Presumed Subject to Tax; Exemption Certificates
6
Legal Information Institute. Virginia Administrative Code 23VAC10-20-90 – Retention of Records by Taxpayer
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-635 – Failure to File Return; Fraudulent Return; Penalties; Interest