Virginia Form ST-1 is the retail sales and use tax return every registered Virginia dealer files electronically through the state’s eForms portal, by the 20th of the month after the reporting period closes. You compute gross sales, subtract exemptions, add any use tax, allocate the total across localities, claim the dealer’s discount if you qualify, and pay in the same session.
Who Has to File
Any business holding a Virginia certificate of registration as a dealer files Form ST-1. Virginia defines a dealer broadly enough to capture anyone who sells, rents, or leases tangible personal property or taxable services in the state, which pulls in brick-and-mortar retailers, online sellers with a Virginia presence, and remote sellers who cross the economic nexus threshold.
Remote sellers trigger a filing obligation once they receive more than $100,000 in gross revenue from Virginia retail sales, or complete 200 or more separate retail transactions in the state, during the previous or current calendar year. Sales by commonly controlled entities get aggregated when measuring those thresholds.1Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-612 – Tax Collectible From Dealers; Dealer Defined If all of your Virginia sales run through a marketplace facilitator’s platform, the facilitator collects and remits the tax, and those sales do not count toward your nexus calculation.
File every period, even a period with no taxable sales. Virginia does not let you skip a return because you owe nothing.2Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax
Filing Frequency and Due Dates
Virginia assigns you either monthly or quarterly filing based on your tax liability. Higher-volume businesses file monthly; lower-volume dealers file quarterly. Your assigned frequency shows in your Virginia Tax Online account.
Every return is due by the 20th of the month after the reporting period closes. A monthly filer covering January owes the return by February 20. A quarterly filer covering January through March owes by April 20. When the 20th falls on a weekend or state holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.2Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax
Completing the Return Line by Line
The form works in two blocks. The first computes your taxable sales; the second brings in use tax. Here is what belongs on each key line.3Virginia Tax. Form ST-1 Instructions
Line 1: Gross General Sales, Rentals and Leases
Enter the total dollar amount of all tangible personal property and taxable services you sold or leased during the period, cash or credit. Do not include the sales tax you collected. Do not include sales where a marketplace facilitator collected the tax for you.
Line 2: Exempt Sales and Deductions
Subtract every sale that qualifies for a Virginia exemption or deduction. Common items reported here include sales for resale backed by an exemption certificate, sales to government entities, qualifying food and essential personal hygiene products, fuel for domestic consumption, interstate commerce sales, returned merchandise you refunded, bad debts you previously paid tax on, and half of any maintenance-contract charges that cover both parts and labor. Keep the exemption certificates on file for every exempt sale; auditors will ask for them. Virginia’s full list of exemption categories, along with rulings on borderline transactions, is on the Department of Taxation’s website.4Virginia Tax. Sales Tax Exemptions
Line 3: Net State Taxable Sales
Line 1 minus Line 2. This is the amount subject to the 4.3% state sales tax.
Line 4: Business or Personal Consumer’s Use Tax
Enter the cost of any tangible personal property you bought without paying Virginia sales tax and then used or consumed in Virginia. That includes items pulled from your own inventory for internal use and goods bought out of state for use here. The use tax rate matches the sales tax rate for your locality.2Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax
Allocating Sales to Localities
The form asks you to break out sales by locality so the 1% local tax, plus any additional regional tax, reaches the right jurisdiction. If you sell from a single Virginia location, everything goes to one locality code. Dealers who sell across multiple jurisdictions have to track where each sale was delivered or picked up and report accordingly. The eForms system lets you add locality schedules inside the return.
Rates the Form Will Apply
The base Virginia rate is 5.3%, made up of a 4.3% state tax and a 1% local tax that applies everywhere in the Commonwealth.5Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 58.1 – Taxation Three regions carry a combined 6% rate because of additional local levies: Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Central Virginia. The Historic Triangle (James City County, Williamsburg, and York County) pays 7%. Everywhere else in the state stays at 5.3%.2Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax Once you enter your locality allocations, the form calculates the correct rate for each jurisdiction.
The Dealer’s Discount
Virginia rewards timely filers with a small commission on the tax you collect. The discount applies to the first 3% of tax collected and slides based on your monthly taxable sales.6Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-622 – Discount
- $0 to $62,500 in monthly taxable sales: 4% of the first 3% of tax
- $62,501 to $208,000: 3% of the first 3% of tax
- $208,001 and above: 2% of the first 3% of tax
Two limits apply. Any dealer whose average monthly sales tax liability exceeds $20,000 is ineligible for the discount. The discount also does not apply to the additional local sales tax certain localities impose under § 58.1-605.1 for school construction.7Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-605.1 – Additional Local Sales Tax in Certain Localities Claim the discount as a deduction on the return, but only if you file and pay on time. Late filers forfeit it for that period.
Submitting and Paying
Virginia requires electronic filing and payment. Two paths get the return in:
- eForms. Go to business.tax.virginia.gov/eforms/eformsEntry/ST1, enter your account number and filing period, and complete the return online. The system calculates totals and tax owed as you enter figures.8Virginia Tax. eForms
- Virginia Tax Online. Log in to your account to access the return with pre-populated account information and submit from there.
Payment goes through the same electronic system. Most dealers pay by ACH debit, which pulls funds from a bank account when you submit. After the return and payment both go through, the system generates a confirmation number. Save it. That confirmation is your proof of timely filing if anything comes up later.
Amending a Return
When you find an error on a return you already filed, correct it by filing an amended return. The eForms system has an “Amend Your Return” option inside the ST-1 interface, and Virginia also offers Form ST-1A for corrections.9Virginia Tax. Virginia Form ST-1 – Virginia Retail Sales and Use Tax Return You report both the original figures and the corrected amounts so the department can see what changed.
If the correction shows you underpaid, submit the additional tax with the amendment. Interest accrues on the shortfall from the original due date, and a penalty may apply if the underpayment was substantial. If you overpaid, claim a refund or take a credit on a future return. You have three years from the original due date of the return to file an amended return requesting a refund. After that, Virginia will not authorize one.10Virginia Tax. Ruling 23-129 A short written explanation of the reason for the change helps the department process the amendment faster.
What Late Filing Costs
Missing the deadline triggers both a filing penalty and a payment penalty, each at 6% of the tax due per month. Only one applies in a given month, but they can alternate, and the combined total caps at 30% of the tax owed.11Virginia Tax. Virginia Tax Penalty and Interest Updates Interest on unpaid tax runs at an annual rate of 9%, the rate in effect as of late 2025, and Virginia adjusts that rate quarterly.12Virginia Tax. Virginia Interest Rates Remain 9% for the 4th Quarter of 2025 You also lose the dealer’s discount for the period. A calendar reminder a few days before the 20th of each month is the simplest defense.