How to Fill Out the Virginia ST-10 Sales Tax Exemption Certificate

The Virginia ST-10 sales tax exemption certificate lets a registered Virginia dealer buy tangible personal property from a supplier without paying sales tax, provided the purchase is for resale, for taxable lease or rental, or for packaging that ships out with a product. You complete the single-page form, sign it, and give it to your supplier. It does not go to the Virginia Department of Taxation. The supplier keeps it on file as proof the sale was legitimately tax-free, and the same form can cover every future purchase from that supplier under the same exemption category.¹

Who the Form Is For

The ST-10 is only for businesses registered with Virginia Tax to collect and remit Virginia sales tax. When you register, you receive a 15-digit sales tax account number and a Certificate of Registration (Form ST-4). That account number is what makes an ST-10 valid; without it, the certificate is incomplete.²

The form covers three specific exempt uses: property bought to resell, property bought to lease or rent out in a taxable transaction, and packaging materials that leave with a product and become the buyer’s property.¹ If your exemption is based on something else, this is not your form. Nonprofit organizations exempt under IRC § 501(c)(3), (c)(4), or (c)(19) apply separately under Virginia Code § 58.1-609.11 and receive their own certificate.³ Manufacturers claiming the industrial-use exemption for production equipment and raw materials use a different certificate; the ST-10 does not reach those purchases.⁴ Government agencies have their own forms as well.

Two groups are affirmatively barred from using the ST-10 even when they otherwise look like resellers. Construction contractors who consume materials in their work (the regulations call them “using or consuming construction contractors”) cannot claim resale on materials they install, because those materials become part of a finished structure rather than being resold. And cigarette retailers cannot use the ST-10 to buy cigarettes for resale after January 1, 2018; a separate cigarette exemption certificate under § 58.1-623.2 is required.¹

Filling Out the Form, Field by Field

The ST-10 is one page. Every field matters, because a blank or mismatched field is what an auditor will flag first.

To. The full legal name and mailing address of the supplier you’re buying from. One certificate identifies one supplier.
Date. The date you sign the certificate. Because the ST-10 works as a blanket certificate, this date is when the exemption starts covering your purchases from this supplier.
Name of Dealer. Your business’s legal name as registered with Virginia Tax.
Account No. Your 15-digit Virginia sales tax account number from your Certificate of Registration (Form ST-4). If you don’t have one, you’re not eligible to use this form.²
Trading as. Your DBA or trade name, if different from the legal name.
Address. Street address, city, state, and ZIP of your business.
Kind of business. A short, accurate description: “retail clothing,” “restaurant supply wholesale,” “electronics reseller.” This should be consistent with the exemption category you check; an auditor comparing the two is looking for mismatches.
Exemption category. Check exactly one of the three numbered boxes. See the next section.
Signature and title. Signed by someone with authority to bind the business. Print your title (owner, purchasing manager, controller, etc.) alongside the signature.

Your signature certifies the information is “true and correct, made in good faith, pursuant to the Virginia Retail Sales and Use Tax Act.” That certification is what shifts liability for uncollected tax off the supplier, so it is a real legal statement. Signing an ST-10 for a purchase you don’t actually qualify to make tax-free puts you personally on the hook for the tax and any penalties.¹

Choosing the Right Exemption Category

The three numbered boxes on the ST-10 are not interchangeable. Check only the one that describes your reason for buying.

Category 1 — Resale. Property you intend to sell to your own customers. This is the most common use. Cigarettes are the one exclusion: you cannot use Category 1 to buy cigarettes for resale.¹

Category 2 — Taxable lease or rental. Property you plan to lease or rent to customers as part of your established business, including simultaneous purchase-and-leaseback transactions. Category 2 does not apply to long-term motor vehicle leases where the lease payments are not subject to Virginia’s motor vehicle sales and use tax.

Category 3 — Packaging materials. Containers, labels, sacks, cans, boxes, drums, bags, and similar materials that go out with the product you sell and become the purchaser’s property.

If you buy something under one of these categories and then use it yourself instead, Virginia treats that as a taxable sale at the moment you first put the property to non-exempt use, measured by your cost.⁵

How the Blanket Certificate Works

The ST-10 is a blanket certificate by default. Once your supplier has a properly executed form on file, it covers every future purchase you make from that supplier for the exempt purpose you checked. You do not fill out a fresh ST-10 for each order, and the certificate remains valid until the Virginia Department of Taxation revokes it in writing.¹

That coverage is only as broad as the category you checked. If you also buy something from the same supplier that falls outside that category (office furniture for your own use, for example), you need to flag that specific order as taxable so the supplier collects the tax. The blanket certificate does not automatically exempt everything you buy from that vendor.

What Happens if You Misuse the Certificate

Claiming an exemption you don’t qualify for is expensive. You owe the unpaid tax plus interest running back to the original purchase, and Virginia imposes a 50% penalty on tax deficiencies involving false or fraudulent returns filed with willful intent to defraud the state. Willful misuse of an exemption certificate can also trigger criminal tax evasion sanctions.⁵

Audits do look for this. The Department of Taxation reviews whether the buyer’s business type and filing history match the exemption claimed. A retailer that buys a large piece of equipment under a resale certificate and never reports corresponding sales revenue draws scrutiny quickly. The safe practice is to check the category that genuinely fits and to pay tax on anything you’ll use or consume yourself.

The Supplier’s Side

Virginia law presumes every sale is taxable, and the burden of proving otherwise falls on the seller unless the seller has a valid exemption certificate on file.⁵ A properly completed ST-10 shifts that burden. Under § 58.1-623(B), accepting a valid certificate relieves the supplier of liability for uncollected tax on the transaction, unless the Tax Commissioner later notifies the supplier that the certificate is no longer acceptable.

If an audit finds a sale where no exemption certificate is on file, the Department will not treat that transaction as exempt, and the supplier owes the tax.⁶ Auditors will check the purchaser’s registration status and filing history to see whether the sale would have qualified, and they may remove such transactions from the audit exceptions list, but that relief is discretionary. Collecting a signed ST-10 up front is the only reliable protection.

Before accepting a certificate, confirm that every field is filled in — name, address, account number, business type, exemption category, and signature — and flag anything that looks off, such as a blank account number or a business description that doesn’t square with the exemption checked. Keep each ST-10 for at least three years from the date of the transaction it covers. For blanket certificates that support an ongoing relationship, that means three years after the last purchase covered by the certificate, not three years after it was signed.⁵

Electronic Versions of the Certificate

Virginia Tax accepts electronic exemption certificates, but only if the electronic version captures every field and every certification statement on the paper ST-10. In a 2008 ruling, the Department rejected an electronic format because it omitted required fields and certification language from the paper form.⁷ If you use a digital system to collect certificates, verify it mirrors the paper form exactly: dealer name, 15-digit account number, address, business type, exemption category, signature, and the full certification statement. A stripped-down electronic form will not hold up in an audit.

1
Virginia Tax. Form ST-10 Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption
2
Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-609.11 – Exemptions for Nonprofit Entities
4
Virginia Code Commission. 23VAC10-210-920 – Manufacturing and Processing
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-623 – Sales or Leases Presumed Subject to Tax
6
Virginia Tax. Ruling 25-81
7
Virginia Tax. Ruling 08-18