Is There a Sales Tax on Food in West Virginia?

There is no state sales tax on most grocery food in West Virginia. The state’s tax on food and food ingredients dropped to 0% on July 1, 2013, and has stayed there.¹ Prepared food, candy, soft drinks, and dietary supplements are different. Those still carry the full 6% state rate, and a local municipal tax of up to 1% can sit on top.

What Counts as Tax-Free Grocery Food

West Virginia defines “food and food ingredients” as substances sold for human consumption — liquid, solid, frozen, dried, or dehydrated — that people eat or drink for taste or nutritional value.² Fresh produce, raw meat, bread, canned goods, frozen dinners, eggs, milk, cheese, and cereal all fall inside that definition and carry no state sales tax.

Three categories are explicitly carved out of that definition and taxed at 6%: candy, soft drinks, and dietary supplements. Prepared food is taxed at 6% under a separate set of rules described below.

Prepared Food Is Taxed at 6%

West Virginia uses three tests to decide whether a food item is “prepared.” If any one applies, the seller charges 6%:²

The seller sold it heated or heated it. A rotisserie chicken, a hot slice of pizza, or soup from a heated pot qualifies no matter where you buy it.
The seller mixed two or more ingredients. A deli sandwich, a custom smoothie, or a made-to-order salad qualifies because the seller combined the ingredients for you.
The seller provided eating utensils with the food. A fork, spoon, plate, cup, napkin, or straw makes the item prepared food. A container or packaging used only to transport the food does not count as a utensil.

All food sold by an eating establishment — restaurants, cafeterias, food trucks, and delis — is treated as prepared food and taxed at 6%, whether you eat in, carry out, or get delivery.³ Self-service items like salad bars and drink stations fall in the same bucket. When a heated item is sold with an unheated item for a single price, the whole purchase is taxed at 6%.

Exceptions to the Prepared Food Rules

Bakery items are not prepared food, even though a baker obviously combined ingredients. Bread, rolls, bagels, cookies, cakes, pies, muffins, donuts, and tortillas stay in the tax-free grocery category.² Food that is only cut, repackaged, or pasteurized by the seller is not prepared food either. Neither is uncooked meat, fish, poultry, or eggs that require cooking at home, or food sold unheated by weight or volume as a single item.

The utensils rule has a limit worth knowing. Utensils sitting out for general self-service, or tongs required by sanitary regulations at a bulk bin, do not by themselves turn a grocery item into prepared food.³ The test is whether the utensils are intended for use with the specific food being sold.

Candy, Soft Drinks, and Dietary Supplements

Candy is defined as a preparation of sugar, honey, or other sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients, sold as bars, drops, or pieces.² If the product contains flour, it is not candy for tax purposes and drops back into the tax-free food category. A Kit Kat bar contains flour and would be treated as grocery food; a plain chocolate bar would not. Products requiring refrigeration are also outside the candy definition.

Soft drinks are non-alcoholic beverages containing natural or artificial sweeteners. Beverages containing milk or milk products, soy or rice milk substitutes, or more than 50% fruit or vegetable juice by volume are not soft drinks and remain tax-free. Sweetened iced tea is taxed at 6%; 100% orange juice is not.

Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals, herbal products, amino acids, and similar items sold in tablet, capsule, powder, or liquid form and labeled with a “Supplement Facts” box. They are taxed at the full 6% rate, so protein powder labeled as a supplement is taxable even though it may look like a food product.

Purchases With SNAP or WIC

Food purchased with SNAP benefits or WIC vouchers is fully exempt from West Virginia sales tax.⁴ This exemption is separate from the grocery rate and covers items that would otherwise be taxable. A SNAP-eligible soft drink bought with SNAP benefits is exempt, even though soft drinks are normally taxed at 6%.

Sales tax exemptions also apply to food sold by or to certain nonprofit organizations that are exempt from federal income tax under IRC §501(c)(3) or (c)(4), and to food purchased or sold by public or private schools and school-sponsored student organizations.⁵

Local Municipal Tax Can Add Up to 1%

Some West Virginia municipalities add a local sales tax of up to 1%, bringing the combined rate as high as 7% in those areas.⁶ State law requires the municipal base to match the state base. Because the state does not tax grocery food, participating municipalities should not be taxing grocery food either. Prepared food, candy, and soft drinks stay in the taxable base at both levels, so a restaurant meal in one of these cities carries the full 7%.

Delivery and Online Grocery Orders

West Virginia uses destination-based sourcing. The rate is set by where you receive the food, not where the seller is located.⁷ Prepared food delivered to an address in a municipality with a 1% local tax is taxed at 7% regardless of the restaurant’s location. Delivery to an address outside any taxing municipality carries only the 6% state rate on prepared food.

The same rules follow shipped orders. Grocery food shipped to a West Virginia address is still tax-free. Prepared food, candy, soft drinks, and dietary supplements shipped or delivered into the state are taxable at the applicable rate.

1
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-15-3a – Rate of Tax on Food and Food Ingredients Intended for Human Consumption; Reductions and Cessations of Tax
2
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-15B-2 – Definitions
3
West Virginia Tax Division. TSD 420 Sales Tax Regarding Prepared Foods
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West Virginia Tax Division. TSD 300 – Sales and Use Tax Exemptions
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-15-9 – Exemptions
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 8-13C-4 – Municipal Sales and Service Taxes
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West Virginia Tax Division. Remote Sellers and West Virginia Sales and Use Tax