The Virginia consumer use tax applies when you buy tangible personal property for use in Virginia and the seller doesn’t charge Virginia sales tax. You owe it at the same combined rate you’d pay at a local register: 5.3% in most of the state, and 6%, 6.3%, or 7% in certain regions and localities.1Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax If the seller already collected the correct Virginia tax, you owe nothing more. The use tax only fills the gap.
When You Owe
The obligation is triggered any time you acquire tangible personal property for use, consumption, or storage in Virginia and no Virginia sales tax is charged. The state rate is 4.3% on the cost price of the item, with local and regional taxes stacked on top to reach the combined rate for your address.2Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-604 – Imposition of Use Tax
The situations that usually create liability are ordinary ones. You order from a small independent website that isn’t set up to collect Virginia tax. You buy from a private seller. You travel to a state with no sales tax or a lower rate and bring merchandise home. You pick something up at an out-of-state show or market. The tax covers the same categories that would be taxable if bought locally: electronics, furniture, clothing, software, appliances, sporting goods, and similar items. Services are generally outside the scope unless they’re specifically taxable under Virginia’s sales and use tax rules.
Purchases Through Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart.com
If your out-of-state shopping runs mostly through large online platforms, those platforms are almost certainly already collecting Virginia sales tax for you. Virginia requires a marketplace facilitator to register and collect once it exceeds $100,000 in annual gross revenue or 200 transactions with Virginia customers, and the major platforms clear that threshold easily.3Virginia Tax. Remote Sellers, Marketplace Facilitators, Economic Nexus The facilitator is treated as the dealer under Virginia law, so individual third-party sellers on those sites don’t collect separately. Check your receipts. If Virginia sales tax appears on the invoice, don’t report those purchases again as use tax.
Your Rate Depends on Where You Live
The state base rate is 4.3%, and every locality adds at least 1% on top of that.4Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-603 – Imposition of Sales Tax Some regions layer on additional taxes for transportation or school construction, producing four combined tiers:1Virginia Tax. Retail Sales and Use Tax
- 5.3% across most of Virginia.
- 6% in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Central Virginia (including Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Richmond City, Henrico, Chesterfield, and neighboring jurisdictions).
- 6.3% in Charlotte, Danville, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Northampton, Patrick, and Pittsylvania.
- 7% in James City County, Williamsburg, and York County.
The extra amounts above 5.3% fund regional transportation projects or, in some localities, school capital projects authorized under Virginia Code ยง 58.1-605.1.5Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-605.1 – Additional Local Sales Tax in Certain Localities
Groceries and Personal Hygiene Products
Food for home consumption and essential personal hygiene products are taxed at a reduced rate of 1% statewide.6Virginia Tax. Grocery Tax If you owe use tax on qualifying groceries, report those separately from other purchases, because the rate is much lower. Form CU-7 splits them into distinct categories for that reason.7Virginia Department of Taxation. Virginia Consumer’s Use Tax Return for Individuals
Credit for Sales Tax Paid to Another State
If you paid another state’s sales tax on the same purchase, Virginia gives you a credit for that amount. You only owe Virginia the difference between your Virginia combined rate and the rate you already paid. If the other state’s rate was the same or higher, you owe nothing.
Say you bought a laptop in a state with a 4% sales tax and your Virginia combined rate is 5.3%. You’d owe Virginia 1.3% on the cost price. Hold onto the receipt showing what the other state charged; that’s your support if the Department of Taxation ever asks.
What’s Exempt
If an item is exempt from Virginia sales tax, it’s exempt from use tax too. The exemptions most relevant to individual consumers include:8Virginia Tax. Sales Tax Exemptions
- Prescription and nonprescription drugs for human use, eyeglasses, hearing aids, and related supplies.
- Durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, braces, and diabetic supplies bought for personal use.
- Residential heating fuels (propane, firewood, coal, heating oil) are exempt from the state portion; the 1% local tax still applies.
- Gold, silver, and platinum bullion, and legal tender coins.
- Gun safes costing $1,500 or less that are designed for firearm or ammunition storage and use a combination or biometric lock.
Items bought with SNAP or WIC benefits are also exempt. Most other tangible personal property remains taxable.
How to Calculate What You Owe
Start with the cost price of each untaxed purchase, meaning what you paid for the goods themselves. Separately stated shipping and delivery charges are not part of the taxable amount under Virginia administrative regulation 23VAC10-210-6000.9Virginia Code Commission. 23VAC10-210-6000 – Transportation or Delivery Charges If shipping is bundled into the price with no separate line on the invoice, the whole amount becomes taxable. Handling charges are always taxable, even when shown as a separate line.10Virginia Department of Taxation. Rulings of the Tax Commissioner – 00-173
Multiply the total cost price by your local combined rate. Keep food and personal hygiene products in a separate calculation at 1%. Then subtract any credit for sales tax you already paid to another state.
How to File and Pay
Most Virginia residents report use tax on their state income tax return. Form 760, Form 760PY (part-year residents), and Form 763 (nonresidents) each include a dedicated line where the use tax gets added to your total liability.7Virginia Department of Taxation. Virginia Consumer’s Use Tax Return for Individuals If you’re not required to file a Virginia income tax return, use Form CU-7, the standalone consumer use tax return.
The CU-7 worksheet asks you to list purchases and compute the tax in two buckets: non-food items at your full local rate, and food or personal hygiene products at 1%. Only the totals go on the form itself, but hold onto the purchase records in case the Department of Taxation reviews the return. The deadline is May 1, the same as Virginia’s income tax filing date.
Electronic filing through the Department of Taxation’s online portal is the fastest way to pay. Bank transfers cost nothing extra. If you pay by card, a third-party processor charges $3.95 for a debit card or 2.3% of the payment on credit cards over $43.11Virginia Tax. Credit Card Payments On a $500 payment, that 2.3% fee adds $11.50, so bank transfers are cheaper. For paper filing, mail Form 760 or Form CU-7 with a check or money order payable to the Virginia Department of Taxation, and include your Social Security number and the tax year on the payment.
What Happens If You Don’t Report
Virginia assesses a late filing penalty of 6% per month on the unpaid balance, capped at 30%. A separate late payment penalty adds another 6% per month, also capped at 30%.12Virginia Tax. Penalties and Interest Interest runs on top at the federal underpayment rate plus 2% for every month the balance is outstanding. Filing a fraudulent return or willfully failing to file carries a penalty of 100% of the tax owed.
The Department of Taxation has three years from the due date to assess what you owe. That window extends to six years if you filed a fraudulent return or never filed at all.13Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-634 – Period of Limitations Virginia also exchanges information with the IRS and other state tax agencies, so an audit elsewhere can surface untaxed Virginia purchases.
The enforcement risk on small individual purchases is low compared to businesses or high-value items like vehicles, boats, and expensive equipment. But the obligation applies at any dollar amount, and once penalties attach they compound quickly. Keeping a running list of untaxed purchases through the year and adding the total to your income tax return is far easier than answering a notice years later.