WV Municipal Sales Tax: Rates, Use Tax, and Penalties

About 85 West Virginia municipalities add a 1% local sales tax on top of the state’s 6% rate, so purchases in those cities and towns are taxed at a combined 7%.¹ The WV municipal sales tax covers the same goods and services as the state tax with one twist that trips up almost everyone: unprepared grocery food, which is exempt from the 6% state tax, is still subject to the 1% city tax. Everything else below flows from those two facts.

Where the 1% Applies and at What Rate

Every municipality that has adopted the tax has set it at the statutory maximum of 1%.¹ You calculate the total by combining the state’s 6% with the local 1% and applying 7% to the taxable price, rounded to the nearest cent. If a transaction takes place outside the limits of one of the roughly 85 participating cities, only the 6% state rate applies.

Which municipality collects on a particular sale depends on where the buyer takes delivery. West Virginia uses destination-based sourcing under Article 15B of Chapter 11. Walk out of a store with the item and the sale is sourced to that store’s address. Have the seller ship it to your home inside a taxing city and the local tax follows to your address.¹

What the Municipal Tax Covers

The local tax piggybacks on the state consumers sales and service tax, so clothing, electronics, furniture, professional services, and most other goods and services taxable at the state level are taxable at the local level too. State-level exemptions generally carry across to the municipal tax, with two statutory exceptions: the exemption for food and food ingredients for home consumption does not carry over, and gasoline and special fuel are excluded from the municipal tax because they are already subject to a separate state fuel tax.²

Groceries: 0% State, 1% City

West Virginia does not charge its 6% state sales tax on unprepared food and food ingredients.³ The statute authorizing the municipal tax, however, specifically excludes that food exemption from the local base.² So in a city with the 1% tax, your grocery bill shows a 1% charge on items that would otherwise ring up tax-free. Retailers in those municipalities program their registers to apply the 1% to grocery purchases even when the state portion is zero.

Prepared Food Is Different

Prepared food is taxed at the full 7% combined rate because it was never exempt from the state tax to begin with. West Virginia defines prepared food as any item heated by the seller, any combination of two or more food ingredients mixed by the seller and sold as a single item, or any food sold with eating utensils. Restaurant meals, deli trays, and salad-bar plates all qualify. Unheated bakery items sold by weight or volume, such as bread, rolls, and cookies, are treated as grocery food unless the bakery heats them or hands you a utensil with them.³

Food that the seller only slices, repackages, or pasteurizes is not prepared food. Raw meat or poultry that still requires cooking at home is not prepared food either, even if it has been seasoned or marinated.³ The question is always whether the seller made the item ready to eat on the spot.

Exemptions That Still Apply

Prescription drugs and insulin sold for medical purposes are exempt from both the state and the municipal tax.² Nonprescription medications remain taxable at both levels. Purchases made with federal food program benefits such as SNAP and WIC are exempt as well. For most households, the prescription and grocery rules are the ones that come up.

Online Orders and Out-of-State Sellers

Remote sellers must collect West Virginia state and local sales tax once they cross either of two thresholds in a calendar year: $100,000 in gross revenue from sales into the state, or 200 or more separate transactions shipped into the state.⁴ Once a seller hits either mark, the collection obligation begins on subsequent sales.

Marketplace facilitators such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart Marketplace carry the same obligation. If a platform meets the $100,000 or 200-transaction threshold, counting its own sales and the sales it facilitates for third parties combined, the platform must collect and remit the tax.⁴ An individual seller whose entire West Virginia volume runs through a collecting marketplace generally does not need to register separately.⁵

Use Tax When No One Charged You

If you buy something taxable from an out-of-state seller that did not charge West Virginia tax, you owe use tax at the same combined rate.⁶ Businesses that buy inventory or supplies tax-free and then use those items internally owe it too. The municipal use tax mirrors the municipal sales tax at the same 1% rate, and both the state and local portions appear on the same return.⁷

For Businesses: Registering and Collecting

Before making a single sale in West Virginia, every business must obtain a business registration certificate from the State Tax Department.⁸ The fee is $30 for most businesses. Nonprofits with federal 501(c) status, agricultural operations, and certain other categories are exempt from the fee but still have to register.⁹

You can register online through Business4WV or by filing a paper BUS-APP form with the Tax Commissioner.¹⁰ You will need your federal Employer Identification Number and information about your business activity. If your storefront or delivery area falls inside a taxing municipality, confirm the city on your account so the correct local jurisdiction is flagged.

Filing the Return

Sales and use tax returns are due monthly, by the 20th of the month after the month the sales occurred.¹¹ If the 20th lands on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. Returns are filed through the MyTaxes portal on the CST-200CU combined return.⁶

You report taxable sales for each municipality separately on the municipal schedules attached to the return.¹ Allocation matters, because each city’s revenue depends on it. If you sell from multiple locations or deliver into different municipalities, track those destination addresses carefully. The CST-200CU is set up so that you enter the schedule data first and then roll the totals into the main return.¹²

Penalties and Interest

Missing a deadline brings both penalties and interest, and the clock starts right away. Failure to file or pay by the due date results in penalties and interest on the unpaid balance.⁶ Under West Virginia Code 11-10-17, interest on underpaid tax runs at an annual rate set by the Tax Commissioner plus 1.5 percentage points, from the original due date until the balance is paid in full. Interest also attaches to any assessed penalty that stays unpaid more than 15 days after the state issues a notice and demand.¹³

The municipal tax has no separate penalty structure. Underpaying or failing to remit the 1% local share carries the same consequences as falling short on the 6% state portion, because the two are administered together. Businesses that collect tax from customers and keep it rather than remit it face the most serious exposure; holding collected funds is treated far more aggressively than a bookkeeping error.

1
West Virginia Tax Division. Municipal Sales and Use Tax
2
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 8-13C-4
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West Virginia State Tax Department. TSD 420 – Sales Tax Regarding Prepared Foods
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-15A-6B
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West Virginia Tax Division. Remote Sellers and West Virginia Sales and Use Tax
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West Virginia Tax Division. Sales and Use Tax
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 8-13C-5
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-12-3 – Business Registration Certificate Required
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West Virginia Tax Division. Business Registration Frequently Asked Questions
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West Virginia Tax Division. Business Registration
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-15B-25
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West Virginia State Tax Department. Filing the CST-200 Sales and Use Tax Return via MyTaxes
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West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 11-10-17 – Interest