Sales taxes

• Virginia's state sales and use tax rate is 4 percent.
• There is an additional 1 percent local tax, for a total of a 5 percent combined sales tax on most Virginia purchases.
• On July 1, 2005, the state tax rate on food decreased to 1.5 percent, resulting in a combined tax rate of 2.5 percent (1.5 percent state tax and 1 percent local tax).
• The state's consumer use tax is the "other half" of the Virginia retail sales and use tax requirements. Typically, residents incur the use tax when they purchase in a tax year more than $100 worth of items upon which they did not pay sales tax. Common instances of these types of transactions are purchases from the Internet, mail-order catalogues and cable television shopping channels. The tax also applies to tax-free purchases you make outside of Virginia, such as buying furniture at an outlet in another state and having it shipped to Virginia.

Personal and real property taxes

• Virginia has no state property tax. The tax is set and collected at the local government level.
• Real estate is taxed at the local level based on 100 percent of fair market value. Effective true tax rates on real estate vary and are set by locality.
• Tangible personal property also is taxed at the local level and is based on a percentage or percentages of original cost.
• Tangible personal property includes, but is not limited to, machinery and equipment, furniture, fixtures and trucks and automobiles. Residents must file Form 762, Return of Tangible Personal Property, Machinery and Tools, and Merchants' Capital, by May 1.
• Contact information for the personal property tax assessment and collection agencies across Virginia is available on the state's Department of Motor Vehicles Web site.

Inheritance and estate taxes

• Virginia does not collect inheritance taxes.
• Virginia's estate tax was decoupled from the federal estate tax laws and the state imposed its own estate tax through June 30, 2007.
• However, on July 1, 2007, House Bill 5018 took effect and repealed the Virginia estate tax for the estates of decedents whose date of death occurs on or after the effective date. The estates of decedents whose date of death occurs before July 1, 2007 remain subject to the estate tax provisions.
• The repeal of the Virginia estate tax does not affect the filing requirements for fiduciary income tax, regardless of when the date of death occurs.

Other Virginia tax facts

• Virginia taxpayers have several electronic filing and payment options via the VATAX Online.
• The Virginia Department of Taxation publishes online the names of businesses with unresolved tax liabilities. Before posting the names, the department gives the business a chance to voluntarily settle its tax debts.
• An annual Litter Tax is imposed on all Virginia businesses that were in operation on Jan. 1 of the tax year. The tax is $10 per year for each location of manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors or retailers of consumer products and an additional $15 per year per location where groceries, soft drinks and beer are sold. The tax revenues are deposited in the interest-earning Litter Control and Recycling Trust Fund.
• The Virginia General Assembly exempted intangible personal property from taxation in 1984 by making the tax rate zero.