Tax Type
Retail Sales and Use Tax
Description
Nonprofit organizations, Veterans organization
Topic
Taxability of Persons and Transactions
Date Issued
12-07-1995
December 7, 1995
Re: Request for Ruling: Retail Sales and Use Tax
Dear*************:
This will reply to your letter of November 29, 1995 in which you seek a ruling on the tax status of purchases by your organization, the ********** (the "Taxpayer").
FACTS
The Taxpayer is a nonprofit veterans organization exempt from federal income taxation. The organization is planning a reunion to be held in Virginia late in the summer of 1996 and seeks a sales tax exemption for its purchases in connection therewith .
RULING
There is no general exemption from the retail sales and use tax for nonprofit organizations. In order to qualify for exemption, an organization must meet the specific criteria set forth in one of the exemptions in Code of Virginia §§ 58.1-609.1 through 58.1-609.10, copy enclosed.
From the information provided, it does not appear that the Taxpayer meets any exemption criteria. Accordingly, while I am mindful of the worthwhile purpose that the Taxpayer serves, absent a statutory exemption that would allow the Taxpayer to make purchases exempt from the tax, the department has no authority to grant such an exemption. The Taxpayer is required to pay the tax to retailers (or remit use tax to the department if the retailer is not registered for the collection of the tax) on all purchases of tangible personal property for its own use and consumption and on all hotel and motel accommodations. Tangible personal property for resale, however, may be purchased exempt of the tax using a Form ST-10.
For your information, I am enclosing a copy of Tax Bulletin 94-13 which explains the process by which a nonprofit organization may seek statutory exemption from the sales and use tax. Although the statutorily set deadline for submitting a copy of the questionnaire referenced in the Bulletin has passed, in light of the department's delay in responding to your inquiry, I will agree to allow an extension for the Taxpayer to submit a questionnaire to December 20. I apologize for this strict deadline, but the department is also under a strict deadline for forwarding the information to another state agency for processing.
If you have any further questions about this, please contact**********in the Office of Tax Policy at*********.
Sincerely,
Danny M. Payne
Tax Commissioner
OTP/10614H
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner