Virginia residents, what do you know about the use tax?

Question

Okay I've been a Virginia resident my whole life and I have recently heard of a use tax on international purchases. I got my information from allexperts.com and the expert I was talking to was a Pennsylvania resident and didn't know Virginia law. I want to know if come tax time I will have to pay a use tax for a few of my international purchases I made recently (online). I did go to virginia.gov and I didn't understand there legal mumbo jumbo so in lamen's terms, will I get some paperwork with other tax paperwork next month or so saying I have to pay a tax out of pocket?

Answer 1

The use tax is a self-assessed tax. What that means is that you are responsible for determining what items are subject to the use tax, you are responsible for calculating the tax liability, and you are responsible for remitting the required forms and tax payment.

Generally speaking, if you purchase something in another taxing jurisdiction (another state, or another country) and the sales tax you pay in that jurisdiction is less than the sales tax that you would have paid if you had purchased the item in your home state, you are liable for use tax.

I'd wager that 99.99% of the people in states that have sales tax have at some time made a purchase that was subject to the use tax in their home state. I'd also wager that very, very, very few of them filed a use tax return and paid the use tax, simply because it is so difficult (and time-consuming and costly) for the states to track the purchases.

So, the short answer is that you will likely be subject to the use tax in Virginia on your international purchases, but the Commonwealth of Virginia will probably not send you any forms or have any real knowledge of your purchase. They just have to rely on your conscience.