Communications Taxes
Under legislation enacted
by the 2006 General Assembly, House Bill 568, the new Virginia communications
sales and use tax, also referred to as the communications sales tax, will
replace most of the current state and local taxes and fees on communications
services, effective January 1, 2007. The new communications sales tax,
which is imposed on the charge for or sale of communications services at the
rate of 5%, will generally be collected from consumers by their service
providers and remitted to the Department of Taxation each month, beginning with
the month of January 2007. In cases where a consumer purchases taxable
communications services and no tax is collected from the consumer on the
purchase by the service provider, the consumer will be responsible for paying a
communications use tax.
Also, a uniform statewide
E-911 tax of $0.75 per line will replace the local E-911 taxes currently
imposed for landline telephone service.
Impact on current
taxes and fees:
The communications sales tax will replace the following state and local taxes
and fees on communications services:
- Local consumer utility tax on landline and wireless
telephone service
- Local E-911 tax on landline telephone service
- Virginia Relay Center assessment on landline telephone
service
- A portion of the local Business, Professional and
Occupational License tax assessed on public service companies by certain
localities that impose the tax at a rate higher than 0.5%
- Local video programming excise tax on cable television
services
- Local consumer utility tax on cable television services
Along with the new communications sales tax, the landline
E-911 tax and the cable television public rights-of-way use fee, the following
taxes will continue to be imposed:
- State E-911 fee on wireless telephone service
- Public Rights-of-Way Use fee on landline telephone
service
- Local Business, Professional and Occupational License
tax of 0.5% on public service companies
For additional information, visit
Virginia Communications Taxes Information Center
9-1-1 Wireline Tax Rates By
Jurisdiction
Effective Through
December 31, 2006
(Maintained for Reference)
Table 14.1
911 Emergency Telephone System Tax
Source: Cooper
Center (UVA) and Local Government Web Sites
Section 58.1-3813
of the Code of Virginia allows any city, county, or town that has established
or will establish an enhanced 911 emergency telephone system to impose a
special local tax on the consumer of telephone services. The tax cannot be
imposed on federal, state, or local government agencies. Any tax imposed under
this section shall be used solely to pay for reasonable, direct recurring and
nonrecurring capital costs, and operating expenses incurred by a public safety
answering point in designing, upgrading, leasing, purchasing, programming,
installing, testing, administering, delivering, or maintaining all necessary
data, hardware and software required to receive and process emergency telephone
calls through an E-911 system, including salaries and fringe benefits of
dispatchers and direct call-takers of an E-911 system and costs incurred in
training dispatchers and direct call-takers in receiving and dispatching
emergency telephone calls, and the salary and fringe benefits of the public
safety answering point director or coordinator so long as such person has no
other duties other than the responsibility for the public safety answering
point.
Table 14.1
provides the year 2003 special tax rates for enhanced 911 emergency telephone
services for the 39 cities, 90 counties, and 22 towns that report imposing this
tax. The tax ranges from $0.26 per month to $3.00 per month.
Where noted, the rates have been updated to reflect changes made by
localities for 2004 and 2005.
|
|
Monthly Tax Rate ($) |
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|
CITIES |
|
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|
Alexandria
0.50 |
0.50 |
||
|
Bedford
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Bristol
0.65 |
0.65 |
||
|
Buena
Vista 1.77 |
1.77 |
||
|
Charlottesville
1.04 |
1.04 |
||
|
Chesapeake
2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Colonial
Heights 2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Covington
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Danville
2.65 |
2.65 |
||
|
Emporia
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Fairfax
0.88 |
0.88 |
||
|
Falls
Church 1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Franklin 3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Fredericksburg
0.90 |
0.90 |
||
|
Galax
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Hampton
2.60 |
2.60 |
||
|
Harrisonburg
1.44 |
1.44 |
||
|
Hopewell
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Lexington
1.25 |
1.25 |
||
|
Lynchburg
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Manassas
1.10 |
1.10 |
||
|
Manassas
Park 1.25 |
1.25 |
||
|
Martinsville
1.67 |
1.67 |
||
|
Newport
News 2.39 |
2.39 |
||
|
Norfolk
2.85 |
2.85 |
||
|
Norton 0.26 |
0.26 |
||
|
Petersburg
1.18 |
1.18 |
||
|
Poquoson
2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Portsmouth
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Radford
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Richmond
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Roanoke
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Salem
1.40 |
1.40 |
||
|
Staunton
2.90 |
2.90 |
||
|
Suffolk
2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Virginia
Beach 1.95 (7/04
$2.40; 7/05 $2.60) |
2.60 |
||
|
Waynesboro
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Williamsburg
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Winchester
2.45 |
2.45 |
||
|
[CITIES] - AVERAGE |
$
1.80 |
||
|
MINIMUM |
$
0.26 |
||
|
MAXIMUM |
$
3.00 |
||
|
MEDIAN |
$
2.00 |
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
COUNTIES |
|
||
|
Accomack
1.35 (7/05 $2.00) |
2.00 |
||
|
Albemarle
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Alleghany
0.30 |
0.30 |
||
|
Amelia
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Amherst
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Appomattox
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Arlington
1.75 |
1.75 |
||
|
Augusta
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Bedford
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Bland
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Botetourt
1.25 |
1.25 |
||
|
Brunswick
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Buchanan
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Buckingham
0.55 |
0.55 |
||
|
Campbell
1.60 |
1.60 |
||
|
Caroline
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Carroll
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Charles
City 1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Charlotte
2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Chesterfield
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Clarke
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Culpeper
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Cumberland
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Dickenson
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Dinwiddie
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Essex
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Fairfax
2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Fauquier
2.00 (6/05
= $3.00) |
2.00 |
||
|
Floyd
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Fluvanna
2.25 |
2.25 |
||
|
Franklin
1.80 |
1.80 |
||
|
Frederick
1.60 |
1.60 |
||
|
Giles
2.25 |
2.25 |
||
|
Gloucester
1.35 |
1.35 |
||
|
Goochland
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Grayson
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Greene
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Greensville
1.10 |
1.10 |
||
|
Halifax
2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Hanover
1.00 (7/04 =
$3.00) |
3.00 |
||
|
Henrico
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Henry
0.72 |
0.72 |
||
|
Isle of
Wight 3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
James
City 0.75 |
0.75 |
||
|
King
& Queen 2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
King
George 2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
King
William 3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Lancaster
0.80 |
0.80 |
||
|
Loudoun
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Louisa
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Lunenburg
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Madison
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Mathews 2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Mecklenburg
2.75 |
2.75 |
||
|
Middlesex
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Montgomery
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Nelson
2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
New Kent
2.42 |
2.42 |
||
|
Northampton
1.35 (7/05 $2.00) |
2.00 |
||
|
Northumberland
1.05 |
1.05 |
||
|
Nottoway
1.12 |
1.12 |
||
|
Orange
1.25 |
1.25 |
||
|
Page 2.50 |
2.50 |
||
|
Patrick
1.96 |
1.96 |
||
|
Pittsylvania
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Powhatan
3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Prince
Edward 2.00 |
2.00 |
||
|
Prince
George 3.00 |
3.00 |
||
|
Prince
William 1.75 |
1.75 |
||
|
Pulaski
1.00 |
1.00 |
||
|
Rappahannock
1.50 |
1.50 |
||
|
Richmond 1.95 |
1.95 |
||
|
Roanoke
1.46 |
1.46 |
||
|
Rockbridge
3.00 |
|||