Virginia Code 58.1-657: Sales presumed subject to tax; exemption certificates; Internet access service providers
A. All sales are subject to the tax until the contrary is established. The burden of proving that a sale of communications services is not taxable is upon the communications services provider unless he takes from the taxpayer a certificate to the effect that the service is exempt under this chapter.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 58.1-657
- Communications services: means the electronic transmission, conveyance, or routing of voice, data, audio, video, or any other information or signals, including cable services, to a point or between or among points, by or through any electronic, radio, satellite, cable, optical, microwave, or other medium or method now in existence or hereafter devised, regardless of the protocol used for the transmission or conveyance. See Virginia Code 58.1-647
- Communications services provider: means every person who provides communications services to customers in the Commonwealth and is or should be registered with the Department as a provider. See Virginia Code 58.1-647
- Internet access service: means a service that enables users to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the Internet, and may also include access to proprietary content, information, and other services as part of a package of services offered to users. See Virginia Code 58.1-647
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Sales price: means the total amount charged in money or other consideration by a communications services provider for the sale of the right or privilege of using communications services in the Commonwealth, including any property or other services that are part of the sale. See Virginia Code 58.1-647
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. The exemption certificate mentioned in this section shall relieve the person who obtains such a certificate from any liability for the payment or collection of the tax, except upon notice from the Tax Commissioner that the certificate is no longer acceptable. The exemption certificate shall be signed, manually or electronically, by and bear the name and address of the taxpayer; shall indicate the number of the certificate of registration, if any, issued to the taxpayer; shall indicate the general character of the communications services sold or to be sold under a blanket exemption certificate; and shall be substantially in the form as the Tax Commissioner may prescribe.
C. In the case of a provider of Internet access service that purchases a telecommunications service to provide Internet access, the Internet access provider shall give the communications service provider a certificate of use containing its name, address and signature, manually or electronically, of an officer of the Internet access service provider. The certificate of use shall state that the purchase of telecommunications service is being made in its capacity as a provider of Internet access in order to provide such access. Upon receipt of the certificate of use, the communications service provider shall be relieved of any liability for the communications sales and use tax related to the sale of telecommunications service to the Internet access service provider named in the certificate. In the event the provider of Internet access uses the telecommunications service for any taxable purpose, that provider shall be liable for and pay the communications sales and use tax directly to the Commonwealth in accordance with § 58.1-658.
D. If a taxpayer who holds a certificate under this section and makes any use of the service other than an exempt use or retention, demonstration, or display while holding the communications service for resale in the regular course of business, such use shall be deemed a taxable sale by the taxpayer as of the time the service is first used by him, and the cost of the property to him shall be deemed the sales price of such retail sale.
2006, c. 780.