Tax Type
Retail Sales and Use Tax
Description
Veterinary prescription sales; Flea products
Topic
Taxability of Persons and Transactions
Date Issued
02-25-1987
February 25, 1987
Re: Request for Ruling/Sales and Use Tax
Dear******************
This will reply to your letter of September 26, 1986, in which you request a ruling on the application of the sales and use tax to certain transactions.
First, you question whether the collection of the sales tax will be required when a customer refills a veterinary prescription and you do not examine the animal. As noted in Virginia Tax Bulletin 86-3, you will be required to register to collect the sales tax if you maintain an inventory of flea collars, flea spray, pet food, or similar products for the purpose of making retail sales. Collection of the tax will be required when you make over the counter sales of such items, as well as when prescription medicines and drugs are sold without an examination of an animal.
It is understood that the dispensing of medicines and drugs by veterinarians is strictly regulated. However, the veterinarian who sells medicines or drugs separate from the treatment or examination of an animal is in effect a retailer of such items, much as a pharmacist is a retailer of medicines and drugs for humans. The key distinction between veterinary prescriptions and prescriptions issued by physicians, however, is that physicians' prescriptions are specifically exempted from the sales tax, while veterinary prescriptions are not.
I would like to note that legislation is now before the General Assembly to exempt veterinary prescriptions from the sales tax. If this legislation, House Bill 1594, is enacted, veterinarians would not be required to collect the sales tax from their customers on prescriptions that they sell effective July 1, 1987.
Secondly, you wish to determine if you are correctly administering the tax with respect to flea products. At present, you pay the sales tax to your suppliers or remit the use tax directly to the department on all purchases of flea products. In addition, you collect the sales tax from customers when they purchase flea products over the counter.
The payment of tax on your purchase of the flea products is proper. However, in the event that you later sell some of the products at retail, you are entitled to a refund of the tax that you paid at the time of your purchase of the products. In order to seek a refund of the tax you paid on products that were later sold at retail, you should contact the department's Taxpayer Assistance Section at P. O. Box 6-L, Richmond, Virginia 23282 or our *************** District Office at P. O. Box *********** Virginia.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the department.
Sincerely,
W. H. Forst
Tax Commissioner
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner