Tax Type
Retail Sales and Use Tax
Description
Nonprofit pregnancy counseling service
Topic
Taxability of Persons and Transactions
Date Issued
10-26-1988
October 26, 1988
Re: Request for Ruling/Sales and Use Tax
Dear****************
This is in reply to your letter dated October 5, 1988 in which you request that *****be allowed to purchase items under an exemption certificate.
FACTS
************** is a nonprofit pregnancy counseling service exempt from paying income taxes. ********** provides medical and psychological counseling as well as educational services to women with troubled pregnancies. In order to minimize the expenditures of the organization, you seek an exemption certificate to allow ******* to purchase items exempt from the Virginia retail sales and use tax.
RULING
There is no general exemption from the Virginia retail sales and use tax for nonprofit organizations (see enclosed copy of Virginia Regulation 630-10-74). The only exemptions from the tax are set out in §58.1-608 of the Code of Virginia. While I am mindful of the worthwhile purpose that your organization serves, absent a statutory exemption that would allow an organization to make purchases exempt from the tax, the department has no authority to grant such an exemption.
Therefore, the organization is required to pay the tax at the time of the purchase to the retailer if he is registered to collect the tax. If the supplier is not registered to collect the sales and use tax, the organization must report and pay the tax on a Consumer Use Tax Return, Form ST-7.
Sincerely
W. H. Forst
Tax Commissioner
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner