Tax Type
Retail Sales and Use Tax
Description
Interstate commerce; Common and contract carrier
Topic
Exemptions
Taxability of Persons and Transactions
Date Issued
03-08-1989
March 8, 1989
Re: Request For Ruling: Sales and Use Tax
Dear***************
This will reply to your letter dated January 30, l 989, in which you requested a ruling on the application of the sales and use tax to your business, **************("The Taxpayer"). Specifically you ask whether the tax applies to customers who purchase the Taxpayer's products in Virginia and have these products picked up by a trucking or delivery service for shipment outside Virginia.
§630-10-51(A) of the Retail Sales and Use Tax Regulations states that "[t]he tax does not apply to sales of tangible personal property in interstate or foreign commerce. A sale in interstate or foreign commerce occurs only when title or possession to the property being sold passes to the purchaser outside Virginia and no use of the property is made within Virginia."
All deliveries by common carrier, regardless of who contracts with the carrier, are sales in interstate commerce exempt from the tax. Similarly, deliveries to the purchaser outside the state by an independent trucker or contract carrier hired by the seller are exempt from the tax; however, tangible personal property delivered out-of-state by contract carriers hired by the purchaser are not considered sales in interstate commerce. See enclosed copy of Virginia Retail Sales and Use Tax Regulations §630-10-51.
If you have any further questions, please contact us.
Sincerely,
W. H. Forst
Tax Commissioner
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner