Virginia Law

Article 1. Enforcement by the Commissioner of Revenue.

Any person having taxable personal property, machinery and tools or merchants' capital on January 1 of any year shall file a return thereof with the commissioner of the revenue for his county or city in accordance with § 58.1-3518. Such returns shall be filed by May 1 of each year, except as otherwise provided by ordinance adopted under § 58.1-3916.

1984, c. 675.

A. Every person owning or operating any apartment house or any office building or shopping center or any trailer camp or trailer court or marina or privately owned or operated airport in the Commonwealth shall, on or before February 1 of each year, upon request of the commissioner of the revenue of the county or city in which any such apartment house, office building, shopping center, trailer camp, trailer court, marina, or airport is located, file with such commissioner of the revenue a list giving the name and address of every tenant of such apartment house, office building, shopping center, trailer camp, or trailer court, and the name and address of every person renting space in a marina for waterborne craft and at a privately owned or operated airport for airborne craft as of January 1 preceding. The governing body of any county adjoining a county having a population of more than 1,000 per square mile may require like information from any such person leasing houses for rent, and violation of any such ordinance requiring the same may be punished as hereinafter provided.

B. Every property owners' association established pursuant to the Property Owners' Association Act (§ 55.1-1800 et seq.), condominium unit owners' association established pursuant to the Virginia Condominium Act (§ 55.1-1900 et seq.), and proprietary lessees' association established pursuant to the Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act (§ 55.1-2100 et seq.) shall, upon the written request of the commissioner of the revenue, provide a list of the owners of the properties administered by such association, to the extent that the association maintains such a list, to the commissioner for use in administering local property taxes.

C. Every person owning or operating any self-service storage facility, as defined in § 55.1-2900, that makes the outdoor common area of such facility available for storage of tangible personal property (including without limitation motor vehicles, trailers, and watercraft) on a rental or leased basis in the Commonwealth shall, on or before February 1 of each year, upon the written request of the commissioner of the revenue of the county or city in which such self-service storage facility is located, file with such commissioner of the revenue a list giving the name and address of every person renting or leasing space within the outdoor common area of such self-service storage facility as of January 1 preceding.

D. Any person failing to comply with this section shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

Code 1950, § 58-863; 1950, p. 35; 1952, c. 527; 1968, c. 628; 1984, c. 675; 1990, c. 152; 2009, cc. 501, 672.

Every person or state or local agency operating in the Commonwealth a marina or boat storage place which accommodates more than four boats shall, on or before February 1 of each year, upon the request of the commissioner of the revenue of the county or city in which such marina or boat storage place is located, file with such commissioner of the revenue a list giving the name and address of the owner and operator, if such is available, and the name and number of each boat physically located and normally kept at his marina or boat storage place as of the preceding January 1. The list shall be divided into the following three categories: (i) watercraft which are eighteen feet and over; (ii) watercraft which are under eighteen feet and motorized; and (iii) watercraft which are under eighteen feet and nonmotorized. Violators of this section are guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

Code 1950, § 58-863.1; 1968, c. 258; 1984, c. 675; 1999, c. 358; 2013, c. 804.

If the commissioner of the revenue of any county or city or the tax-assessing officer of any town ascertains that any local tax has not been assessed for any tax year of the three preceding tax years or that the same has been assessed at less than the law required for any one or more of such years, or that the taxes for any cause have not been realized, the commissioner of the revenue or other assessing officer shall list and assess the same with taxes at the rate or rates prescribed for that year, adding thereto penalty and interest at the rate provided under §§ 58.1-3916 and 58.1-3918. Interest may be computed upon the taxes and penalty from the first day following the due date in the year in which such taxes should have been paid and shall accrue thereon from such date until payment; provided, if such assessment was necessitated through no fault of the taxpayer, such penalty and interest shall accrue after thirty days from such date of assessment until payment.

Code 1950, § 58-1164; 1984, c. 675; 1991, c. 8.

Before the expiration of the time prescribed for the assessment of any local tax, if both the commissioner of the revenue or other assessing official and the taxpayer have consented in writing to the tax assessment after such time, the tax may be assessed at any time prior to the expiration of the period agreed upon. The period so agreed upon may be extended by subsequent agreements in writing made before the expiration of the period previously agreed upon.

Whenever such an extension is agreed upon, it shall likewise extend the period relating to the collection of local taxes pursuant to § 58.1-3940 and applications for correction pursuant to § 58.1-3980.

1995, c. 445.

When the commissioner ascertains that there is any land in his county or city which has not before been entered on his land book or, after being entered, has from any cause been omitted for one or more years, he shall make an entry thereof in the name of the owner. Any person owning or claiming any tract or part of land which has not been entered on the land book or which, if so entered, has for any cause been omitted therefrom, may have the part he owns entered on the land book, specifying the part of the land so entered by having the same surveyed and laid off if necessary and a plat and description thereof returned to and recorded by the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city in which the land is situated. The commissioner of the revenue in whose county or city the land is situated shall proceed to the best of his judgment, having reference to the assessed value of contiguous lands similarly situated, to assess the fair market value of such land, and shall place such land on the land book and assess taxes at the rate imposed by law for each year the land was not entered in the land book. However, no assessment of taxes shall be made hereunder for any year except the then current year or any tax year of the three tax years last past.

Code 1950, § 58-1165; 1984, c. 675.

The Department of Taxation shall prescribe and furnish to local officers the necessary forms for the assessment of the omitted taxes mentioned in this chapter which they are authorized to assess. Omitted taxes, except on real estate, shall not be assessed on the current assessment books.

Code 1950, § 58-1166; 1984, c. 675.

A. Any corporate, partnership or limited liability company officer who willfully fails to pay, collect, or truthfully account for and pay over any local admission, transient occupancy, food and beverage, or daily rental property tax administered by the commissioner of revenue or other authorized officer, or willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any such tax or the payment thereof, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be liable for a penalty of the amount of the tax evaded or not paid, collected, or accounted for and paid over, to be assessed and collected in the same manner as such taxes are assessed and collected.

B. The term "corporate, partnership or limited liability company officer" as used in this section means an officer or employee of a corporation, or a member, or employee of a partnership or member, manager or employee of a limited liability company who, as such officer, employee, member or manager, is under a duty to perform on behalf of the corporation, partnership or limited liability company the act in respect of which the violation occurs and who (i) had actual knowledge of the failure or attempt as set forth herein and (ii) had authority to prevent such failure or attempt.

1991, c. 481; 1999, c. 541.

A. Any corporate or partnership officer as defined in § 58.1-3906, or any other person required to collect, account for and pay over any local admission, transient occupancy, food and beverage, daily rental property or cigarette taxes administered by the commissioner of the revenue or other authorized officer, who willfully fails to collect or truthfully account for and pay over such tax, and any such officer or person who willfully evades or attempts to evade any such tax or the payment thereof, shall, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

B. Any person who willfully utilizes a device or software to falsify the electronic records of cash registers or other point-of-sale systems or otherwise manipulates transaction records that affect any local tax liability shall, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

C. In addition to the criminal penalty provided in subsection B and any other civil or criminal penalty provided in this title, any person violating subsection B shall pay a civil penalty of $20,000, to be assessed by the commissioner of the revenue and collected by the treasurer as other local taxes are collected and deposited into the treasury of the political subdivision of the Commonwealth served by the treasurer.

D. Any criminal case brought pursuant to this section may be prosecuted by either the attorney for the Commonwealth or other attorney charged with the responsibility for prosecution of a violation of local ordinances.

1995, c. 557; 1996, c. 528; 2014, cc. 723, 785.

Reserved.