Amazon.com will now charge a sales tax in Virginia

Gov. McDonnell’s administration announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement with Amazon.com that would require the leading online retailer to charge Virginians a sales tax on all orders. Amazon has previously avoided charging Virginia residents state sales tax on orders–that’s going to change.

February 23, 2012; 10:14 AM • by RVANews staff

The days of perusing Amazon.com’s large inventory and adding discounted items into your digital shopping cart with no concern of paying a sales tax are coming to an end. Beginning September 1st, 2013, the largest online retailer will start collecting sales taxes from their Virginia customers.

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement with the online seller to charge the state’s sales tax. Gov. McDonnell said that the new agreement will “ensure that online retailers with a physical presence in Virginia are treated the same as traditional brick and mortar retailers who are already required to collect and remit existing sales taxes on goods sold in the Commonwealth.”

Earlier this month, the state Senate voted to require online businesses with physical operations in Virginia to collect and pay the sales tax, closing the so-called “Amazon loophole.” Back in December, Amazon announced that it would build two distribution centers within the Richmond region to open later this year, adding to an existing center in Northern Virginia.

In a released statement, Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global policy, thanked the governor “for his focus on Virginia jobs and for his efforts to work with other governors toward national resolution of the sales tax issue this year.”

Amazon has taken criticism for dodging the sales tax requirement from business groups, as well as state and federal officials. The details of the recent Virginia agreement are yet unknown.