A Virginia Internet Service Provider Properly Denied Sales Tax Exemption

After failing to establish that it was entitled to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) sales tax exemption, a telecommunications equipment and software services provider was denied a Virginia sales tax refund. Internet Service Provider exemptions apply to purchases of equipment if it is being used to provide services to the end-user, not to entities that will be sold or resold. This taxpayer failed to prove that they sold services to the end-users, and they were properly denied the sales tax refund. Additionally, the taxpayer was not an employee of a retail ISP but of wireless business operations. (Ruling of Commissioner, P.D. 20-204, Virginia Department of Taxation, January 2021)

Posted on January 29, 2021