West Virginia Provides Information on Sales Tax for Sales of Small Firearms and Ammunition

Beginning July 1, 2021, West Virginia’s small firearms sales tax exemption will not require an exemption certificate for the sale of qualifying small firearms and ammunition. Additionally, West Virginia has clarified what falls under the definition of small firearms and ammunition:

• As provided in the exemption, small arms includes:

Any portable firearm, designed to be carried and operated by a single person, including, but not limited to, rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers, with no barrel greater than an internal diameter of .50 caliber or a shotgun of 10 gauge or smaller.

• Firearms for the purpose of this definition means and includes:

Any new, used, or antique weapon that includes an assembly of a barrel and action from which a projectile is discharged by means of a rapidly burning propellant.

• Firearms does not include:

1. Airsoft or BB Guns
2. Paintball Guns 
3. Starter Pistols 
4. Firearm parts or assembly kits that do not include a barrel. For example, the frame or receiver – that part of a firearm which provides the housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel. 
5. Cap guns or toy guns 
6. Non-firing replicas 
7. After market accessories, including, but not limited to, mounts, grips, lights, scopes, buttstocks, etc.
8. Holsters and cases

(West Virginia State Tax Department, WV—TSD-444, effective July 1, 2021)