                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COLLECTION AND REMITTANCE OF TAX (§ 58.1-2901)

A. The provider of billing services shall collect the tax from the consumer by
adding it as a separate charge to the consumer&#8217;s monthly statement. Until
the consumer pays the tax to such provider of billing services, the tax shall
constitute a debt of the consumer to the Commonwealth, localities, and the State
Corporation Commission. If any consumer receives and pays for electricity but
refuses to pay the tax on the bill that is imposed by &#xA7; 58.1-2900, the
provider of billing services shall notify the State Corporation Commission of
the name and address of such consumer. If any consumer fails to pay a bill
issued by a provider of billing services including the tax that is imposed by
&#xA7; 58.1-2900, the provider of billing services shall follow its normal
collection procedures with respect to the charge for electric service and the
tax, and upon collection of the bill or any part thereof shall (i) apportion the
net amount collected between the charge for electric service and the tax and
(ii) remit the tax portion to the State Corporation Commission and the
appropriate locality. After the consumer pays the tax to the provider of billing
services, the taxes collected shall be deemed to be held in trust by such
provider until remitted to the State Corporation Commission and the appropriate
locality.
			When determining the amount of tax to collect from consumers of an electric
utility that is a cooperative which purchases, for the purpose of resale within
the Commonwealth, electricity from a federal entity that made payments during
such taxable period to the Commonwealth in lieu of taxes in accordance with a
federal law requiring such payments to be calculated on the basis of such
federal entity&#8217;s gross proceeds from the sale of electricity, the provider
of billing services shall deduct from each of the respective tax amounts
calculated in accordance with &#xA7; 58.1-2900 an amount equal to the calculated
tax amounts multiplied by the ratio that the total cost of the power, including
facilities rental, supplied by said federal entity to said cooperative for
resale within the Commonwealth bears to said cooperative&#8217;s total operating
revenue within the Commonwealth for the taxable period. The State Corporation
Commission may audit the records and books of said cooperative to verify that
the tax imposed by this chapter has been correctly determined and properly
remitted.

B. A provider of billing services shall remit monthly to the Commission the
amount of tax paid during the preceding month by the provider of billing
services&#8217; consumers, except for (i) amounts added on the bills to
utilities owned and operated by municipalities which are collected by the entity
providing transmission directly to such utilities (or an association or agency
of which the municipality is a member), which they shall remit directly to the
Commission and (ii) the portion which represents the local consumption tax,
which portion shall be remitted to the locality in which the electricity was
consumed and shall be based on such locality&#8217;s license fee rate which it
imposed. Amounts of the tax that are added on the bills to utilities owned and
operated by municipalities, which are collected by the entity providing
transmission directly to such utilities (or an association or agency of which
the municipality is a member), shall be remitted monthly by such entity to the
Commission, except that the portion which represents the local consumption tax
shall be remitted to the locality in which the electricity was consumed and
shall be based on such locality&#8217;s license fee rate which it imposed.

C. The electric utility consumption tax shall be remitted monthly, on or before
the last day of the succeeding month of collection. Those portions of the
electric utility consumption tax that relate to the state consumption tax and
the special regulatory tax shall be remitted to the Commission; the portion that
relates to the local consumption tax shall be remitted to the localities.
Failure to remit timely will result in a ten percent penalty.

D. Taxes on electricity sales in the year ending December 31, 2000, relating to
the local license tax, shall be paid in accordance with &#xA7; 58.1-3731.
Monthly payments in accordance with subsection C shall commence on February 28,
2001.

E. For purposes of this section, &#8220;service provider&#8221; means the person
who delivers electricity to the consumer and &#8220;provider of billing
services&#8221; means the person who bills a consumer for electric services
rendered. If both the service provider and another person separately and
directly bill a consumer for electricity service, then the service provider
shall be considered the &#8220;provider of billing services.&#8221;

F. The portion of the electric utility consumption tax relating to the local
consumption tax replaces and precludes localities from imposing a license tax in
accordance with &#xA7; 58.1-3731 and the business, professional, occupation and
license tax in accordance with Chapter 37 (&#xA7; 58.1-3700 et seq.) on electric
suppliers subsequent to December 31, 2000, except as provided in subsection D.
If the license fee rate imposed by a locality is less than the equivalent of the
local consumption tax rate component of the consumption tax paid under
subsection A of &#xA7; 58.1-2900, the excess collected by the Commission shall
constitute additional state consumption tax revenue and shall be remitted by the
Commission to the state treasury. However, effective January 1, 2003, any
locality that failed to comply with the requirements of this subsection by
December 31, 2000, regarding the local license tax, shall receive the revenues
generated on or after January 1, 2003, by the local consumption tax component
paid under subsection A by the citizens of such locality. Such locality shall be
entitled to the maximum amount as if the locality had imposed the license tax,
in accordance with the provisions of &#xA7; 58.1-3731 at the maximum rate
allowed, provided that the governing body of such locality adopts an ordinance
electing to receive such amounts.

G. The Department of Taxation may audit the books and records of any electric
utility owned and operated by a municipality (or an association or agency of
which the municipality is a member) to verify that the tax imposed by this
chapter has been correctly determined and properly remitted to the Commission.

H. The State Corporation Commission may audit the books and records of any
service provider or provider of billing services, except as provided in
subsection G, to verify that the tax imposed by this chapter has been correctly
determined and properly remitted to the Commission.

HISTORY: 1999, c. 971; 2000, cc. 427, 614; 2001, cc. 748, 829, 861; 2002, cc.
339, 502.