                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COUNTY FOOD AND BEVERAGE TAX (§ 58.1-3833)

A. 1. Any county is hereby authorized to levy a tax on food and beverages sold,
for human consumption, by a restaurant, as such term is defined in § 35.1-1,
not to exceed six percent of the amount charged for such food and beverages.
Such tax shall not be levied on food and beverages sold through vending machines
or by (i) boardinghouses that do not accommodate transients; (ii) cafeterias
operated by industrial plants for employees only; (iii) restaurants to their
employees as part of their compensation when no charge is made to the employee;
(iv) volunteer fire departments and volunteer emergency medical services
agencies; nonprofit churches or other religious bodies; or educational,
charitable, fraternal, or benevolent organizations the first three times per
calendar year and, beginning with the fourth time, on the first $100,000 of
gross receipts per calendar year from sales of food and beverages (excluding
gross receipts from the first three times), as a fundraising activity, the gross
proceeds of which are to be used by such church, religious body or organization
exclusively for nonprofit educational, charitable, benevolent, or religious
purposes; (v) churches that serve meals for their members as a regular part of
their religious observances; (vi) public or private elementary or secondary
schools or institutions of higher education to their students or employees;
(vii) hospitals, medical clinics, convalescent homes, nursing homes, or other
extended care facilities to patients or residents thereof; (viii) day care
centers; (ix) homes for aged or infirm individuals, individuals with
disabilities, battered women, narcotic addicts, or alcoholics; (x)
age-restricted apartment complexes or residences with restaurants, not open to
the public, where meals are served and fees are charged for such food and
beverages and are included in rental fees; or (xi) sellers at local farmers
markets and roadside stands, when such sellers&#8217; annual income from such
sales does not exceed $2,500. For the exemption described in clause (xi), the
sellers&#8217; annual income shall include income from sales at all local
farmers markets and roadside stands, not just those sales occurring in the
locality imposing the tax. Also, the tax shall not be levied on food and
beverages: (a) when used or consumed and paid for by the Commonwealth, any
political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or the United States; (b) provided by
a public or private nonprofit charitable organization or establishment to
elderly, infirm, or needy individuals or individuals with blindness or other
disabilities in their homes, or at central locations; or (c) provided by private
establishments that contract with the appropriate agency of the Commonwealth to
offer food, food products, or beverages for immediate consumption at concession
prices to elderly, infirm, or needy individuals or individuals with blindness or
other disabilities in their homes or at central locations.

   2. Grocery stores and convenience stores selling prepared foods ready for
   human consumption at a delicatessen counter shall be subject to the tax, for
   that portion of the grocery store or convenience store selling such items.
   				The term &#8220;beverage&#8221; as set forth herein means alcoholic
   beverages as defined in &#xA7; 4.1-100 and nonalcoholic beverages served as
   part of a meal. The tax shall be in addition to the sales tax currently
   imposed by the county pursuant to the authority of Chapter 6 (&#xA7; 58.1-600
   et seq.). Collection of such tax shall be in a manner prescribed by the
   governing body.

B. Nothing herein contained shall affect any authority heretofore granted to any
county, city, or town to levy a meals tax. The county tax limitations imposed
pursuant to &#xA7; 58.1-3711 shall apply to any tax levied under this section,
mutatis mutandis. All food and beverage tax collections and all meals tax
collections shall be deemed to be held in trust for the county, city, or town
imposing the applicable tax. The wrongful and fraudulent use of such collections
other than remittance of the same as provided by law shall constitute
embezzlement pursuant to &#xA7; 18.2-111.

C. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no locality shall levy
any tax under this section upon (i) that portion of the amount paid by the
purchaser as a discretionary gratuity in addition to the sales price; (ii) that
portion of the amount paid by the purchaser as a mandatory gratuity or service
charge added by the restaurant in addition to the sales price, but only to the
extent that such mandatory gratuity or service charge does not exceed 20 percent
of the sales price; or (iii) alcoholic beverages sold in factory sealed
containers and purchased for off-premises consumption or food purchased for
human consumption as &#8220;food&#8221; is defined in the Food Stamp Act of
1977, 7 U.S.C. &#xA7; 2012, as amended, and federal regulations adopted pursuant
to that act, except for the following items: sandwiches, salad bar items sold
from a salad bar, prepackaged single-serving salads consisting primarily of an
assortment of vegetables, and nonfactory sealed beverages.

HISTORY: 1988, c. 847; 1989, c. 391; 1990, cc. 846, 862; 1992, c. 263; 1993, c.
866; 1999, c. 366; 2000, c. 626; 2001, c. 619; 2003, c. 792; 2004, c. 610; 2004,
Sp. Sess. I, c. 3; 2005, c. 915; 2006, cc. 568, 602; 2009, c. 415; 2014, c. 673;
2015, cc. 502, 503; 2017, c. 833; 2018, cc. 450, 730; 2020, cc. 241, 1214, 1263;
2023, cc. 148, 149.