The Department of Taxation has released final guidelines for the administration of the disposable plastic bag tax. Legislation enacted in the 2020 General Assembly session authorized localities to adopt this tax by ordinance, beginning January 1, 2021. Pursuant to the 2020 legislation, the tax is to be administered by the Tax Commissioner, who was required to develop and make available guidelines for implementation of the tax.
Draft guidelines were released earlier this summer. The final guidelines will be subject to a 30-day public comment period through the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall, which will open September 27 and close October 27. The Department of Taxation has indicated that it does not expect to make changes to the guidelines, and they are planned to take effect October 28, 2021.
The final guidelines are available at this link.
VACo Contacts: Katie Boyle, Joe Lerch, AICP, and Chris McDonald, Esq.