Sen. Ryan McDougle

Income tax; military benefits subtraction;emergency. Establishes an income tax subtraction for up to $20,000of military benefits in taxable year 2021, up to $30,000 in taxable year 2022, and up to $40,000 in taxable year 2023 and each year thereafter.The bill defines military benefits to include military retirementincome and benefits paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran. Thebill contains an emergency clause.

Sales tax; exemption for food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Provides a state sales and use tax exemption beginning January 1, 2023, for food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. The bill also provides, beginning February 1, 2023, an allocation of state revenues to fund the distribution to localities for educational funding that would have been distributed to them absent the exemption created by the bill. Under current law, such products are taxed at a reduced state sales and use tax rate of 1.5 percent and the standard local rate of one percent. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.

Tobacco products tax; remote retail sales. Clarifies the provisions of the tobacco products tax on cigars and pipe tobacco sold by remote retail sellers, defined in the bill, to consumers in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that such remote retail sellers must be licensed to avoid penalties for such sales and requires such remote retail sellers to maintain records and file a monthly report to the Department of Taxation. The bill also provides that the tax may be imposed at the time of retail sale by a retail dealer or distributor and requires the remote retail seller in addition to the distributor to preserve a legible copy of each invoice of tobacco products for three years after the date of purchase and require only a remote retail seller, not a distributor, that cannot produce the required invoice information, when the excise tax is being remitted using the actual cost list method to calculate the excise tax, to provide the remote retail seller's certified actual cost list to the Department for each stock keeping unit to be offered for remote retail sale in the subsequent calendar year. This bill is identical to HB 1199.

Local license taxes; limitation of authority. Prohibits a locality from imposing a license tax on a director of a bank or trust company that is subject to the bank franchise tax. This bill is identical to HB 1084.

Corporate income tax returns of affiliated corporations. Provides that, for taxable years 2023 and 2024, certain affiliated corporations may elect to switch to or from consolidated corporate income tax return filing status under certain conditions, including the requirement that the affiliated group filed on the same basis for the preceding 20 years. The option would be available only to a group with at least one affiliate that is a bank exempt from filing a Virginia corporate income tax return. Current law requires a group of corporations to apply to the Tax Commissioner for permission to change the basis of the type of return filed and to meet certain specified requirements in order for permission to be granted. This bill is identical to HB 224.

Credit life insurance and credit accident andsickness insurance; adjustment of rates; requirement for hearing. Removes the requirement that the State Corporation Commission conducta hearing prior to determining the actual loss ratio for each formof insurance and adjusting the prima facie rates. Under the bill,after the Commission has determined the actual loss ratio and primafacie rates, it will provide notice of such ratio and rates and providean opportunity for a hearing.

Illegal gaming devices; Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act; civil penalty. Adds the manufacturing for sale, selling, or distributing of an illegal gaming device while knowing that it is or is intended to be operated in the Commonwealth in violation of the law to the list of violations for which a civil penalty may be assessed against a person who is found to have committed such violation. The bill also adds a knowledge requirement to the existing violation of possessing or controlling an illegal gambling device. The bill also provides for a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per gambling device for any person who sells a gambling device that is located in an unregulated location. The bill provides that it shall be sufficient ground for an action for pretrial levy or seizure or an attachment that a principal defendant has conducted, financed, managed, supervised, directed, sold, or owned a gambling device that is located in an unregulated location. This bill incorporates SB 566.

Charter; Town of Port Royal; town council; membership.Reduces the Town of Port Royal's council membership from seven members to five members, reduces the number of council members needed tocall a special meeting from four members to three members, and reducesthe number of council members needed for a quorum from four membersto three members.

Department of Health; triennial audit requirementfor hospices and home care organizations. Directs the Departmentof Health to remove the triennial audit requirement for hospicesand home care organizations.