Virginia Resale Certificate: How to Get One and Use It for Wholesale Lots

Checked against Virginia Department of Taxation (Virginia Tax) pages: September 2026

Virginia dealers use Form ST-10, the Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption, to buy tangible personal property tax-free for resale (it also covers purchases for lease/rental and packaging materials).^[1] A Virginia resale certificate must give the purchaser's registration/account number: the Virginia Department of Taxation's certificate-of-registration number, or, for an out-of-state purchaser not registered in Virginia, the registration or account number issued by that purchaser's own state tax agency.^[2]

How to get a resale certificate in Virginia

1. Once you register as a dealer, Virginia Tax issues a 15-digit sales tax account number along with a Sales Tax Certificate of Registration, Form ST-4.^[5] Register as a dealer online through Virginia Tax's business registration system. If you're unable to register online (for example, you don't have a FEIN or SSN), mail in Form R-1 instead.^[3]
2. Use Form ST-10, Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption.^[1]
3. Form ST-10 states that it stays in effect until it is revoked in writing by the Department of Taxation — there's no fixed expiration date to track.^[1]

Giving the certificate to a wholesale supplier

Fill out Form ST-10 and hand it to your supplier. The supplier only needs to keep one properly completed Certificate of Exemption on file from you to cover your resale purchases going forward.^[1]

Form ST-10 works as a blanket certificate: it covers all tangible personal property purchased from that supplier going forward (unless you specify otherwise on a particular order), and the supplier only needs one copy on file.^[1]

Virginia's general rule for business tax records, which covers exemption/resale certificates: keep them for at least three years from the due date of the return or the date it was filed, whichever is later.^[6]

Suppliers and buyers across state lines

An out-of-state buyer does not need to register with Virginia in order to give a supplier a valid resale certificate. You can reference your home-state registration number on Form ST-10, or give the supplier a resale certificate issued by your own state's tax agency, as long as it contains the same information Form ST-10 requires.^[2]

Virginia will accept a blanket multijurisdictional resale certificate (the MTC-style Uniform Sales & Use Tax Exemption Certificate) instead of Form ST-10, but only if it carries all the information ST-10 requires and is limited to the exemptions ST-10 lists; a later ruling also required the purchaser to be registered with one of the states listed on the certificate for it to be accepted.^[4]

The Virginia Tax pages and rulings we checked do not say whether Virginia accepts the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Certificate of Exemption.

What else the Department of Taxation tells resellers

• Virginia only treats a resale certificate as accepted 'in good faith' if it was given as part of the original transaction, filled out completely, checked for obvious errors by both sides, and used to buy exactly what the certificate's wording covers. A certificate obtained later, or with errors, gets extra scrutiny and can be disallowed.^[7]
• Form ST-10 explicitly cannot be used to buy cigarettes tax-free for resale after January 1, 2018 — cigarette resale runs through a separate exemption certificate process.^[1]
• Virginia will accept another state's resale certificate as documentation for a resale purchase, but it will not accept a general tax-exemption certificate issued by another state or the District of Columbia — there is no blanket recognition of another jurisdiction's tax-exempt status.^[8]
• Form ST-10 isn't available to a 'using or consuming' construction contractor as defined in Virginia's regulations — that use falls under a different exemption category.^[1]

Filing your certificate on Closo Wholesale

Closo Wholesale keeps one resale certificate per state on your buyer account. Open Settings → Resale certificates, choose Virginia as the issuing state, type the certificate number as printed and add a photo or PDF of the certificate. Each certificate shows its review status on that screen, and a newer Virginia certificate replaces the old one when you renew.

Common questions

Does a Virginia resale certificate expire?

Form ST-10 states that it stays in effect until it is revoked in writing by the Department of Taxation — there's no fixed expiration date to track.

Does Virginia accept the multistate (MTC) resale certificate?

Virginia will accept a blanket multijurisdictional resale certificate (the MTC-style Uniform Sales & Use Tax Exemption Certificate) instead of Form ST-10, but only if it carries all the information ST-10 requires and is limited to the exemptions ST-10 lists; a later ruling also required the purchaser to be registered with one of the states listed on the certificate for it to be accepted.

This is general information, not tax advice. Forms and rules change; confirm with the Department of Taxation before you rely on this page.

Comparing states? The resale certificate by state table puts the form, registration and multistate rules for all 50 side by side.

Sources

Every rule above comes from an official Virginia government page. We record the page and the date we read it:

1. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/st-10-any.pdf · checked 2026-09-26
2. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/97-95 · checked 2026-09-26
3. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/register-business-virginia · checked 2026-09-26
4. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/95-316 · checked 2026-09-26
5. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/retail-sales-and-use-tax · checked 2026-09-26
6. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/recordkeeping-requirements-businesses · checked 2026-09-26
7. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/25-81 · checked 2026-09-26
8. www.tax.virginia.gov/…/97-329 · checked 2026-09-26