Gloucester VA Links and News: Gloucester, VA - County Officials Throw Nasty Surprise At Daffodil Fest Vendors

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Gloucester, VA - County Officials Throw Nasty Surprise At Daffodil Fest Vendors

Seal of Gloucester County, Virginia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gloucester County officials have a good deal of vendors that participated in the Daffodil festival very upset and seriously reconsidering whether to come back next year. Why? A nasty little surprise sent to food vendors after the event. That little surprise cuts into what profits may have been made by food vendors. Now it's fair to say that every vendor would know to collect the 5% state sales tax on prepared food. The nasty surprise is the county now asking for an additional 4% local tax on prepared food.

The question isn't whether or not it's legal. The issue is that not all localities in the state of Virginia have additional local taxes on prepared foods. Those that do have varying taxes. It's not at all uniform across the state at any level. For Gloucester, VA that extra tax is 4%. At no time did the county notify any of the food vendors of this extra tax and or the need to collect it. We have both a letter from Kevin Wilson, Commissioner of Revenue below asking to collect that extra amount along with all the rules and regulations provided to the vendors on this site to show that at no time did the county ever notify the vendors of this required tax collection.

So now vendors have no choice but to pay the extra 4% sales tax to the county that was not collected by them. That comes out of any profits that may have been made at the festival by any of the food vendors. The vendor that supplied us with this letter is steaming mad and doubts ever coming back. All this on top of the county at the last minute suspending rules for collecting an additional $500.00 per vendor to even show up and work in the county that county officials have always failed to follow through with anyway.

This vendor told us, had the county tried to collect that additional $500.00, there would be no way to even consider setting up at the festival. Vendors would have to pay extra money out of their own pockets and operate at a loss to do so. County officials gone insane? That's the common question asked by vendors when they learned about the $500.00 extra last minute fees the county did suspend at the last minute.

Future vendors coming into Gloucester County should take warning here. You may just be in for a financial surprise you didn't count on and not in your favor either.

KEVIN A. WILSON
Commissioner of the Revenue
COUNTY OF GLOUCESTER, VIRGINIA 6489 Main Street
Suite 137
Gloucester, Virginia 23061
(804) 693-3451 Office
(804) 693-3581 Fax
April 15, 2013

Re: 2013 Daffodil Festival

Dear Business Owner:

I refer to the recent 2013 Daffodil Festival held in Gloucester County where you
attended as a vendor. This office administers business licensing, prepared food and beverage and the audit of sales tax. To that end I have enclosed a form to gather information to ascertain your liability to none of the above taxes or some depending on your answers to the questionnaire.

Vendors selling food are required to collect the Virginia 5% sales tax, unless
classified by the IRS as a nonprofit 501C3 entity, and collect the County 4% prepared food and beverage tax on prepared food only. All retail merchants are required to register with the Virginia Department of Taxation and collect sales tax in accordance with their policies and state law. All vendors, other than non-profits, are required to hold a business license with a locality in the Commonwealth of Virginia to prosecute a business.

In order to collect this information in a timely manner I would like to thank you in
advance for your cooperation in returning the questionnaire/form on or before May 1, 2013.
If you have additional questions please feel free to contact our office at (804) 693-1319 or (804) 693-3451.

Kevin A. Wilson
Commissioner of the Revenue
KAW

Vendor Information: http://www.gloucesterva.info/ParksandRecreation/DaffodilFestival/VendorInformation/tabid/353/Default.aspx Web site link.

Daffodil Festival Vendor Information

Festival is held Rain or Shine

DAFFODIL FESTIVAL VENDORS EMAIL REMINDERS LIST
Please join our list to receive monthly reminders on deadlines, forms and the festival.   Please add me to the email reminder system.
Since we have several email reminders list please include "Vendors Reminder List" in your email.

VENDOR QUESTIONS???Original Handcrafts & Fine Arts - Juried Show. All items must be made by the applicant. Fee: $150.00 for a 10x10 space.    Deadline to apply is January 11, $20 fee for late applications.  Please add me to the email reminder system.  PRINTABLE FORM
FOOD COURT - Application fees - $30/frontage foot for commercial vendors and $15/frontage foot for non-profit vendors. Forms will be posted October 1. Deadline to apply is January 4.   Please add me to the email reminder system.

MERCHANDISERS - This area is for sales/display of manufactured goods or handmade items that were made by someone other than the vendor. Fee: $150.00 for a 10x10 space. Deadline to apply is January 11, $20 fee for late applications. Please add me to the email reminder system. PRINTABLE FORM
NON-PROFITS - This area is for local Non-Profit groups to set up displays about their efforts, demonstrations, membership drives or sales. Fee: $75 for a 10 x 10 space. Deadline to apply is January 11, $20 fee for late applications. Please add me to the email reminder system. PRINTABLE FORM

PRINTABLE W-9 FORM (54KB) ALL APPLICATIONS MUST INCLUDE A COMPLETED W-9 FORM, WE ARE CO-SPONSORED BY GLOUCESTER COUNTY AND IT IS A REQUIREMENT OF THEIR ACCOUNTING SYSTEM.

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR ALL VENDORS:

vendor must provide tables, chairs, booths, tents, etc.
vendor must provide full and accurate descriptions of their wares
vendor must be set up by 9 am on Saturday and 11:30 am on Sunday
vendor may not begin packing up until 5:00 pm on Saturday or 5:00 pm on Sunday
vendor must park in designated areas only - parking in public spaces takes a parking space away from YOUR CUSTOMERS
vendor must provide full address, self addressed stamped envelope, payment and FIN or SS number
vendor must NOT offer ANY shirt or sweatshirt of any kind with daffodils in the design
vendor must NOT use the trademarked "Daffodil Festival" in any way on their wares
vendor must clean up their assigned space - trash bags will be supplied and dumpsters will be on site
vendor must realize there are no refunds due to weather
vendor must realize that if conditions become unsafe during the festival, due to acts of mother nature, violence or other catastrophic event that is out of the hands of the Daffodil Festival Committee, the festival will be canceled with no refunds
On a good weather day, we expect to have 10 to 15 thousand visitors.
On a bad weather day, we expect to have 5 to 7 thousand visitors.
Lodging in Gloucester County

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