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Virginia Excise Tax System (VAETS) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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  • Virginia Excise Tax System (VAETS)
    • Virginia Excise Tax System (VAETS) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The recommended browsers are Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. With Internet Explorer, you will need to make it a trusted site. Below are the steps to follow:

  1. Select the Tools icon in Internet Explorer.
  2. Choose “Internet Options”.
  3. Select the “Security” tab.
  4. Click on “Trusted Sites”.
  5. Click the “Sites” button.
  6. In the “Add this website to the zone”, enter the URL for VAETS and click Add.
  7. Click Close and then Ok to exit.

The Primary Contact is authorized to make official decisions and establish an account to conduct Motor Fuels Tax or Motor Vehicle Fuels Sales Tax transactions. The Primary Contact has the ability to add/remove users to their account and to perform business on the company’s behalf.

If you have notified DMV that you are the Primary Contact, then you have nothing further to do at this time.

NOTE: If you have not contacted DMV to update the Primary Contact for your business, please email DMV at VAETS_Support@dmv.virginia.gov and provide the following information:

  1. Company name
  2. License number
  3. License type
  4. Primary contact name: This person has the authority to make official business decisions in reference to your account when conducting Motor Fuels Tax transactions in the state of Virginia.
  5. Email address of the primary contact
  6. Primary contact telephone number
  7. Physical location address
  8. Mailing address

Your information, if different from the Primary Contact:

  1. Name
  2. Title
  3. Telephone

In order to create your VAETS account, you will be required to enter the following information:

  • Current username
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN) or FEIN
  • Email address
  • Confirmed email address

Yes. A Primary Contact may be the Primary on multiple accounts and a User may be assigned to multiple Primary Accounts.

Check your email account’s Spam or Junk email folder to see if the email has been delivered there instead of your email inbox. If you do not receive the security code email after the one-hour timeframe when the code expires, please contact the VAETS Support email address for assistance.

Yes, you will be able to use the old ASCII spreadsheet in order to generate the return files. The VAETS system has the ability to process files generated by the old ASCII spreadsheet.

The VAETS version of the ASCII spreadsheet is designed for use with the new system. The column headers clearly designate whether a field is ‘Required’ or ‘Optional’ depending on the tax type. Fields that are not necessary for filers to submit their returns have been removed from the revised VAETS ASCII spreadsheet.

It is recommended that all filers begin using the revised VAETS ASCII spreadsheet as it contains all the fields necessary to submit your return.

When you upload and submit your EDI file it will be queued for process immediately. Once the file is in the status of “Queued”, you can perform other transactions in the system or exit out and come back to check it later. The status will change to “Processing” when the file is being validated for errors. If the file has no errors, you will see the number of returns being calculated with the status of “creating return”. The time it takes for the file to complete processing varies depending on the size of the file

  • If your file has under 50,000 transactions, expect processing time to be 30 minutes to an hour.
  • If your file is over 50,000 transactions, the processing time could take several hours.

The system will generate an email to notify you when the file has been received and is queued for processing. You will receive a second email once the file has been either processed or errors have been detected.

If errors exist with your EDI file, the system will display the number of errors. To view the error details, you will click on the Export Errors button which will generate the error report in XML format.

After correcting the errors, the original file must be discarded by clicking on the Discard button and the corrected file re-uploaded to VAETS.

Yes. VAETS recognizes original and amendments and treats as separate filings.

The Archive option only displays for an EDI upload that has successfully processed with no errors.

This function allows the Filer to store the EDI upload for historical purposes and manage their list view by removing past successful uploads. The Archive function removes one transaction record at a time. The VAETS system creates an audit log of all transactions, therefore archiving is not required but is available to the Filer for list view management.

Note: The actual EDI upload resides on the Filer’s system.

Out-of-period transactions within the EDI file will create amended returns for that period.

The Tax Information & Amount (TIA) includes values such as: beginning inventory (excludes Supplier and Terminal Operator), gain or losses, tax adjustments, etc.

Like in the previous system, TIA values are not included in the EDI files. In VAETS, these values will be manually entered into TIA schedules and not entered into a field on the return as previously done. Whether filing via EDI or web data entry, the process to complete a return with TIA values requires manually creating and entering the corresponding TIA schedule(s) prior to completing the submission of a return.

Yes. The presentation will be posted to the Transition to VAETS webpage and included in an email blast communication to Filers.

Help information is located on the top navigation bar in VAETS. Click on the Help link to access.

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