Skip to main content
Version: 2.0.0

Overview

Virginia employers who withhold state income tax must file with the Virginia Department of Taxation. Employers assigned a quarterly filing schedule file Form VA-5Q; employers assigned a monthly schedule file Form VA-5M instead. Virginia employers subject to unemployment insurance must file quarterly tax reports with the Virginia Employment Commission.

The TaxBandits API supports Form VA-5Q, Form VA-5M, Virginia's withholding returns and Virginia UI Form FC20-21 for unemployment insurance reporting.

FormTypeFiling frequencyDue date
Form VA-5QWHQuarterlyApril 30, July 31, October 31, January 31
Form VA-5MWHMonthly25th day of the following month
Form FC 20-21UIQuarterlyLast day of the month following the quarter end

Key Compliance Notes​

  • Filing schedule assigned by the state. Virginia assigns each employer a monthly, quarterly, or semi-weekly withholding schedule based on average monthly liability; VA-5Q and VA-5M cover the quarterly and monthly variants respectively.
  • Requires an EIN. For Form VA-5Q, IsEIN must always be set to TRUE; EIN is the only accepted TIN type at the state level.
  • Zero filing required. Form VA-5Q must be filed every quarter, even if there is no tax liability for that quarter.
  • Annual reconciliation separate. Form VA-6, the annual summary of Virginia income tax withheld, is filed directly with the state and is not part of this API.
  • UI wage reporting. Employers liable for Virginia unemployment insurance must file the quarterly UI report and report wage information for covered employees.
  • Employee wage details. The UI report includes employee-level wage information used to determine unemployment insurance liability.
  • Electronic filing. TaxBandits enables employers to prepare and electronically transmit Virginia UI reports through the Public API.

API Endpoints​

Form VA-5Q​

  • Create – Generates a new Form VA-5Q quarterly withholding return for the specified tax year and quarter.
  • Update – Modifies the details of a previously created Form VA-5Q return before it's transmitted.
  • Get – Retrieves the details of a previously created Form VA-5Q return.

Form VA-5M​

  • Create – Generates a new Form VA-5M monthly withholding return for the specified tax year and month.
  • Update – Modifies the details of a previously created Form VA-5M return before it's transmitted.
  • Get – Retrieves the details of a previously created Form VA-5M return.

Form FC 20-21 (Virginia UI)​

  • Create — Create a new Virginia quarterly unemployment insurance report.
  • Update — Update a FC 20-21 report that was created but not yet transmitted.
  • Get — Retrieve the details of a created FC 20-21 report.

Common Endpoints

  • List – Retrieves a list of created or transmitted state filings.
  • Delete – Deletes an in-progress filing before transmission.
  • Transmit – Transmits the filing to the state agency.
  • RequestPdfUrls – Retrieves PDF URLs for the filing.
  • Status – Retrieves the filing status.

Common endpoints: For the remaining methods — List, Status, Transmit, RequestPdfUrls, and Delete — refer to the common endpoints shared across State Withholding

All endpoints require an OAuth 2.0 access token. Call the Auth method and pass the token as a Bearer token in the request header.

Testing & notifications​

Before filing, you can simulate the entire verification flow in our Sandbox environment without submitting real data to state agencies.

As an alternative to polling the Status endpoint, you can configure a webhook for the Status Payroll Filings Status Change event type to receive automated status updates.