RICHMOND, Va. -- Born in Philadelphia but raised in Richmond, Samuel Veney is the co-owner of Philly Vegan, a restaurant on Richmond's Southside.
Since opening in 2021, Veney said the support received from the community has been great, but said he can't say the same about the support received from Richmond City's finance department.
"We did exactly what you’re supposed to do, you have 30 days to get your business license after you open so in the first week that we opened we went to go get our business license," Veney said.
While at the office, Veney said he was told by the Richmond employee who was handling his paperwork that their business should not be collecting a meals tax because they are not a dine-in restaurant.
"She was like you don't have any seating we said no, she said well since you’re takeout only you cannot collect a meals tax," Veney told us. "Then she filled out our paperwork, and wrote take out only and did not check the ALM box."
As instructed by the city, Veney said they did not collect a meal tax and thought everything was fine until nearly nine months later.
After Philly Vegan participated in Black Restaurant Week, an auditor questioned why they weren't paying a meals tax.
"We stated we were told by the representative of finance that should not be collecting a meals tax," Veney said he told the auditor. "Then he was like well I never heard of that before let me go check on that."
Weeks later he said the city reached back out saying they made an error and that the business should've been paying a meals tax.
He said they were then told the business needed to pay the city the total amount of meals taxes that they should've collected.
That total amounted to just under $27,000.
Confused and frustrated, Veney said they were in disbelief they were being asked to pay for a mistake the city made.
"Our immediate thought was what, that doesn't make any sense...it was very stressful, we had to let employees go because we had to figure out how we can hire a lawyer," said Veney.
Over the next two years, he said they tried to resolve the issue first by offering to pay 10% of the total amount but that was denied and then by formally appealing the request which was also denied.
"Going into the meeting one of our owners was in tears as she’s asking them why are you doing this to us and all they kept doing was apologizing but putting it on us," said Veney.
With interest and late fees building up while trying to come to a resolution, the bill now sits at almost $40,000.
"We did exactly what you’re supposed to do," Veney said. "I don't want to leave the city; we want this to be our home base but it puts a bad taste in your mouth when the city doesn't have your back and all you’re trying to do is the right thing," Veney said.
We reached out to the city for a response and were sent this statement:
"It is important to note that legally the city cannot speak to a specific individual's tax information.....The city of Richmond has legal obligations to uphold regarding tax collection, meals tax is no exception. Meals tax is a self-reported tax, as such the taxpayer remits the payment accordingly."
The statement also said the finance department does not offer business or tax advice. This is a policy that was changed by the city after the finance department advised Philly Vegan they did not need to pay a meals tax in 2021.
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