Route shrink

Definition

The gap between what the machines sold and the cash, which a tax basis is conditioned on.

Why It Matters

This is a compliance condition before it is a measurement. Virginia taxes a vending operator on wholesale purchases instead of on retail sales, and then says the provision does not apply to any dealer who fails to maintain records satisfactory to the commissioner. The fallback method needs the commissioner's written permission and still requires records showing the location of every machine, the purchases and inventories, and the gross receipts for each one, kept three years. Registration is per county or city, is not assignable, and is valid only for the person named and the place designated, with operating without one a misdemeanor and each day a separate offense. So a seller who cannot produce machine-level sales may be out of compliance and not merely imprecise.