The journal is devoted to matters related to federal taxation.

VTR received its initial funding from Mortimer Caplin,[2] an alumnus of the University of Virginia, who was Commissioner of Internal Revenue during the Kennedy administration and founder of the firm of Caplin and Drysdale.

As of 2022, the Virginia Tax Review ranked among the top specialty journals, and routinely published authors from top-fourteen law schools.

At that time, it was among the top-ranked tax law journals based on a combined score of impact, case cites, journal cites, cites/cost and currency factors.

[3] It complements the University of Virginia's highly ranked curriculum in tax law.