Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at 300 and 400 K were used to calculate dielectric constants and dielectric loss for crystalline and amorphous poly(vinylidene fluoride). These calculations used the MSXX force field derived from first principles and tested previously for crystalline PVDF. In agreement with experiment the calculations lead to a dielectric constant of epsilon(0) = 8-13 for amorphous PVDF but epsilon(0) = 2-3 for crystalline PVDF. We show that the high epsilon(0) for amorphous PVDF arises from rapid changes in the torsion angles (and hence rapid modulation of the dipole moment perpendicular to the chain axis) during MD. These changes are enhanced by soliton-like defects in the chain that diffuse during the MD. The dielectric losses lead initially to a stretched exponential decay function, Phi(t) = exp-[-(t/tau)(beta)], with tau = 60 ps and beta = 0.62 at 300 K.