Virginia Property Tax — Assessment Rules

Assessment basis

100% of fair market value (§58.1-3201; Art. X uniformity — one base rate for all real estate, except an optional transportation add-on on commercial/industrial property in Northern Virginia (up to $0.125/$100) and Hampton Roads (up to $0.10/$100) localities, §58.1-3221.3 — check the locality).

Reassessment cycle

133 localities: 95 counties + 38 INDEPENDENT CITIES (co-equal, outside any county — a city parcel has no county). Two doors per locality: the COMMISSIONER OF THE REVENUE (constitutional, since 1786) for business, machinery & tools, merchants' capital, and personal property; professional assessors/boards for real estate (big cities: standing Real Estate Assessor departments; Henrico/Alexandria/Prince William: Finance; Fairfax County: Dept of Tax Administration). 100% of fair market value; a single base rate for all real estate (apart from the NoVa/Hampton Roads commercial-industrial transportation add-on, §58.1-3221.3).

Reassessment trigger

The locality's own cycle: cities mostly ANNUAL; counties annual/biennial by ordinance, default 4-year, statutory max SIX — Fairfax marks to market yearly while rural counties freeze values for the cycle (new construction added in between). §58.1-3321 rolls post-reassessment rates back to a 101% revenue ceiling unless an advertised effective-rate-increase hearing is held.

Personal & intangible property

Heavily taxed through the Commissioner of the Revenue: business tangible returns (deadlines vary by locality), the separate MACHINERY & TOOLS class (locality-set, typically favorable — the manufacturer's defining item), merchants' capital in some counties, vehicles with PPTRA relief. Public-service-corporation property is STATE-assessed.

CRE forecasting note

Routing first: city parcels answer to CITY offices only, and four names are BOTH an unrelated county and a city — Richmond, Fairfax, Franklin, Roanoke (Richmond County is nowhere near the capital). Split workstreams inside each locality (real estate vs CoR). Appeals: informal review fast; the circuit-court-appointed BOARD OF EQUALIZATION in its short window (presumption of correctness; preponderance on value or uniformity); or DIRECT CIRCUIT COURT within THREE YEARS under §58.1-3984 (charter cities may shorten) — an unusually long direct-court window, enabling retrospective challenges. M&T classification is Virginia's signature dispute. Land-use rollback on conversion.

Residential note

Elderly/disabled relief is a LOCAL ordinance — income and asset limits vary widely, so ask your locality's Commissioner of the Revenue; the disabled-veteran/surviving-spouse exemption (100% service-connected) is constitutional and mandatory statewide — apply once with the Commissioner. Vehicle-tax relief (PPTRA) applies automatically to qualifying personal-use vehicles. To contest a value: informal review quickly after the notice, the Board of Equalization in its short window after a general reassessment, or circuit court within three years.

Virginia — all 133 jurisdictions