- Assessor site
- https://www.madisonco.virginia.gov/244/Commissioner-of-Revenue ↗
- Search by
- real estate and personal property via the locality's offices (portals vary)
- 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.
APPEAL DEADLINE — BOE windows are short, locality-set, and carry a presumption of correctness — but §58.1-3984 allows direct circuit-court application within THREE YEARS (charter cities may shorten).
RATIO CAUTION — Cycles span 1 to 6 years by locality: values freeze between general reassessments in multi-year counties while annual cities mark to market.
REVENUE DRIVEN RATES — §58.1-3321: post-reassessment rates roll back to a 101% revenue ceiling unless an advertised effective-rate-increase hearing is held.
FILING REQUIRED RELIEF — Business property and MACHINERY & TOOLS returns to the Commissioner of the Revenue (locality deadlines vary); land-use applications with rollback; the mandatory disabled-veteran exemption still requires an application.
STATE ASSESSED — Public service corporations (railroads, pipelines, utilities) are state-assessed, not local.
Note: The Madison County Commissioner of the Revenue's office is the door for business property, machinery & tools, and personal property; real estate values come from the county's assessor or reassessment program — the link covers the locality's offices. County reassessment cycles run up to six years here; new construction is added between cycles. To contest a value: quick informal review after any notice, the Board of Equalization's short window after a reassessment, or circuit court within three years.
Primary sources: Code of Virginia §§58.1-3250 to -3256, -3270 to -3275, -3321, -3378/-3379, -3984; VT Extension AAEC-327; Greene/Grayson/Colonial Heights/Virginia Beach official pages; CORVA official roster (133 localities); Commonwealth VDACS FIPS table + CDC change log (as of 2026-07-05). Confirm current rules and figures with the assessing authority before any use.