Loudoun County levies a tax each calendar year on all motor vehicles, trailers, campers, mobile homes, boats, and airplanes with "situs" in the county. A vehicle has situs for taxation in Loudoun County if it is garaged, parked or stored in the county, or if it is registered to a county address with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

You are required to file a personal property return with the Commissioner of the Revenue within 60 days of acquiring or bringing such property into Loudoun County or one of Loudoun's seven incorporated towns. This applies to all vehicles owned by individuals or businesses, whether titled in Virginia or out of state.

Personal property taxes are billed semiannually and are due to be paid to the Loudoun County Treasurer by May 5 and October 5 of each year, or December 5 if the vehicle becomes taxable in Loudoun County in the latter part of the year.

Assessment

The Commissioner of the Revenue is responsible for the assessment of all personal property with taxable status in Loudoun County. Virginia state law requires Commissioners of the Revenue to use a recognized pricing guide to assess vehicles for personal property tax. Loudoun County, as well as most Virginia localities, uses the January 1, Eastern Edition N.A.D.A. (National Automobile Dealers Association) Official Used Car Guide and the January 1, National Edition N.A.D.A. Official Older Car Guide for routine valuation purposes. These guides contain three values. Loudoun uses the "Average Loan" value, the lowest of these values, taking into consideration four-wheel drive, special engine, and/or tandem/single axle configurations.

If the model and year of a vehicle is not listed in the recognized pricing guide, the law permits the vehicle to be valued on the basis of percentage of original cost, to reflect fair market value. To ensure uniformity in valuation for vehicles of the same make and model, the Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue uses the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) as original cost. Prior model year vehicles not listed in the guide are assessed at 75% of the MSRP. Current model year vehicles not listed in the guide are assessed at 90% of the MSRP as listed in the New Car Cost Guide. Subsequent model year vehicles not listed in the guide are assessed at 100% of cost as reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Loudoun uses the Wingate Appraisal Service Virginia Manufactured Housing Appraisal Guide for assessing mobile homes and the Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest for assessing aircraft. All trucks with a gross weight over two (2) tons, motorcycles, campers, trailers, boats and motor homes are assessed based on percentage of cost. Due to the difficult nature of determining the condition of vehicles 25 years or older, such vehicles are assessed at $100.

In addition to requiring valuation based on a pricing guide or cost, the Code of Virginia requires that the value of tangible personal property be fixed as of “tax day”, which is January 1, regardless of when the property is purchased or located in Loudoun County.

The Commissioner of the Revenue's duty is to ensure fair, equitable and uniform assessments. If you believe that an assessment is incorrect, please complete an assessment appeal form and submit it along with supporting documentation to my office. While every effort is made to establish correct assessments, taxpayers who believe they have been incorrectly assessed are entitled to file a petition for correction in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

Appealing the Assessment

Loudoun County assesses personal property on the assumption that it is in fair condition for its age. The vehicle owner can request a review of the assessment if a vehicle is not in average condition as of January 1 of the tax year being appealed, because of unusually high mileage, extensive unrepaired body damage or serious mechanical defects. This does not include normal wear and tear on tires, seals, battery, gaskets, pumps, hoses, belts, brake system, cooling system, electrical and ignition system, fuel system, exhaust system and front-end parts.

Appealing your assessment does not guarantee that it will be reduced nor does the filing of an appeal relieve the payment of the tax bill by the respective due date. If the assessment is later reduced as a result of an appeal and the original bill was paid, the county may issue a tax refund if all other taxes are current.

If your appeal is for unusually high mileage not previously reported on the annual tax declaration, please submit an appeal form and attach a copy of a state vehicle safety inspection slip, vehicle repair document or other similar documentation which clearly identifies the vehicle and mileage on or prior to January 1 of the tax year being appealed.

For extensive unrepaired body damage or serious mechanical defect, please submit an appeal form and a detailed damage and repair estimate written by an insurance adjustor or auto appraiser on business letterhead which clearly identifies the vehicle and includes the name, address, phone number and signature of the adjustor or appraiser. It must be clear from the documents provided that the condition existed on January 1 of the tax year being appealed.

All other perceived assessment errors resulting from incorrect or incomplete vehicle information (e.g., wrong make, model, year, location, ownership) are handled through the regular administrative correction process, not the official appeal. Thus, if the vehicle description, owner, period of tax, mailing address or location of the vehicle is incorrect, or the vehicle has been sold or moved from Loudoun County, please call the Commissioner's office at 703-777-0260 and provide the pertinent information so the assessment may be corrected.

All appeals must be made within 3 years from the last day of the tax year for which assessment is made, or within 1 year from the date of the assessment, whichever is later. It is our intent to respond to vehicle assessment appeals within 60 days. However, additional time may be necessary due to unpredictability in the number and complexity of appeals submitted to the office at any given time.

Computation of Tax

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors establishes vehicle personal property tax rates each year during the regular budget process. The current tax rate for most all vehicles is $4.20 per $100 of assessed value.  If a vehicle has situs for taxation in Loudoun, the county computes the tax by dividing the assessment by 100 and multiplying the result by the appropriate tax rate.  The tax is then prorated, if necessary, based on the number of months that the vehicle is in the County.  For qualified personal use vehicles, the tax bill is reduced by the Commonwealth’s Personal Property Tax Relief (PPTR) percentage, which is also set by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors annually.  The current percentage of personal property tax relief is 66% and is provided only on the first $20,000 of a vehicle’s value. 

For an estimate of the tax on your vehicle, contact the office of the Commissioner of the Revenue.

For more information about vehicle personal property tax rates, please refer to the Personal Property Tax and Decals Frequently Asked Questions.