Frequently Asked Questions

• Airplanes
• Automobiles
• Boats
• Business furniture
• Equipment, machinery, and tools used in a manufacturing process
• Fixtures
• Mobile homes
• Motorcycles
• Recreational vehicles
• Trailers
• Trucks

The Commissioner of the Revenue is required by law to assess vehicles by means of a recognized pricing guide. The pricing guides utilized by the City of Charlottesville are the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) official used car guide and the official older used car guide. Clean trade-in is the value taken from these books. If a vehicle is not listed in the guide, the assessment will be based on a depreciated prior-year NADA Clean Trade-in Value and if none listed then a percentage of purchase cost or a percentage of MSRP. 

Motorcycles

The pricing guide utilized for motorcycles is the National Automobile Dealers Association Motorcycle appraisal guide. The value taken is clean trade-in. 

Trailers

For trailers, the assessed value is based on a percentage of the original cost.

The personal property tax rate is established by the Charlottesville City Council. The tax is figured by multiplying the property’s assessed value by the tax rate. The current personal property rate is $4.40 per $100 of assessed value. The current rate for machinery and tools is $4.40. Mobile homes are assessed at the real estate tax rate which is currently $0.98.

The Virginia General Assembly passed the Personal Property Tax Relief Act (PPTRA) in 1998. Code of Virginia Section 58.1-3523 et. seq. provides relief of personal property taxes.

Three requirements must be met to qualify for tax relief. The vehicle must be: 

• a passenger car, pickup or panel truck, or a motorcycle 
• owned by a natural person or leased by a natural person under a contract requiring such person to pay the personal property tax
• used for nonbusiness purposes 

Definitions of Motor Vehicles Qualifying for Tax Relief:

• PASSENGER CAR - Every motor vehicle other than a motorcycle designed and used primarily for the transportation of no more than ten persons, including the driver.
• PICKUP OR PANEL TRUCK (effective July 1, 2016) - Every motor vehicle registered for personal use, designed to transport property on its own structure independent of any other vehicle, and having a registered gross weight in excess of 7,500 pounds but not in excess  of 10,000 pounds.  
• MOTORCYCLE - every motor vehicle designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, except any vehicle included with the term "farm tractor" or "moped" as defined in Code of Virginia Section 46.2-100.

A vehicle is considered used for business purposes if:

• More than 50% of the mileage for the year is used as a business expense for federal income tax purposes OR reimbursed by an employer
• More than 50% of the depreciation associated with the vehicle is deducted as a business expense for federal income tax purposes
• The cost of the vehicle is expensed pursuant to § 179 of the Internal Revenue Code

OR

• The vehicle is leased by an individual and the leasing company pays the tax without reimbursement from the individual

Since 2006, the Commonwealth has and continues to appropriate $950 million each tax year to reimburse localities statewide. City of Charlottesville City Council sets the tax relief percentage each year. Tax bills are reduced by Charlottesville’s expected reimbursement under the Personal Property Tax Relief Act from the Commonwealth, for qualified vehicles based on the first $20,000 of value. Most recent tax relief rates are as follows:

• 2017 - 47% 
• 2018 - 44% 
• 2019 - 43% 
• 2020 - 42%
• 2021 - 40%
• 2022 - 32%
• 2023 - 33%
• 2024 - 30%
• 2025 – 31% 

If a qualifying vehicle’s assessed value is $1,500 or less, the tax is eliminated, and the Commonwealth’s share is 100%. The City of Charlottesville is required annually to certify and verify a vehicle as qualified to receive car tax relief. Citizens are obligated to thoroughly review information detailed on their tax bills to ensure their vehicles are properly qualified. If a vehicle is improperly qualified or there is uncertainty whether a vehicle is eligible for car tax relief because of its part- time use for business purposes, contact the City of Charlottesville Commissioner of the Revenue. A personal property tax payment submitted to the City of Charlottesville is considered an acknowledgement that the vehicle has been qualified correctly.

NOTE: Personal Property Tax Relief compliance guidelines require that we audit Virginia Schedule C, Schedule FED/CG attachments of your Income Tax return. If a review of these schedules show that you declared vehicle mileage over 50% business use, the vehicle would not qualify for the Personal Property Tax Relief that it was previously given and the PPTR will be disqualified. The disqualification results in a supplemental assessment of the tax, late payment penalty and interest based on what would have been the original due date of the respective tax year. Statute of limitations provide that the disqualification of the PPTR and supplemental assessments are to cover the current and up to three prior tax years, if the vehicle was owned and declared as business use to the Internal Revenue Service.

The City of Charlottesville is one of several localities in Virginia with the authority to collect personal property taxes on a pro-rated basis. In general terms, a vehicle’s tax will be prorated on a monthly basis based on the number of months it has a situs in the City of Charlottesville or is owned by the taxpayer. Boats and business equipment are not prorated.

If you move out of state or into another prorating locality in Virginia or sell your vehicle, you are eligible to have your personal property tax bill prorated. You may receive either a credit or a refund of taxes paid for the portion of the year your property was not located in Charlottesville. 

• If you move after January 1 of the tax year to a non-prorating locality, you must pay the City of Charlottesville for the entire year. 
• If you move to a prorating locality in Virginia you must provide a paid personal property receipt from that locality in order to receive a credit or refund from the City of Charlottesville. 
• If you move to another state, you must submit a copy of the other state’s registration for your vehicle. If you have disposed of your vehicle, you must provide a copy of a bill of sale or a repossession notice.
• If you have moved out of the jurisdiction of the City of Charlottesville and registered your personal property with another jurisdiction, you can notify our office by completing our COR Address Change on-line form.
• If you have sold or disposed of a vehicle please report that to us as soon as possible using our Personal Property Disposal on-line form.

Personal property taxes are billed in two installments. The first installment, which includes your city vehicle license fee, is due June 5. The second installment is due December 5.

The City of Charlottesville does not require automobiles to display a decal. All vehicles with active license plates will be charged a city license fee. This fee will be included in the first installment of personal property taxes.

If you have changed your vehicle information at DMV to reflect a garage jurisdiction of Charlottesville, this information should be forwarded to the Commissioner by DMV. If you have not changed this information at DMV, contact the Commissioner’s Office immediately. You should also register with the Commissioner’s Office for personal property tax within 30 days of moving here.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and the Commissioner of the Revenue must be notified within 30 days. This is the legal responsibility of the citizen, not that of the motor vehicle dealer or new owner. You may notify the Commissioner of Revenue’s office by completing our Personal Property Disposal Form.

Virginia law requires you to register with the locality of your jurisdiction within 30 days of purchasing (or otherwise becoming the owner) of a vehicle.

Under the Service Members Civil Relief Act, active-duty military personnel are subject to state and local taxation only in their home of record. If you maintain the City of Charlottesville as your legal residence and your vehicle is registered in Virginia you would be liable for personal property tax regardless of where you may be stationed or where your vehicle may be garaged or located during the tax year. If you and your spouse are in Charlottesville by virtue of military orders, you would not be liable for personal property tax. Any service member requesting an exemption from personal property tax will be required to submit a copy of their most recent leave and earnings statement.

If you are a full-time student attending an institution of higher learning in Charlottesville, you would not be liable here if you are paying a personal property tax on the vehicle in your domicile. If you are a resident of Charlottesville attending college elsewhere, you are liable for personal property tax here.