Botetourt County Personal Property Tax: Rates, Relief, and Payment

Botetourt County personal property tax runs $2.71 per $100 of assessed value on vehicles, motorcycles, trailers, and mobile homes, with bills due November 1 each year.¹ Business personal property is taxed at $2.94 per $100, and manufacturing machinery and tools at $2.00 per $100.² The Commissioner of the Revenue sets the assessed value; the Treasurer handles billing and collection.

Rates by Property Type

The tax reaches any tangible, movable property with its location in the county as of January 1. For most households that means a car or truck, but boats, campers, motorcycles, trailers, and mobile homes fall under the same personal-property rate of $2.71 per $100.

Vehicles, motorcycles, trailers, and mobile homes: $2.71 per $100 of assessed value.
Business personal property, including office furniture, computers, and tools used in commercial operations: $2.94 per $100.
Manufacturing machinery and tools: $2.00 per $100, assessed at 50% of original capitalized cost for the first five years and 42% after.²

The Board of Supervisors sets these rates annually, so they can shift from year to year. Check the county’s published rate schedule each spring if you’re estimating a bill in advance.

How Your Vehicle Is Valued

The Commissioner uses the NADA loan value as of January 1 of the tax year. If no NADA value exists for your vehicle, the office applies a cost-depreciation method instead.³ Loan value tends to be lower than retail or clean trade-in, so the figure that lands on your bill is usually below what you’d see on a dealer lot.

Business equipment doesn’t go through a used-equipment guide. The county depreciates the original capitalized cost on a published schedule.

Tax Relief on Qualifying Vehicles

Virginia’s Personal Property Tax Relief Act (PPTRA) reduces the tax on the first $20,000 of assessed value for qualifying vehicles used predominantly for nonbusiness purposes.⁴ Any value above $20,000 is taxed at the full rate.

Qualifying vehicles include passenger cars, motorcycles, autocycles, and pickup or panel trucks that are privately owned or leased under a contract requiring the lessee to pay the tax.⁵ All-terrain vehicles, off-road motorcycles, and mopeds do not qualify. You lose eligibility if more than 50% of the vehicle’s depreciation is claimed as a business deduction, more than 50% of its mileage is deducted as a business expense, or the vehicle is expensed under IRC Section 179.

One quirk worth planning for: the relief percentage isn’t fixed. Virginia pays the county a lump sum each year, and as the pool of qualifying vehicles grows, each one’s share of that subsidy shrinks. The effective relief percentage is recalculated annually and tends to drift down over time.³

Registering a Vehicle and Reporting Changes

When you buy a vehicle or move into Botetourt County, you need to register the property with the Commissioner of the Revenue. Virginia DMV requires address updates within 60 days of moving, and that update is often what alerts the county to a new taxable vehicle. The same reporting applies when you sell a vehicle or move out.

You’ll need the seventeen-digit VIN, the date you bought the vehicle or arrived in the county, and a current odometer reading. The Commissioner’s office is at 57 S. Center Dr., Daleville, VA 24083, 540-928-2050, personalprop@botetourtva.gov.⁶

Botetourt prorates personal property tax by the number of months a vehicle has situs in the county.³ Move in during July, pay for roughly half the year. Sell a car in April, your liability stops accruing. The proration only works correctly if you report the change promptly.

How to Pay

Bills go out in the fall and are due November 1.¹ Virginia law requires the Treasurer to mail the bill at least 14 days before the due date to your last known address.⁷ A bill that never arrives doesn’t excuse the tax: under Virginia law, the owner is responsible for finding out what’s owed and paying on time.

Payment options:

Online through the county’s Citizen Self Service portal. Credit and debit cards carry a transaction fee.
In person at the Treasurer’s Office, 57 S. Center Dr., Daleville, VA 24083, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cash, check, money order, Visa, Discover, and MasterCard accepted.
By mail to Botetourt County Treasurer, P.O. Box 587, Daleville, VA 24083.
At First Bank and Bank of Botetourt branches within the county, as long as you present your bill.

Late Penalties and Interest

Missing November 1 triggers penalties in two stages. A 2% penalty is added at midnight five days after the due date. An additional 8% is added to any remaining unpaid balance 30 days after that, for a total penalty of 10% of the tax owed.¹

Interest also accrues. Virginia law allows localities to charge up to 10% per year on delinquent taxes starting the day after the due date, with a higher allowable rate if the balance remains unpaid into a second year.⁸ If the county refers the account to an attorney or collection agency, fees of up to 20% of the delinquent balance can be added. A modest bill left alone for a few months grows quickly.

Military and Disabled Veteran Exemptions

Active-duty service members stationed in Virginia but legally domiciled elsewhere are exempt from the county’s personal property tax under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Spouses may also qualify under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act and the Veterans Benefits and Transitions Act of 2018, provided the spouse and service member share the same domicile. The Commissioner’s office generally requires a recent Leave and Earnings Statement each year to keep the exemption active.

Leased vehicles don’t fit the SCRA exemption because the leasing company is the registered owner. For qualifying active-duty members or spouses, Virginia law requires 100% PPTRA relief on the first $20,000 of value on each leased vehicle, as long as the vehicle wouldn’t be taxable in Virginia if the service member owned it outright.⁴

Veterans with a 100% service-connected, permanent and total disability rating from the VA are exempt from personal property tax on one vehicle used primarily by or for the veteran. The vehicle must be owned, not leased, by the veteran or their spouse. The exemption took effect January 1, 2021, under an amendment to the Virginia Constitution.

Challenging an Assessment

If the assessed value on your vehicle or business equipment looks too high, start with the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office and request an informal review. Bring documentation: a recent appraisal, comparable sales, or evidence of mechanical problems that cut the vehicle’s value. Most disputes end here.

If the informal review doesn’t resolve it, Virginia law lets you appeal the final determination to the Virginia Tax Commissioner within 90 days, with a copy to the local assessing officer. The standard is specific: you need evidence that the assessed value exceeds fair market value, not a general objection to the amount of tax.

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Botetourt County, VA. Personal Property Taxes
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Botetourt County, VA. Local Tax Rates
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Botetourt County, VA. Personal Property
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Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-3524 – Tangible Personal Property Tax Relief
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Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-3523 – Definitions
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Botetourt County, VA. Commissioner of the Revenue
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Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-3912 – Local Tax Officials to Mail Certain Tax Documents to Taxpayers
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Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-3916 – Governing Body May Establish Due Dates and Penalties