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

The Chesterfield County personal property tax is charged at $3.25 per $100 of assessed value on qualifying vehicles, with payment due each year on June 5.¹² The tax applies to cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, trailers, aircraft, mobile homes, motor homes, and heavy equipment owned as of January 1, and the amount you owe is based on each item’s fair market value on that date.

What Property Is Taxed and Who Owes It

Chesterfield taxes a broad set of tangible personal property: automobiles and trucks, motorcycles, boats, trailers, aircraft, heavy equipment, low-speed vehicles, mobile homes, and motor homes or RVs.³

Where you live is not what determines whether Chesterfield gets to tax your vehicle. Virginia law assigns personal property tax based on where the vehicle is “normally garaged, docked or parked.”⁴ If your car sleeps in a Chesterfield driveway most nights, Chesterfield taxes it, regardless of where you work or where it is registered.

Mobile and manufactured homes are a common point of confusion. Virginia treats them as personal property for tax purposes unless they are permanently affixed to land on a foundation. A home sitting on a rented lot or without a permanent foundation will show up on a personal property bill, not a real estate bill.

How the Bill Is Calculated

For vehicles, Chesterfield uses the clean loan value from the J.D. Power Used Car Guide (Eastern Region) as of January 1.³ Boats are valued through the ABOS Marine Blue Book, and aircraft through the Aircraft Bluebook Digest. Virginia law requires each category of personal property to be valued through a recognized pricing guide or a percentage of original cost.⁵

The math is straightforward. Take the assessed value, divide by 100, and multiply by $3.25. A vehicle with a $20,000 clean loan value would owe $650 before any state relief is applied. Relief under the Personal Property Tax Relief Act usually reduces that figure further, and the credited amount appears directly on your bill.

High-Mileage Adjustment

If your odometer reading is above average for the vehicle’s year, you may qualify for a reduced assessment. Chesterfield applies J.D. Power’s mileage tables to cars, trucks, and motorcycles, but not to motor homes, large trucks, or trailers.³ You have to apply every year until the vehicle hits 245,001 miles, and you must provide dated proof of the mileage from around January 1, such as a state inspection receipt, oil change receipt, or repair bill.

Vehicle License Fee

A $20 annual vehicle license fee per vehicle appears on the same bill as your personal property tax.³ This is a county charge and is separate from anything you pay the DMV for state registration.

Relief That Lowers the Bill

Personal Property Tax Relief Act

Virginia’s Personal Property Tax Relief Act (PPTRA) provides state-funded relief on qualifying vehicles used for personal transportation. The state reimburses localities from a $950 million annual fund, and Chesterfield applies a reduced rate on the first $20,000 of a qualifying vehicle’s assessed value to pass that relief through.⁶ Business-use vehicles do not qualify. The dollar amount credited to your vehicle is printed on the face of the bill, and because the percentage depends on how the statewide fund divides across localities, it moves year to year.

Disabled Veteran Exemption

A veteran rated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs with a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability can fully exempt one motor vehicle from the tax. The vehicle has to be a passenger car, pickup truck, or panel truck registered for personal use.⁷ For a married couple, either spouse’s qualifying disability triggers the exemption. The exemption ends on the veteran’s date of death and does not transfer to a surviving spouse.⁸

Active-Duty Military From Another State

Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, active-duty members stationed in Chesterfield who keep legal residency in another state are exempt from the county’s personal property tax on personal-use vehicles. A spouse may qualify under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act when the spouse shares the service member’s domicile and is in Virginia solely to be with the service member under military orders. Contact the Commissioner of the Revenue with your orders and proof of out-of-state domicile to claim the exemption.

Registering and Reporting Changes

When you buy a vehicle or move into Chesterfield, you have 30 days to notify the Commissioner of the Revenue with your move date, address, and vehicle details.⁹ For registration and county decal purposes, you have 90 days from the vehicle’s arrival in the county.¹⁰ For a vehicle, be ready with the VIN, purchase date, purchase price, manufacturer, model year, and body type. You can file through the county’s online citizen portal or in person at the government center.

The tax prorates on vehicles, low-speed vehicles, motor homes, motorcycles, and trucks bought or disposed of partway through the year. Buy a car in July and you will receive a bill covering only the months the vehicle was in the county.⁹ Sell a vehicle after you have already paid for the full year and you may be entitled to a prorated refund; the Commissioner’s office will ask for the sale date and, depending on timing, a bill of sale. Moving out of state requires a copy of the new state registration for each vehicle so the office can close out the account as of your departure.

How to Pay

Payment is due June 5 each year.² You have a few options:

Online by credit card or electronic check through the county’s payment portal, which generates a digital receipt.
By mail, using the return envelope that comes with your bill.
By check dropped in the secure after-hours boxes at county government buildings.

Active-duty military members deployed outside the United States get an automatic extension; their taxes become due 90 days after deployment ends.¹¹

What Happens If You Pay Late

Miss June 5 and the Chesterfield County Code adds a 10 percent penalty to the unpaid balance. A separate 10 percent penalty applies if you also failed to file a required return on time. Interest then accrues at 10 percent per year, starting the first day of the month after the taxes were due.¹²

The DMV consequence tends to hurt more than the penalty. Virginia law allows localities to place a “stop” on your driver and vehicle records when personal property taxes go delinquent. With a stop on your account, you cannot renew or transfer a vehicle registration. The DMV sends a warning at least 30 days before your registration expires, but by then the debt is already overdue. Once you pay the county in full, the stop has to be lifted within 24 hours.¹³

Appealing an Assessment You Think Is Wrong

If the county’s value for your vehicle looks too high, you can file an appeal with the Commissioner of the Revenue. The deadline is one year from the end of the tax year in which the assessment was made. The usual grounds are a J.D. Power value that overstates the vehicle’s actual condition, a missed high-mileage adjustment, or an error in the vehicle details on file.

The Personal Property Assessment Appeal form is on the county website, and you can also submit through the online citizen portal.³ Attach what you have: a recent appraisal, repair records that show mechanical problems, or dated mileage proof. The Commissioner’s office reviews the submission and issues an adjusted assessment if the appeal is approved.

Business Property Is a Separate Filing

Business tangible personal property, meaning furniture, fixtures, tools, and equipment owned or available for use as of January 1, is reported on a separate return due March 1 each year, with its own rate schedule.¹⁴ Business vehicles are reported through the regular vehicle process and should not appear on that return. If you own a business in the county, the information above covers your vehicles but not the equipment side of your filing.

1
Chesterfield County. Board of Supervisors Approves Personal Property Tax Rate, Adopts Fiscal Year 2027 Budget
2
Chesterfield County, VA. Treasurer
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Chesterfield County, VA. Personal Property Taxes
4
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 58.1-3511 – Situs for Assessment; Nonresident Exception; Refund of Tax Paid to City or County; Apportioned Assessment
5
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 58.1-3503 – General Classification of Tangible Personal Property
6
Virginia State Legislative Information System. HB566 – 2026 Regular Session
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Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 58.1-3668 – Motor Vehicle of a Disabled Veteran
8
Chesterfield County. Personal Property Tax Relief, Classifications and Exemptions
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Chesterfield County. Personal Property – Purchased, Sold, Moved
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Chesterfield County, VA. Enforcement
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Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 58.1-3916 – Counties, Cities, and Towns May Provide Dates for Filing Returns and Payment of Taxes
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Chesterfield County, VA. Chesterfield County Code of Ordinances – Tangible Personal Property Taxes
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Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Delinquent Property Taxes and Vehicle Registration
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Chesterfield County. Business Taxes, Rates and Appeals