How to File DC Form FP-31: Schedules, Valuation, and Deadlines

To file DC Form FP-31, the District’s personal property tax return, log in to MyTax.DC.gov, report the original cost and current depreciated value of every tangible business asset located in DC as of July 1, and submit the return with payment by July 31. The Office of Tax and Revenue taxes assessed value above a $225,000 exemption at $3.40 per $100.¹ Paper filing is no longer available; the entire process runs through the portal.²

Who Has to File

Every individual, corporation, partnership, executor, administrator, guardian, receiver, or trustee that owns or holds tangible personal property for use in a trade or business in the District must file.³ The requirement is triggered by having taxable property located in DC, or with a taxable situs there, on July 1 of the tax year, whether or not the property is currently in use. Property held for rent, lease, or storage counts.¹

If your total assessed value is $225,000 or less, you owe no tax — but you still have to file the return to claim the exemption.¹ Skipping the filing because you assume you’re under the threshold is one of the easiest ways to get flagged.

New businesses have an extra step. OTR no longer registers you for personal property tax automatically when you submit an FP-31, so you must first register through MyTax.DC.gov by completing Form FR-500.²

A boundary worth noting: motor vehicles and trailers registered with DC’s DMV are exempt from the personal property tax, so they don’t go on the return. Special equipment mounted on a vehicle that isn’t primarily used to move people or cargo is still taxable.⁴ Personal-use items like household furniture are outside the scope of the form entirely; only trade-or-business property triggers filing.

What Goes on Each Schedule

The return divides your property across several schedules, and getting an item onto the correct one matters because classification feeds into how depreciation is applied.

Schedule A-1 — Books and reference material: Books, DVDs, tapes, and similar reference materials used in your business or profession.²
Schedule A-2 — Furniture, fixtures, machinery, and equipment: The catch-all for desks, chairs, computers, manufacturing hardware, hotel furnishings, hospital equipment, property in storage, and privately owned dwellings rented furnished.
Schedule A-3 — Unregistered vehicles and other tangible property: Vehicles not registered in DC, trailers, construction equipment, special equipment mounted on a vehicle, boats, barges, dredges, and aircraft.
Schedule B — Supplies: Consumables not held for sale, such as office supplies, wrapping material, advertising items, fuel oil, and china or silverware.
Schedule C — Dispositions: Assets traded in, sold, donated, discarded, or moved out of DC during the prior tax year. Anything on last year’s return that doesn’t appear on this year’s A-1, A-2, A-3, or D-2 belongs here.
Schedule D-1 — Leased property you possess: Tangible property in your possession under a rental or lease arrangement you don’t own. Property under a lease-purchase or security-purchase agreement that obligates you to become owner goes on A-1, A-2, or A-3 instead.
Schedule D-2 — Leased property you own: For lessors who rent or lease tangible property to another business or individual under a lease-purchase or security-purchase agreement.

How to Value the Property

Report each asset at its original cost — the price paid in an arm’s-length transaction — and its current value after straight-line depreciation as of July 1.⁵ Items with a useful life of one year or less are reported at cost without depreciation. You can’t prorate value in anticipation of getting rid of something; if you own it on July 1, it’s reported at full current value.

OTR groups property into depreciation categories by type, not by which schedule it sits on:

Category A (10% per year, 10-year life): Office furniture and fixtures, restaurant and hotel equipment, medical and dental equipment, printing machinery, banking equipment including ATMs, air conditioning, security systems, kitchen equipment, laundry and dry cleaning equipment, signs, solar panels, and most retail fixtures.⁶
Category B (6.67% per year, 15-year life): Antennas, transmitting towers, fiber optic cables, satellite dishes, pianos and organs, safes, watercraft, docks, and barges.
Category C (12.5% per year, 8-year life): Building and lawn maintenance equipment, car wash equipment, construction and road paving equipment, hospital furniture and fixtures, machine shop equipment, and junk yard machinery.
Qualified technological equipment (30% per year): Depreciated faster, but with a floor of 10% of original cost. Once you hit 10%, depreciation stops.

For all other tangible property, current value can never go below 25% of original cost, regardless of age.⁵ This is where filers most often trip up. An old desk cannot be written down to nearly nothing. The MyTax.DC.gov portal applies these rates automatically once you enter the original cost and acquisition year, so if your inputs are accurate the math takes care of itself.

If You’re a Construction Company

Construction companies apportion the remaining cost of their tangible personal property based on the number of days it was physically located in the District during the tax year.² If a piece of equipment was in DC for 90 out of 365 days, you report the proportionate share. Keep location logs; OTR will want documentation if the apportionment is audited.

Filing the Return on MyTax.DC.gov

Before you log in, pull together a complete inventory of tangible assets in DC with the original cost and acquisition year for each. You’ll also need supporting detail for anything disposed of during the prior year (Schedule C) and information on any leased property in your possession or leased out to others (D-1 and D-2). Check that the business name you use matches what’s registered with OTR — mismatches delay processing of both the return and the payment.²

The portal walks you through each schedule, calculates depreciation from your entries, and produces the assessed value. The return can’t be filed before July 1, and it’s due by July 31. The full tax owed is due at the time of filing.⁷ When you finish, the system generates an electronic confirmation number; save it as proof of filing.

Paying the Tax

OTR accepts payment through MyTax.DC.gov in several ways:

ACH debit from a bank account entered on the payment page, with no fee.⁸
Credit or debit card, with a 2.25% convenience fee.
ACH credit, initiated through your bank in NACHA format.
Check or money order made out to “DC Treasurer,” with your Taxpayer ID Number, daytime phone number, and the tax year written on the check.

For a large bill, ACH debit avoids the card surcharge, which adds up quickly against a $3.40-per-$100 assessment.

Extensions

You can request an extension of up to three months, pushing the deadline to October 31. The request must be in writing, submitted before August 1, and accompanied by payment of the tax you expect to owe.⁷ An extension to file is not an extension to pay. If you don’t send the money with the extension request, penalties start accruing on the unpaid balance.

What Happens If You File or Pay Late

Missing July 31 without an extension triggers a penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or fraction of a month the return is late, capped at 25%.⁹ The same 5%-per-month penalty applies separately if you file on time but don’t pay the tax shown.³

Unpaid tax also accrues interest at 10% per year, compounded daily, from the due date to the date of payment.¹⁰ A separate 20% penalty applies to any underpayment attributable to negligence, defined as failing to make a reasonable attempt to comply with the law or exercise ordinary care in preparing the return.³

Willful failure to file, pay, or keep required records is a misdemeanor under DC Code § 47-4103, punishable by up to 180 days in jail, a fine, or both, plus costs of prosecution.¹¹ It’s the worst-case scenario, but OTR does refer cases for prosecution.

Keep Your Records

Hold on to original cost documentation, receipts, asset inventories, and copies of filed returns. The FP-31 instructions specifically direct filers to keep records substantiating the disposal of assets reported on Schedule C, and thorough documentation of acquisition costs and depreciation for every asset protects you if OTR audits the return.² Three to six years is a reasonable retention window; no specific statutory period appears in the current instructions or code.

1
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-1522 – Levy of Annual Tax on Personal Property
2
Government of the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer. FP-31 District of Columbia Personal Property Tax Instructions
3
Government of the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer. FP-31 District of Columbia Personal Property Tax Instructions
4
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-1508 – Exemptions
5
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-1523 – Reporting Requirement – Valuation of Property
6
Government of the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer. FP-31 District of Columbia Personal Property Tax Instructions
7
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-1524 – Form of Tax Return – Filing – Extensions
8
DC Office of Tax and Revenue. Payment Options
9
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-4213
10
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-4201 – Interest on Underpayments
11
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 47-4103 – Failure to Pay Tax, Make Return, Keep Records, or Supply Information