If your business owns or uses equipment located in Loudoun County on January 1, you owe the Loudoun County business personal property tax, you file an itemized return by March 1 each year, and you pay the bill in two installments on May 5 and October 5. For 2026, general business equipment is taxed at $4.15 per $100 of assessed value, and the filing deadline shifts to Monday, March 2 because March 1 falls on a Sunday.1 The county treats this as a self-reporting obligation: you disclose what you own, and the Commissioner of the Revenue applies a depreciation schedule to arrive at the taxable value.
Who Has to File
Every business entity with tangible personal property located in Loudoun County on January 1 must file an annual return. That covers sole proprietors, partnerships, LLCs, corporations, and home-based businesses alike. The obligation attaches to where the property sits, not where the business is headquartered, so a company based elsewhere that stores equipment in the county still owes the tax.
Taxable property is the physical equipment your business uses to operate: furniture, fixtures, computers, telecommunications gear, machinery, tools, and heavy construction equipment. Data center equipment is a significant category in Loudoun County and follows its own line on the rate schedule.
Several things catch filers off guard. Leased equipment still requires reporting. Property you fully depreciated or expensed on your federal return still counts. Items converted from personal to business use, or received as gifts, must appear on your filing. If you still have it and use it for business, the county wants it on the list.
What to Report
Your return requires a detailed asset list. For each item, provide the year of purchase and the original capitalized cost. That cost is not just the sticker price; it includes shipping, freight, and installation charges needed to place the asset into service.
Every tangible asset with an original capitalized cost of $25 or more must be reported. Application software and other intangibles are excluded, but the hardware running that software is not. The county will not accept “same as last year” in place of a full inventory. Each filing must be a complete, current list.
Most businesses pull these numbers from their fixed-asset schedules or accounting ledgers. The purchase year matters because it determines where each asset falls on the county’s depreciation schedule, which drives the tax directly.
How the County Values Your Equipment
The Commissioner of the Revenue applies a declining depreciation schedule to each asset’s original capitalized cost. The percentage drops as the equipment ages, and the schedule depends on the property type. For 2026, general business equipment is assessed at:
- Purchased in 2025: 60% of original cost
- Purchased in 2024: 45%
- Purchased in 2023: 30%
- Purchased in 2022: 15%
- Purchased in 2021: 10%
- Purchased in 2020 or earlier: 5%
Heavy equipment and machinery/tools depreciate more slowly:
- Purchased in 2025: 70%
- Purchased in 2024: 60%
- Purchased in 2023: 50%
- Purchased in 2022: 40%
- Purchased in 2021: 30%
- Purchased in 2020: 20%
- Purchased in 2019 or earlier: 10%
Data center computer equipment follows the general business equipment schedule. General equipment bottoms out at 5% of original cost; heavy equipment and machinery floor at 10%. No asset ever reaches zero as long as it remains in your possession and in use.
These county schedules are independent of federal depreciation. Under MACRS, the IRS lets you depreciate computers and office equipment over five years and furniture over seven, often accelerated with bonus depreciation. The county ignores all of that. A laptop you fully expensed on your federal return in year one still appears at 60% of original cost on your Loudoun County assessment that same year.
2026 Rates by Property Type
The Board of Supervisors sets rates annually. For 2026, per $100 of assessed value:
- Business equipment: $4.15
- Computer equipment in a data center: $4.15
- Heavy construction machinery: $4.00
- Machinery and tools: $2.75
- Research and development property: $2.75
- Wireless broadband equipment: $2.10
- Satellite manufacturing, testing, or operating equipment: $0.01
- Property owned by homeowners associations: $0.01
A quick example. Suppose you bought $50,000 worth of general business equipment in 2024. The county assesses it at 45% of cost, so the assessed value is $22,500. At $4.15 per $100, the tax on that equipment is $933.75. Run every asset through the same math and sum the results for your total liability.
The much lower rates for satellite equipment, R&D property, and wireless broadband come from Virginia Code provisions allowing localities to set preferential rates for certain classifications. If your business qualifies, make sure your filing lists the property under the right category.
Filing Deadline and Extensions
The annual return is due by March 1. For 2026, because March 1 falls on a Sunday, the deadline moves to Monday, March 2. Filing is done online through the Loudoun County filing portal. The Commissioner of the Revenue’s office takes questions at 703-777-0260.
If you need more time, request a 30-day extension by emailing the Commissioner’s office before March 1. An extension pushes the filing deadline, not the payment due dates.
Filing late triggers a penalty of 10% of the tax due or $10, whichever is greater. Under Virginia law, the penalty cannot exceed the total tax assessable on the return. For a business with substantial equipment, 10% adds up fast, and it stacks on top of the tax itself.
Payment Installments and Late-Payment Interest
The tax is billed in two installments. For 2026, the first is due May 5 and the second is due October 5. Those dates are set by the county’s tax calendar and can shift slightly in future years.
Miss a payment and interest starts. Under Virginia Code 58.1-3916, the county can charge interest beginning the day after the deadline at up to 10% per year. In the second and later years of delinquency, the rate can climb to match the federal underpayment rate under Internal Revenue Code Section 6621, or 10% annually, whichever is higher. Penalties and interest compound, and extended delinquency can lead to collection actions.
Appealing an Assessment
If you believe the Commissioner overvalued your property or applied the wrong classification, you can appeal. There are two administrative steps before court.
First, appeal to the Commissioner of the Revenue. You must file within one year of the last day of the tax year, or within one year of the assessment date, whichever is later. The appeal needs to identify the specific assessment, the amount in dispute, why you think it’s wrong, and the remedy you want, with supporting documentation such as federal tax returns, purchase records, and contracts. The Commissioner has 90 days to issue a written determination. If a full year passes with no final decision, you can treat the appeal as denied and move on.
Second, if the local Commissioner denies the appeal in whole or in part, you have 90 days from that determination to file with the Virginia Tax Commissioner. The state will decide jurisdiction within 30 days, then typically issue a determination within 90 days, with a possible 60-day extension.
You can also file directly in Circuit Court instead of or in addition to the administrative route. Circuit Court appeals must be filed within three years of the last day of the tax year, or one year of the assessment date, whichever is later. The assessment is presumed correct, so the burden of proof is on you. Documentation of your asset values and purchase history is the foundation of any successful challenge.
Records to Keep
The county can audit your filings, and the first request will be documentation behind the numbers on your return. Keep purchase invoices, receipts showing freight and installation costs, and your internal fixed-asset register for every item reported. Because Loudoun County taxes assets as long as they remain in service, hold these records for the full time you own the property, plus several years after disposal.
A conservative retention window is the full ownership period plus seven years after you sell or discard the asset. That covers both federal audit exposure and local review periods. When you dispose of equipment during the year, document the date and method so you can remove it from the next filing with a clear paper trail.