Taxes (real estate and personal property) (Alexandria, Reston: 2014, renting, HOA)

[bluef250]

Hi folks,

My wife and I are looking to buy a home here in northern Virginia. Currently live in Sterling; I work in Sterling, and the wife works in Leesburg. We're currently renting, so we only pay personal property taxes on our vehicles (a Ford F250 and a small car).

My question is this: how do I know what towns/cities have their own real estate and personal property tax (in addition to the County)? For example: Leesburg charges its own tax (both real estate and personal property) in addition to Loudoun County.

Herndon, on the other hand, does not charge a personal property tax but it looks like it charges real estate taxes (on top of the county tax).

I have spent some time googling for the answers myself, but this information doesn't seem easy to come by. I'm really just trying to understand what towns/cities levy their own taxes in addition to the county. In particlar, I'm trying to avoid buying where the town/city can charge in addition to the county.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks!

[Flamingo13]

You just look up: Fairfax County, Alexandria City, etc. property tax. - there is no additional, it goes by address.

[Ashley Tauzier]

Real estate property taxes are generally higher in counties closet to DC. On the listings you are getting from your Realtor they should state what the yearly taxes are for said property. I will say Prince William is cheaper than Fairfax. Then Fauquier is cheaper than Prince William and so on.

[johnsonkk]

When you pay additional emissions testing but only in NOVA and additional 1% tax to buy a NOVA house which supposedly goes to find highways, certain expectations that there are tax havens in NOVA might be a misnomer. Culpepper is about as far as you need to go to NOT pay for emmisions testing every two years and an additonal 1% road tax on all real estate.

[wumarshall82]

Loudoun County - Loudoun County, Virginia search by address

Fairfax - Fairfax County

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by Ashley Tauzier

Real estate property taxes are generally higher in counties closet to DC. On the listings you are getting from your Realtor they should state what the yearly taxes are for said property. I will say Prince William is cheaper than Fairfax. Then Fauquier is cheaper than Prince William and so on.

Thats only because the value is higher closer in, the rates are actually lower. So if you have a set budget of 600k, either way, for that 600k you actually pay less in real estate taxes closer in than further out. But, if you are simply looking for a 3br, then you could find a 450k place further out and pay less in real estate taxes by the fact that the house is a lower assessed value also.

There are very few cities and towns (which actually have additional taxes) in Northern Virginia. The exceptions are Falls Church, Vienna, Herndon, and I believe Clifton (someone can correct on the last if not). All other places are nebulously named neighborhoods that fall under county jurisdiction, and therefore have no additional special taxes.

There are some places with special fees (Reston has a community fee for some properties) but that's more akin to an HOA than it is a tax.

[michgc]

OP, basically, if you are inside town or city limits, there may be extra taxes. If you are "in the county" you probably won't have extra taxes beyond county taxes. So, for example, if you live within the Town of Vienna you would pay an extra property tax to the town. If you live in the county but have a Vienna mailing address, you won't. It's not all bad, though. Town taxes usually cover things like trash and recycling pickup that you otherwise have to pay for if you live outside the town limits.

I think Leesburg might be the same as Vienna in that they have directional names after their addresses if they are within the town limits (NW, SW, etc.). That's how I was able to easily tell if a property was in the town limits of Vienna when I bought my house.

[spencgr]

Here is the most recent list published by VA. It is for 2012.

http://www.tax.virginia.gov/sites/ta...%2014_2014.pdf

[blindside]

Keep in mind, you could live in special tax "districts" commonly used to pay for capital improvements in that district. One interesting one is the Greenlea Tax District.

It seems like a special tax district initiated mostly by a single HOA living in that community to fix a bridge.

Interestingly, a single HOA sponsored this. However, instead of making it an HOA improvement (cannot deduct from income taxes), it is a special tax district managed by the county (can deduct?) .

[HDTBill]

That's good tax info spencgr.
So most folks live in a county or a city and pay the taxes as shown (a so-called Virginia locality).
A few county residents also live in "towns" which have a small add-on to the county tax (Herndon/Vienna), if I understand.

I didn't realize the towns had an extra bit of taxes. Also I did not realize personal property (car) taxes anywhere exceeded 5% but Stafford and others showing almost 7%....really?