Car Property Tax on Maryland-Registered Car (Arlington: real estate, apartment, rent)

[girlygrl51785]

I have a problem. I am a Maryland resident, however, I rent an apartment in Arlington to live at a few days of the week to help with my commute. My car is registered in my name and my mom's (who also lives in Maryland), and I park it in my apartment parking garage a few days a week. When I first moved here I asked about registering my car and I was told I did not need to.

Today I received a letter in the mail from Arlington County saying I need to register my car for $25 + a $100 fee a year. That's not bad. What is killing me is I now need to pay a 5% personal property tax a year on my car when I am not a Virginia resident. I do not want to transfer my car to Virginia because I may not need to continue to live here within the next year, and my mom is on the car and lives in Maryland.

Is there anyway around this?!? They gave me a whopping 10 days to figure this out.

Thanks!

[car54]

I hate to tell you, but unless you're in the military....renting an apartment in VA makes you a resident.

Arlington is the absolute worst place around here to try to evade registration laws....and if you park it in an apartment parking garage, you don't have a prayer. Either the landlord ratted you out....or Mr O'Leary's (Arl Co Treasurer) people cruised the garage.

Either way, they gotcha. You either have to comply or find somewhere to hide the car...before they start putting tickets on it.

[CAVA1990]

Of course if you need any government services while you're here such as police or fire you'll call a locality in MD right?

[tgbwc]

Yep. There is no way around it. When my wife first moved to VA in '94 she was just out of college. She was driving a car that her parents owned. They were in PA and the car was registered in PA, but because it was parked in VA it had to be registered.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Of course if you need any government services while you're here such as police or fire you'll call a locality in MD right?

Aren't taxes included in her rent?

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Aren't taxes included in her rent?

Not personal property tax.

[car54]

Originally Posted by girlygrl51785

...Today I received a letter in the mail from Arlington County saying I need to register my car for $25 + a $100 fee a year. That's not bad. What is killing me is I now need to pay a 5% personal property tax a year on my car when I am not a Virginia resident.

The $25 is for the County decal....I can find no mention of a $100 fee.

The tax rate $5 per $100 of assessed value, which, of course, is 5 percent.

Arlington still has car tax "relief" though. From their website:

"For 2009, qualifying vehicles shall receive 100% tax relief on the first $3,000 of the vehicle's assessed value and 37% tax relief on the vehicle's assessed value between $3,001 and $20,000. For any value of a qualifying vehicle in excess of $20,000, there shall be no tax relief."

So, the first 3 grand is exempt...then it's 37% off the tax up to 20 grand.

OP: Unless you have a high dollar car...it might not be too bad, maybe a few hundred. Car insurance is considerably cheaper in VA....probably more than enough savings right there to offset the car tax. The income tax is also lower in VA. So, you gotta look at the big picture....

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

Not personal property tax.

Well. Does the Personal Property Tax pay for the services that were mentioned? I thought they were for education.

[g3org3]

According to Arlington's web site:
"Real Estate property tax and personal property tax, the two most significant sources of revenue available to local jurisdictions, are the only taxes without a State-mandated limit for the rates local jurisdictions may set. The personal property tax rate increase funds crucial compensation needs in public safety, allowing Arlington to compete effectively with other jurisdictions to hire and retain police officers, sheriffs and firefighters. The increase also made it possible for the County to provide additional real estate tax relief to homeowners and commercial properties, by allowing a deeper cut in the real estate tax rate."

[jmking]

I'm just a little confused. There are many people other than military who live in multiple areas who use a primary address. If the op is in Virginia half the week and Maryland the other half or most of the week how does that hash out when Maryland gets fussy with a Virginia tagged car, if infact the op needs to switch tags?