Bristol, Virginia Tax Rates

Bristol, VA Tax Rates - At a Glance

City of Bristol, Virginia Current Tax Rates Summary (tax year 2025 / FY2025-2026)

Tax Type	City Rate (per $100)	Notes
Real Estate	$0.93	Assessed at 100% fair market value. Cut from $1.17 after reassessment. Due June 5 & December 5.
Personal Property / Vehicles	$2.60	Autos, trucks, motorcycles, trailers. Due December 5. Matches DOT TY2025 general TPP.
PPTRA Relief on First $20,000	Pending	Local relief percentage not published on the rate page. Confirm with the Commissioner of the Revenue.
Machinery and Tools	$2.60	Per DOT TY2025 Table 2.
Merchants' Capital	$0.00	No merchants' capital tax (DOT TY2025 Table 2).
Sales Tax	5.3% (4.3% state + 1.0% standard local; Everywhere-else tier; Virginia side only)

Real estate ($0.93) and personal property / vehicles ($2.60), machinery and tools ($2.60), and the no-merchants'-capital status are from the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey tax year 2025 (Table 2: RE $0.930, TPP $2.600, M&T $2.600, MC $0.000), the rates reported by Bristol's own Commissioner of the Revenue and adopted by City Council in April 2025. Assessment timing (January 1 ownership) and the June 5 / December 5 due dates were verified directly from the City of Bristol official Real Estate Tax and Personal Property Tax pages (bristolva.gov) in June 2026. The locally adopted PPTRA relief percentage and the vehicle pricing-guide assessment basis are not published on the rate pages and are queued for direct confirmation. Commissioner of the Revenue 276-645-7316; City Treasurer 276-645-7311 (angelbritt@bristolva.org).

Vehicle Personal Property (Car) Tax

Rate and Assessment Method

The City of Bristol's personal property tax rate for vehicles is $2.60 per $100 of assessed value for tax year 2025, applying to automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, and trailers. This matches the Virginia DOT TY2025 general Tangible Personal Property rate reported by Bristol's Commissioner of the Revenue. The Commissioner of the Revenue assesses property owned as of January 1 each year.

Bristol does not publish its specific vehicle pricing-guide basis on the rate page; most Virginia localities assess vehicles on a recognized pricing guide such as the NADA / J.D. Power value. The pricing-guide basis is queued for direct confirmation with the Commissioner.

PPTRA Relief - Percentage Pending Confirmation

Qualifying personal-use vehicles receive Virginia's Personal Property Tax Relief (PPTRA) on the first $20,000 of assessed value under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3524. Bristol's official Personal Property Tax page confirms that PPTRA covers "passenger cars, motorcycles, and pickup or panel trucks having a registered gross weight of less than 7,501 pounds" used less than 50% for business. The city's relief percentage is set annually and is not published on the rate page, so CountyTaxTools is not stating a figure here rather than risk an outdated number. Confirm the current relief percentage with the Commissioner of the Revenue at 276-645-7316.

The relief applies only to personal-use vehicles that qualify. Vehicles used predominantly for business, leased to a business, or owned by a non-individual entity do not qualify and pay the full $2.60 rate on the entire assessed value.

How the Car Tax Is Calculated

For a personal-use vehicle with an assessed value of $15,000 in tax year 2025, the gross calculation before any PPTRA relief is:

• Gross tax: $15,000 × 2.60% = $390.00
• PPTRA relief then reduces the tax on the first $20,000 of value by the city's locally adopted relief percentage (confirm the current percentage with the Commissioner).

Because the relief percentage is not published, the net figure after relief cannot be shown precisely here. A vehicle valued above $20,000 receives relief only on the tax attributable to the first $20,000.

Source: City of Bristol Commissioner of the Revenue - Personal Property Tax (bristolva.gov). For a deeper explanation of PPTRA, see our Virginia PPTRA explained guide.

Real Estate Tax

Rate, Assessment, and the 2025 Reassessment

The City of Bristol's real estate tax rate is $0.93 per $100 of assessed value for tax year 2025 (fiscal year 2025-2026), per the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey and the rate adopted by City Council in April 2025. All real estate in Virginia is assessed at 100% of fair market value under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3201. The rate was reduced from the prior $1.17 in conjunction with a citywide general reassessment that substantially increased total assessed value; a lower nominal rate applied to a higher assessment does not necessarily reduce an individual property's bill. The Commissioner of the Revenue assesses property owned as of January 1.

Due Dates

Real estate taxes are billed in two installments: the first installment is due June 5 and the second installment is due December 5, per the City of Bristol official Real Estate Tax page. Late payments accrue penalty and interest under the Virginia statutory rate.

Exemptions and Relief Programs

The City of Bristol offers real estate tax relief for qualifying senior or permanently and totally disabled residents, with income and asset limits set by City Council. Disabled veterans who are 100% service-connected disabled may qualify for a full real estate exemption on their primary residence under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3219.5, and a qualifying veteran's primary personal-use vehicle may be exempt under Article X, Section 6-A(8) of the Constitution of Virginia. Contact the Commissioner of the Revenue for current eligibility thresholds and procedures.

Source: City of Bristol Commissioner of the Revenue - Real Estate Tax page (direct verification, June 2026); rate cross-verified via Virginia DOT TY2025 Table 2.

Machinery and Tools, Business Property

The City of Bristol levies Machinery and Tools at $2.60 per $100 per the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey tax year 2025. The city does not levy a Merchants' Capital tax (DOT TY2025 Table 2, MC $0.000).

Source: Virginia DOT TY2025 Table 2 (City Levies; DOT-canonical statewide source reported by Bristol's Commissioner of the Revenue).

Sales Tax

Rate and Composition - 5.3% Everywhere-else (Virginia side)

The combined sales tax rate in Bristol, Virginia is 5.3%: 4.3% Virginia state rate plus 1.0% standard local rate. Bristol is classified by Virginia Tax as the "Everywhere Else" tier - far-southwest Virginia is not part of any regional transportation district, so there is no regional add-on. The surrounding Washington County is also at 5.3%.

Bristol, VA Sales Tax Rate Breakdown

Component	Rate
Virginia state rate	4.3%
Standard local rate	1.0%
Combined rate (Virginia side)	5.3%

Watch the state line. Bristol, Tennessee, directly across State Street, charges Tennessee's higher combined sales tax under Tennessee law, and Tennessee has no individual personal property (car) tax. Make sure a purchase or a vehicle is being taxed under the correct state. Only the Virginia side of Bristol is covered by the 5.3% Virginia rate shown here.

Qualifying food and grocery items are subject to Virginia's reduced 1.0% rate.

Source: Virginia Department of Taxation - Retail Sales and Use Tax (tax.virginia.gov)

Geography and Context: A Twin City on the State Line

Bristol is an independent city in far-southwest Virginia on the Tennessee border, with a 2024 population of roughly 17,000. It shares a continuous downtown with Bristol, Tennessee - the Virginia/Tennessee state line runs down the center of State Street, marked by the historic "Bristol VA-TN: A Good Place to Live" sign. On the Virginia side, the city is surrounded by Washington County, whose seat at Abingdon lies just to the northeast along Interstate 81.

Bristol is widely recognized as the Birthplace of Country Music for the 1927 Bristol Sessions, commemorated at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum on the Virginia side of State Street. The city is also a regional retail and entertainment center for the Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia area and is home to a destination casino resort on the Virginia side, a recent driver of local economic and visitor activity.

Adjacent jurisdiction: Washington County (live; surrounds the city on the Virginia side). Sullivan County, Tennessee and Bristol, Tennessee lie across the state line to the south.

Far-Southwest Virginia Cluster Context

Bristol and surrounding Washington County are CountyTaxTools' first coverage of far-southwest Virginia, built together in the same release. The two jurisdictions are geographically nested - the county wraps around the city - and share the 5.3% Everywhere-else sales-tax tier. Bristol's distinctive features within this new cluster are (1) the $0.93 real estate rate freshly cut from $1.17 after a steep reassessment, (2) the lower-than-county $2.60 vehicle rate relative to many independent cities, and (3) the state-line situation that makes it essential to separate the Virginia and Tennessee tax systems for any address or purchase in the twin city.