Rappahannock County, Virginia Tax Rates

Rappahannock County Tax Rates - At a Glance

Rappahannock County Tax Rates Summary (per the county Commissioner of the Revenue, 2025)

Tax Type	County Rate (per $100)	Notes
Real Estate	$0.63	$0.56 general + $0.07 fire & rescue. 100% fair market value. Due December 5.
Personal Property (vehicles)	$3.80	$3.60 general + $0.20 fire & rescue. Due December 5.
Machinery & Tools	$0.00	Not levied by Rappahannock County.
Merchants' Capital	$0.00	Not levied by Rappahannock County.
Lodging / Meals	4% / 4%	Transient occupancy and prepared-meals taxes.
Sales Tax	5.3% (4.3% state + 1.0% local) - no regional district

The real estate ($0.63 combined), personal property ($3.80 combined), machinery and tools ($0.00), merchants' capital ($0.00), lodging (4%), and meals (4%) rates are published on the Rappahannock County Commissioner of the Revenue's tax-rates page. The December 5 due date, the 10% late penalty, and the 10% annual interest are confirmed on the county's tax pages. Because the county website blocks automated access, these official figures were captured via the county's published page through search; a direct re-capture, the current-year PPTRA relief percentage, the vehicle assessment guide, the reassessment cycle, and the elderly and disabled relief thresholds are pending direct confirmation - see Official Sources below.

Vehicle Personal Property (Car) Tax

Rate and Classification

Rappahannock County taxes tangible personal property, including motor vehicles, at $3.80 per $100 of assessed value, made up of a $3.60 general personal property rate plus a $0.20 fire and rescue levy, per the county Commissioner of the Revenue. Virginia counties assess vehicles at a percentage of fair market value as of January 1 each year; Rappahannock's specific vehicle assessment guide is pending direct confirmation.

Due Date and Filing

Personal property tax is due December 5, the same date as real estate, billed annually in a single installment. A 10% penalty is added December 6 for late payment, and interest accrues at 10% per year beginning the first day of the month following the due date. Payments are made to the Rappahannock County Treasurer's Office. The vehicle license fee and the personal property filing deadline are pending direct confirmation.

PPTRA Relief

Qualifying personal-use vehicles receive Virginia's Personal Property Tax Relief (PPTRA) credit under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3524 on the first $20,000 of value. The Commissioner of the Revenue administers PPTRA relief locally; the specific current-year relief percentage is pending direct confirmation with the Commissioner of the Revenue.

Source: Rappahannock County Commissioner of the Revenue (rappahannockcountyva.gov), verified June 2026. For a deeper explanation of PPTRA, see our Virginia PPTRA explained guide. The PPTRA percentage, the vehicle assessment guide, and the vehicle license fee are pending direct confirmation.

Real Estate Tax

Rate and Assessment

Rappahannock County's real estate tax rate is $0.63 per $100 of assessed value, made up of a $0.56 general real estate rate plus a $0.07 fire and rescue levy, per the county Commissioner of the Revenue. Real estate is taxed at 100% of fair market value as the Virginia Constitution requires; the Commissioner of the Revenue maintains real estate ownership records and administers the land use and tax relief programs. The county's general reassessment cycle is pending direct confirmation. Note that county tax does not apply within the Town of Washington, which sets its own separate rates.

Due Date and Payment

Real estate tax is due December 5, billed annually in a single installment. A 10% penalty is added December 6 for late payment, with 10% annual interest beginning the first day of the month following the due date. Payments are made to the Rappahannock County Treasurer's Office in Washington, Virginia.

Exemptions and Relief Programs

Rappahannock County administers real estate tax relief for the elderly and disabled, a land use taxation program for qualifying agricultural and forestal land, and the state PPTRA program through the Commissioner of the Revenue's office. Under Virginia Code § 58.1-3219.5, a veteran rated 100% service-connected permanently and totally disabled is exempt from real estate tax on a principal residence, a benefit that extends to a qualifying surviving spouse. The income and net-worth thresholds for the local elderly and disabled program are pending direct confirmation.

Source: Rappahannock County Commissioner of the Revenue (rappahannockcountyva.gov), verified June 2026. The elderly and disabled relief thresholds and the reassessment cycle are pending direct confirmation with the Commissioner of the Revenue.

Business Equipment, Machinery, and Tools

Rappahannock County does not levy a machinery and tools tax or a merchants' capital tax - both rates are $0.00, per the county Commissioner of the Revenue. The county does levy a 4% lodging (transient occupancy) tax on rooms and a 4% meals tax on prepared food and beverages. Business personal property is assessed and filed with the Commissioner of the Revenue, Mary Graham, at 262 Gay Street, Washington; (540) 675-5370.

Source: Rappahannock County Commissioner of the Revenue tax-rates page (rappahannockcountyva.gov), 2025. Machinery and tools ($0.00) and the absence of a merchants' capital levy are reflected in the Virginia DOT TY2025 Local Tax Rates survey.

Sales Tax

Rate and Composition

The combined sales tax rate in Rappahannock County is 5.3%: the 4.3% Virginia state rate plus the 1.0% standard local rate. Although Rappahannock borders the Northern Virginia transportation district, it is not part of it and is not in any other regional sales tax district, per the Virginia Department of Taxation, so it sits in the statewide baseline tier.

Rappahannock County Sales Tax Rate Breakdown

Component	Rate
Virginia state rate	4.3%
Standard local rate	1.0%
Regional district	None
Combined rate	5.3%

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)

Rappahannock County and the Blue Ridge Piedmont

Rappahannock County sits at the foot of the Blue Ridge in northern Virginia, an affluent and largely rural Piedmont county whose western boundary runs along the crest of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. The county seat, the tiny Town of Washington - the original "Little Washington," surveyed by George Washington in 1749 and home to the renowned Inn at Little Washington - and the village of Sperryville anchor a landscape of farms, orchards, and vineyards. The county is known for strict rural-preservation zoning that has kept it almost entirely free of commercial development. Rappahannock is unusual in that all five of its neighbors are live on CountyTaxTools: Fauquier County to the east, Culpeper County to the southeast, Madison County to the south, Page County to the west across the Blue Ridge, and Warren County to the north.