Washington County, Virginia Tax Rates

Washington County Tax Rates - At a Glance

Washington County Current Tax Rates Summary (per the official county Tax Rates page)

Tax Type	County Rate (per $100)	Notes
Real Estate	$0.43	Assessed at 100% fair market value. Due May 20 & November 20.
Personal Property / Vehicles	$1.70	Assessed on NADA loan value. Due November 20. 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	$1.55	County Tax Rates page; matches DOT TY2025 Table 1.
Merchants' Capital	$0.00	County does not require business licenses or levy this tax.
Sales Tax	5.3% (4.3% state + 1.0% standard local; Everywhere-else tier)

Real estate ($0.43), personal property / vehicles ($1.70 on NADA loan value), machinery and tools ($1.55), the no-merchants'-capital status, and the May 20 / November 20 due dates were all verified directly from the Washington County official Tax Rates page (washcova.com/tax-rates) in June 2026 and cross-checked against the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey tax year 2025 (Table 1: RE $0.430, TPP $1.700, M&T $1.550, MC $0.000). The locally adopted PPTRA relief percentage is not published on the rate page and is queued for direct confirmation. Commissioner of the Revenue April Hamby Crabtree, 1 Government Center Place, Suite C, Abingdon VA 24210; phone 276-676-6270; COR@washcova.com.

Vehicle Personal Property (Car) Tax

Rate and Assessment Method

Washington County's personal property tax rate for vehicles is $1.70 per $100 of assessed value, listed directly as the Personal Property / Vehicles rate on the county's official Tax Rates page. This matches the Virginia DOT TY2025 general Tangible Personal Property rate; the county does not publish a separately lower personal-use vehicle classification.

Vehicles are assessed on the NADA Loan Value. This is a notable difference from most Virginia localities, which assess on the NADA clean trade-in value: the loan value is generally lower, so the same $1.70 rate is applied to a smaller assessed value than a trade-in-value county would use. The Commissioner of the Revenue assesses property owned as of January 1 each year.

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. The relief percentage is set annually by the Washington County Board of Supervisors, but it is not published on the county Tax Rates page, so CountyTaxTools is not stating a figure here rather than risk publishing an outdated or incorrect number. Confirm the current relief percentage with the Commissioner of the Revenue at 276-676-6270 before relying on it.

PPTRA 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 $1.70 rate on the entire NADA loan value.

How the Car Tax Is Calculated

For a personal-use vehicle with a NADA loan value of $12,000 in tax year 2025, the gross calculation before any PPTRA relief is:

• Gross tax: $12,000 × 1.70% = $204.00
• PPTRA relief then reduces the tax on the first $20,000 of value by the county'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; value above that is taxed at the full $1.70 rate.

Source: Washington County Commissioner of the Revenue - Tax Rates (washcova.com). For a deeper explanation of PPTRA, see our Virginia PPTRA explained guide.

Real Estate Tax

Rate and Assessment

Washington County's real estate tax rate is $0.43 per $100 of fair market value, published directly on the county's official Tax Rates page and matching the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey tax year 2025. All real estate in Virginia is assessed at 100% of fair market value under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3201. The county maintains real estate assessment records; current assessment data for recent years is available through the Commissioner of the Revenue office.

Due Dates

Real estate taxes are billed in two installments: the first installment is due May 20 and the second installment is due November 20, per the Washington County official Tax Rates page. These dates differ from the June 5 / December 5 schedule common elsewhere in Virginia. Late payments accrue penalty and interest under the Virginia statutory rate. Tax can be paid online at taxes.washcova.com.

Towns: Abingdon, Damascus, Glade Spring, Saltville

Property inside an incorporated town pays the town real estate rate in addition to the $0.43 county rate. Per the Washington County Tax Rates page, the town real estate rates for tax year 2025 are Abingdon $0.19, Damascus $0.46, Glade Spring $0.23, and Saltville $0.22 (Saltville straddles the Smyth/Washington line). Abingdon, the county seat, also levies a town personal property rate of $0.76 and a machinery-and-tools rate of $0.55. Property in the unincorporated parts of the county pays the county rate only. (The Virginia DOT TY2025 town survey lists slightly lower figures for some towns; the county's own Tax Rates page is the current primary source - confirm a specific town rate with the Commissioner.)

Exemptions and Relief Programs

Washington County offers real estate tax relief for qualifying senior or permanently and totally disabled residents, with income and asset limits set by the Board of Supervisors. 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: Washington County Commissioner of the Revenue - Tax Rates page and Commissioner of the Revenue (direct verification, June 2026).

Machinery and Tools, Business Property

Washington County levies Machinery and Tools at $1.55 per $100 per the county Tax Rates page and the Virginia DOT Local Tax Rates Survey tax year 2025. The county does not levy a Merchants' Capital tax and does not require a local business license for merchants' capital purposes. Business tangible personal property is taxed at the general $1.70 rate.

Source: Washington County Tax Rates page; cross-verified via Virginia DOT TY2025 Table 1 (M&T $1.550, Merchants' Capital $0.000).

Sales Tax

Rate and Composition - 5.3% Everywhere-else

The combined sales tax rate in Washington County is 5.3%: 4.3% Virginia state rate plus 1.0% standard local rate. Washington County 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 independent city of Bristol, which the county surrounds, is also at 5.3%.

Washington County Sales Tax Rate Breakdown

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

No regional transportation tax in far-southwest Virginia. The 6.0% regional districts (Hampton Roads, Central Virginia, Northern Virginia) and the 7.0% Historic Triangle district are all in eastern and central Virginia. The far-southwest counties along Interstate 81, including Washington County, stay at the 5.3% Everywhere-else rate.

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: Abingdon, I-81, and the Far Southwest

Washington County lies in Virginia's far southwest, straddling Interstate 81 between Wytheville and the Tennessee line, with a 2024 population of roughly 54,000. It is the second-oldest county west of the Blue Ridge and was named for George Washington. The county seat, Abingdon, is a historic arts town home to the Barter Theatre (the State Theatre of Virginia) and a trailhead of the Virginia Creeper Trail, a 34-mile rail-trail running to Whitetop.

Washington County completely surrounds the independent city of Bristol on the Virginia side; Bristol is the regional retail and employment center on the Tennessee border. The county also includes the towns of Damascus ("Trail Town USA," where the Appalachian Trail and Virginia Creeper Trail meet), Glade Spring, and part of Saltville.

Adjacent jurisdictions: the independent city of Bristol (live; surrounded by the county), plus the unbuilt Smyth County (east), Russell County (north), and Scott County (west), with Sullivan and Johnson counties in Tennessee to the south.

Far-Southwest Virginia Cluster Context

Washington County and the city of Bristol 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. Washington County's distinctive features within this new cluster are (1) the low $0.43 real estate rate, among the lowest county real estate rates in the state, (2) the unusual NADA loan-value vehicle assessment basis, (3) the May 20 / November 20 due-date schedule, and (4) the layer of town rates in Abingdon, Damascus, Glade Spring, and Saltville on top of the county rate.