Title 58.1, Taxation

The council of every city and town shall annually cause to be made up and entered on its journals an account of all sums lawfully chargeable on the city or town which ought to be paid within one year and order the imposition of taxes in such amount as in their opinion is necessar…

The cities and towns of this Commonwealth, by their duly constituted authorities, are hereby authorized annually to levy, in addition to any other levies authorized by law, a special levy upon such taxable property in such cities and towns as is not, by law, segregated to the Com…

Before any local tax levy shall be increased in any county, city, town, or district, such proposed increase shall be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality affected at least seven days before the increased levy is made and the citizens of the locality…

The governing body of any county, city or town in laying levies on taxable real estate, tangible personal property and merchants' capital may impose different rates of levy on real estate, merchants' capital, tangible personal property or any separate class thereof authorized und…

No political subdivision of this Commonwealth shall impose, levy or collect, directly or indirectly, any tax on payrolls or occupations. The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to prohibit or limit the withholding from an employee's salary of any sums required by the S…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, special or general, to the contrary, the governing body of any county, city or town may by ordinance provide that taxes on real estate, tangible personal property and machinery and tools be levied and imposed on a fiscal year basis of J…

The governing body of any county, city or town may provide by ordinance that all taxable real estate or personal property and machinery and tools therein be assessed as of July 1 of each year, any other provision of law, general and special, including the provisions of the charte…

The governing body of any county, city or town which levies taxes on real estate, tangible personal property and machinery and tools on a calendar-year basis is authorized and empowered to change the rate of its tax on real estate, tangible personal property and machinery and too…

All taxpayers of the Commonwealth whose lands, improvements thereon, or personal property, or any portion thereof, shall be in any year destroyed in any manner by common disaster, if declared such by the Governor of Virginia, may on application therefor be relieved from the payme…

If property is owned by a person sui juris, it shall be taxed to him. If property is owned by a minor, it shall be listed by and taxed to his guardian or trustee, if any he has; if he has no guardian or trustee, it shall be listed by and taxed to the person in possession. If the …

If property be listed by and taxed to any person other than the owner, it shall not be delivered to the owner until the taxes thereon are paid or indemnity given to the person in possession for the payment thereof.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a tax official of any county, city or town may require disclosure of the social security account number of a taxpayer for any purpose relating to local taxes administered by such official, including verification of the identity of any i…

A. For the purposes of this section, "third-party tax payment agreement" means any agreement whereby a third party contracts with a taxpayer to pay to a county, city or town on behalf of that taxpayer the local taxes, charges, fees or other obligations due and owing to the county…

A. For the purposes of this section: "Approved volunteer services" means volunteer firefighting and fire prevention services, emergency medical and ambulance services, auxiliary police services, and emergency rescue services that operate exclusively for the benefit of the general…

As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the terms "commissioner" and "commissioner of the revenue" shall be interpreted to include both city and county commissioners of the revenue. The term shall also include the director of finance and any other…

Each county commissioner of the revenue shall keep an office at the county seat of his county or at such other point in the county as the governing body of the county deems to be more convenient to a majority of its citizens.

The jurisdiction, powers and duties of commissioners shall not extend beyond the bounds of their respective counties or cities.

Each commissioner shall begin annually, on the first day of January, to discharge the duties prescribed by law. As part of his duties each commissioner of the revenue shall ascertain and assess, at fair market value, all subjects of taxation in his county or city on the first day…

The commissioner shall apply for and be entitled to the official books and papers of his predecessor. The person in possession of such materials shall deliver them upon application.

The Tax Commissioner shall provide instructions to the commissioners of the revenue in respect to their duties.

A. All compensation payable to a commissioner of the revenue shall be paid pursuant to § 15.2-1636.13. B. The compensation allowed to a commissioner shall not be paid unless he has punctually performed his duties in reference to the assessment of property and licenses and has mad…

Each commissioner of the revenue shall obtain full and complete tax returns from every taxpayer within his jurisdiction who is liable under the law to file such return with him for all taxes assessed by his office. This duty of the commissioner of the revenue to obtain such retur…

A. Each commissioner of the revenue shall render such taxpayer assistance as may be necessary for the preparation of any return required by law to be filed with his office. Such commissioners may go to convenient public places within the county or city for the purpose of receivin…

Each commissioner of the revenue shall: 1. Review the lists of all persons licensed by the commissioner of the revenue and assess, for the current license year, additional license taxes for any person who has reported less than the law requires; 2. Upon investigation, assess the …

A. The commissioner may, for the purpose of assessing all taxes assessable by his office, summon the taxpayer or any other person to appear before him at his office, to answer, under oath, questions touching the tax liability of any and all specifically identified taxpayers and t…

Any person who refuses to (i) furnish to the commissioner of the revenue access to books of account or other papers and records, (ii) furnish information to the commissioner of the revenue relating to the assessment of taxes, (iii) answer under oath questions touching any person'…

A. The commissioner of the revenue shall preserve in a permanent file in his office all returns of tangible personal property, machinery and tools, and merchants' capital. B. The commissioner may, in his discretion, subject to the requirements of the Virginia Public Records Act (…

All returns which are used for the assessment of intangible personal property shall be transmitted by the commissioner of the revenue to the Department of Taxation at its office in Richmond, after the commissioner of the revenue has recorded the assessments on such property in hi…

The Department of Taxation shall prescribe the form of the personal property book to be used by the commissioner of the revenue and shall furnish each commissioner of the revenue with three copies of blank personal property books prepared in the form so prescribed. The Department…

In making out assessment books, the commissioner of the revenue shall arrange them alphabetically to show the persons chargeable with taxes. When there are two or more persons of the same name, he shall use some distinguishing sign by which the taxpayer may be identified. The add…

Nothing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting the Department of Taxation from prescribing a separate personal property book for the assessment of state taxes and a separate personal property book for the assessment of local levies.

All supplemental assessment sheets prescribed by the Department of Taxation and used for the assessment of taxes and levies during any current tax year, after the regular assessment books have been completed, shall be disposed of in the same manner as are the regular assessment b…

Each commissioner of the revenue shall retain in his office the original personal property book. Each commissioner of the revenue shall deliver one certified copy of the personal property book to the treasurer of his county or city and, if requested by the Department in writing, …

After the commissioner of the revenue has delivered a copy of his personal property book to the county or city treasurer, no alteration shall be made therein which affects the taxes or levies of that year.

A. If no land book or personal property book was made out for the year immediately preceding the year in which a commissioner takes office, the commissioner of the revenue for such county or city shall proceed to complete books for such year, according to the rate of tax which th…

If any commissioner knowingly makes a false entry on any of his books, he shall be guilty of malfeasance in office.

The Tax Commissioner may communicate any instances of misconduct or neglect of any commissioner, or any evidence of his incapacity, in a letter to the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city wherein such commissioner was elected. The clerk shall promptly present such let…

The commissioner of the revenue may charge a photocopying fee, to a maximum amount of fifty cents per page, for photocopying any papers or records upon a taxpayer's request for information.

The commissioner of the revenue may provide remote access, including access through the Internet, to all nonconfidential public records maintained by his office, subject to such limitations as may be imposed by applicable law. Any system of remote access created or maintained pur…

A. Each commissioner of the revenue shall provide to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority (the Authority), upon entering into a written agreement, such tax information as may be necessary to facilitate the administration and enforcement by the Authority of perf…

A. As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly shows otherwise, the term "treasurer" shall be interpreted to include both city and county treasurers. The term shall also include the director of finance and any other officer of any county or city where such officer perform…

The office of the county treasurer shall be maintained at the county seat or at such other point in the county as the board of supervisors or other governing body of the county may deem to be more convenient to a majority of the citizens of the county.

Each circuit court shall enter an order in each year requiring the commissioner of accounts of such court or, if it is improper for such commissioner to act or if there is no commissioner of accounts of such court, then the commissioner of accounts of some other court to be desig…

The treasurer may require from any deputy such bond with surety as he shall deem necessary for his indemnity. If any deputy fails to collect or, having collected, fails to pay over to his principal, any taxes, levies or funds which he ought to have collected or may have received,…

A. Each treasurer shall receive the state revenue and the levies and other amounts payable into the treasury of the political subdivision of the Commonwealth served by the treasurer. Such treasurer shall account for and pay over the revenue received in the manner provided by law.…

All amounts to be received or expended by any department or agency, or department or agency head, of a political subdivision of the Commonwealth by virtue of a federal grant, gift, or forfeiture or other disposition of federal funds shall be made payable to the treasury or treasu…