The Personal Property Division of the Commissioner’s office assesses all tangible personal property i.e., vehicles, trailers, watercraft, aircraft, motor homes, business property, machinery and tools, merchants capital and mobile homes. This department must first discover what property is in Stafford County by various methods; which include obtaining information from the Taxpayer, the Division of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and Virginia Department of Taxation. We then uniformly apply values to each class of property as mandated by state and county codes. Each vehicle assessed must be analyzed to determine if it meets the criteria to qualify for PPTRA (personal property tax relief act), or any of the special tax rates (handicap tax rate, fire and rescue tax rate, common carrier tax rate). All assessments are certified and sent to the Treasurer’s office in time to meet all billing deadlines.

Active Duty Military
Personal Property owned by active duty military persons and military spouses whose legal residence is not Virginia, is exempt from taxation under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

The following property is not eligible for this exemption and is fully taxable: 

• Property co-owned with any person not active duty military
• Leased vehicles or any property leased or rented
• Property used in a trade or business

To apply for this exemption you must complete a Certificate of Legal Residence Form and submit to the office of the Commissioner of the Revenue along with the current Leave and Earning Statement showing your State of Residence.