Virginia recordation and grantor tax

Local add-on, deeds of trust, and Planning District 8

Section 58.1-814 lets a city or county add a recordation tax equal to one-third of the state recordation tax. This article does not say which of our communities have adopted it. Ask the clerk or read it on your settlement statement.

Section 58.1-803 taxes a deed of trust or mortgage at 25 cents per $100 of the secured amount on the first part of the schedule, with lower rates above $10 million. A refinance that meets subsection E uses 18 cents, then 16, 14, 12, and 10 cents per $100 across the brackets in the statute. The instrument has to certify the prior recording.

Section 58.1-802.4 imposes an additional fee, named the regional congestion relief fee, on realty sold in a planning district that meets the population, vehicle-registration, and transit-ridership tests written in that section. When consideration or value, whichever is greater, is at least $100, the rate is $0.10 for each $100 or fraction, excluding a lien or encumbrance that remains. The grantor pays it unless the grantor and grantee agree that the grantee will pay some or all of it. For Planning District 8, the clerk deposits the fee for the fund in § 33.2-2509. Section 33.2-2501 lists the counties and cities embraced by that Authority: Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William, and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park. Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, and Westmoreland are outside that list. The fee is a Prince William line, including Woodbridge. Those other deeds sit outside § 33.2-2501. Section 58.1-802.2 once carried a congestion-fee heading and was repealed effective May 25, 2018. The settlement statement is where you see whether your deed has the § 58.1-802.4 line.

Who collects, and where the bill appears

Section 58.1-802 says the clerk returns half of the grantor's tax to the state treasury and half to the locality, and that the clerk's certificate has to show the tax was paid. The consideration has to be on the first page of the deed.

Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, Prince William, and Westmoreland each have their own clerk. The location guides name the office. We do not calculate your tax on this site. The settlement statement does, after there is a price and a payoff. Call (540) 547-SELL about the house.

Which statute

Rates below are the Code's rates as published on Virginia's legislative site. Your statement applies them to your deed.

Virginia questions

Do you collect these taxes?

No. The circuit court clerk does, when the deed is recorded. They appear on the settlement statement.

Does every county charge the extra one-third?

The Code allows it. Adoption is local. Ask the clerk or read your statement. We do not keep a yes-or-no chart on this site.

Where are the clerks listed?

On each location guide, from the Virginia courts directory, with the office address and phone.