Virginia Beach Property Tax: Rates, Deadlines & How to Appeal

Virginia Beach's Board of Equalization (BOE) accepts real estate assessment appeals through June 30 each year, with a lighter-weight informal review at the Real Estate Assessor's Office due April 30. Formal BOE appeals must be mailed — faxed or electronic submissions are not accepted — to the Board of Equalization of Real Estate Assessments at 2424 Courthouse Drive, Building 18, Room 247, Virginia Beach, VA 23456-9054. Get moving early: notices go out in March, and both deadlines fall well before summer.

How assessments work in Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is an independent city, not part of any county, and it is its own assessing authority. The city's Real Estate Assessor's Office — not a county assessor or a "commissioner of the revenue," as some other Virginia localities use for this function — values every parcel each year to reflect market value as of the assessment date. Reassessment notices are mailed by property owners' addresses on file each March. The Real Estate Assessor's most recent annual report noted assessments rose an average of several percent citywide, though changes vary widely by neighborhood since, in the office's own words, "all residential neighborhoods do not appreciate or depreciate at the same rate."

Separately, tax relief and exemption applications (senior/disabled relief, disabled veterans) are handled by the city's Commissioner of Revenue, while assessment appeals go through the Real Estate Assessor and the Board of Equalization. It's worth knowing which office to call before you start.

Whether you should appeal

An appeal is worth filing if you believe your assessment sits above fair market value, is inconsistent with comparable properties nearby, or contains a factual error (wrong square footage, incorrect lot size, a listed feature that doesn't exist, etc.). The Board of Equalization starts from the position that the assessment is correct — the burden is on you to show, with "substantial evidence," that the value is wrong, not just that you'd prefer to pay less. Useful evidence includes recent comparable sales, a private appraisal, photos documenting condition issues, or clear proof of a data error in the city's property record.

If your case is really about affordability rather than valuation accuracy, look first at the senior/disabled tax relief program or the disabled veterans exemption described below — those can reduce or eliminate your bill without disputing the assessed value at all.

Step-by-step how to file

1. Call the Assessor's Office first. The office (757-385-4601) recommends an informal conversation before you file anything — many concerns get resolved without a hearing.
2. File a Request for Reappraisal by April 30 if you want the informal, no-hearing review. This is a discussion of your concerns with the Assessor's Office directly, available during the open appeal period each year.
3. File a formal Board of Equalization appeal by June 30 if you want a hearing before the independent board, or if the informal review doesn't resolve things. You do not have to go through the informal step first.
4. Use the official Board of Equalization Appeal Application form, available from the Real Estate Assessor's site. Submit by mail only — eight copies of the application and all supporting documentation, postmarked no later than June 30. A separate application is required for each parcel. If someone other than the owner is filing, include a signed Letter of Authorization or notarized Power of Attorney.
5. Mail everything to: City of Virginia Beach, Board of Equalization of Real Estate Assessments, Attn: Donna Feess, Administrator, 2424 Courthouse Drive, Building 18, Room 247, Virginia Beach, VA 23456-9054.
6. Keep paying your tax bill on schedule regardless of your appeal's status. Real estate taxes are due December 5 and June 5; late payment triggers penalties and interest even if an appeal is pending.

There is no filing fee for a Board of Equalization appeal.

What happens after

The Board of Equalization is a six-member body appointed by the Circuit Court and operates independently of the Assessor's Office, with full authority under Virginia law to raise, lower, or affirm an assessment. Hearings run roughly August through October, on Thursdays, at City Hall (Building 1, Conference Room 2118). Multiple hearings are scheduled per day without fixed time slots, since the board can't predict exactly how long each one will run — but most hearings last 20 to 30 minutes. All written evidence and exhibits must be filed with the BOE by June 30 of the tax year under appeal, the same date as the application itself, so get your documentation together before you file.

At the hearing, witnesses are sworn in, then the appellant presents (10 minutes), the Assessor's Office presents (10 minutes), and the appellant gets a short rebuttal (5 minutes) before the board deliberates and records its decision. If the board changes your assessment, it forwards an order to the City Assessor to amend the record.

Local tips

• Don't skip the informal step if you're not in a hurry. A phone call or informal reappraisal request can fix a factual error (wrong bedroom count, incorrect acreage) faster than waiting for a formal hearing slot.
• Check the disabled veterans exemption. Virginia exempts real property from taxation for veterans with a 100% service-connected, permanent and total disability rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, occupying the property as their primary residence; a surviving spouse can also qualify if the veteran died on or after January 1, 2011, and the spouse hasn't remarried. This is administered by the Commissioner of Revenue, not the Assessor.
• Check senior and disabled tax relief. The Commissioner of Revenue's Real Estate Qualification Division runs an income- and net-worth-based relief program for qualifying seniors and disabled residents, with applications accepted February 1 through June 30 by appointment at the Municipal Center. Contact that office directly (757-385-4385) for the current income and net worth thresholds, since these are set separately from the assessment appeal process.
• Run the math before you file. At the current general real estate tax rate of $0.97 per $100 of assessed value, a $50,000 reduction in your assessment saves about $485 a year — worth knowing before you decide whether a formal hearing is worth your time. (Properties inside certain Special Service Districts, like Sandbridge, pay an additional district rate on top of the general rate.)
• Mail early. Because the Board of Equalization only accepts mailed submissions and works off the postmark, don't wait until June 30 itself to drop your application in the mail.