Virginia Code 46.2-755: Limitations on imposition of motor vehicle license taxes and fees
A. No locality shall impose any motor vehicle license tax or fee on any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer when:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 46.2-755
- Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Semitrailer: means every vehicle of the trailer type so designed and used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests on or is carried by another vehicle. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Trailer: means every vehicle without motive power designed for carrying property or passengers wholly on its own structure and for being drawn by a motor vehicle, including manufactured homes. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
- Vehicle: means every device in, on or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except personal delivery devices and devices moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
1. A similar tax or fee is imposed by the locality wherein the vehicle is normally garaged, stored, or parked;
2. The vehicle is owned by a nonresident of such locality and is used exclusively for pleasure or personal transportation or as a TNC partner vehicle as defined in § 46.2-2000 and not otherwise for hire or for the conduct of any business or occupation other than that set forth in subdivision 3;
3. The vehicle is (i) owned by a nonresident and (ii) used for transporting into and within the locality, for sale in person or by his employees, wood, meats, poultry, fruits, flowers, vegetables, milk, butter, cream, or eggs produced or grown by him, and not purchased by him for sale;
4. The motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer is owned by an officer or employee of the Commonwealth who is a nonresident of such locality and who uses the vehicle in the performance of his duties for the Commonwealth under an agreement for such use;
5. The motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer is kept by a dealer or manufacturer for sale or for sales demonstration;
6. The motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer is operated by a common carrier of persons or property operating between cities and towns in the Commonwealth and not in intracity transportation or between cities and towns on the one hand and points and places outside cities and towns on the other and not in intracity transportation;
7. The motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer is inoperable and unlicensed pursuant to § 46.2-734; or
8. The motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer qualifies and is licensed as an antique vehicle pursuant to § 46.2-730.
B. No locality shall impose a license fee for any one motor vehicle owned and used personally by any veteran who holds a current state motor vehicle registration card establishing that he has received a disabled veteran’s exemption from the Department and has been issued a disabled veteran’s motor vehicle license plate as prescribed in § 46.2-739.
C. No locality shall impose any license tax or license fee or the requirement of a license tag, sticker or decal upon any daily rental vehicle, as defined in § 58.1-1735, the rental of which is subject to the tax imposed by subdivision A 2 of § 58.1-1736.
D. In the rental agreement between a motor vehicle renting company and a renter, the motor vehicle renting company may separately itemize and charge daily fees or transaction fees to the renter, provided that the amounts of such fees are disclosed at the time of reservation and rental as part of any estimated pricing provided to the renter. Such fees include a vehicle license fee to recover the company’s incurred costs in licensing, titling, and registering its rental fleet, concession recovery fees actually charged the company by an airport, or other governmentally owned or operated facility, and consolidated facility charges actually charged by an airport, or other governmentally owned or operated facility for improvements to or construction of facilities at such facility where the motor vehicle rental company operates. The vehicle license fee shall represent the company’s good faith estimate of the average per day per vehicle portion of the company’s total annual vehicle licensing, titling, and registration costs.
No motor vehicle renting company charging a vehicle license fee, concession recovery fee, or consolidated facility charge may make an advertisement in the Commonwealth that includes a statement of the rental rate for a vehicle available for rent in the Commonwealth unless such advertisement includes a statement that the customer will be required to pay a vehicle license fee, concession recovery fee, or consolidated facility charge. The vehicle license fee, concession recovery fee, or consolidated facility charge shall be shown as a separately itemized charge on the rental agreement. The vehicle license fee shall be described in either the terms and conditions of the rental agreement as the “estimated average per day per vehicle portion of the company’s total annual vehicle licensing, titling, and registration costs” or, for renters participating in an extended rental program pursuant to a master rental agreement, by posting such statement on the rental company website.
Any amounts collected by the motor vehicle renting company in excess of the actual amount of its costs incurred relating to its vehicle license fees shall be retained by the motor vehicle renting company and applied toward the recovery of its next calendar year’s costs relating to such fees. In such event, the good faith estimate of any vehicle license fee to be charged by the company for the next calendar year shall be reduced to take into account the excess amount collected from the prior year.
E. As used in this section, common carrier of persons or property includes any person who undertakes, whether directly or by lease or any other arrangement, to transport passengers or household goods for the general public by motor vehicle for compensation over the highways of the Commonwealth, whether over regular or irregular routes, that has obtained the required certificate from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to § 46.2-2075 or 46.2-2150.
Code 1950, § 46-65; 1950, p. 407; 1954, c. 575; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-66; 1959, Ex. Sess., c. 22; 1976, cc. 5, 339; 1978, c. 188; 1984, c. 156; 1985, c. 123; 1989, c. 727; 1997, cc. 283, 496, 853; 2006, c. 515; 2007, c. 296; 2011, cc. 405, 639, 881, 889; 2015, cc. 2, 3; 2017, c. 372.