At What Age Do You Stop Paying Property Taxes in Virginia?

There is no age at which you stop paying property taxes in Virginia. What changes at 65 is that you become eligible to apply for a local relief program that can reduce your bill, and in many cases eliminate it entirely, if your income and assets fall below limits your city or county sets. Permanent and total disability qualifies you at any age, and veterans with a 100 percent service-connected disability get a separate, stronger exemption that works differently from the senior program.

What Relief at 65 Actually Looks Like

Virginia’s Constitution allows the General Assembly to let local governments exempt or defer property taxes for residents who are 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled.¹ The General Assembly carried that authority into Virginia Code § 58.1-3210, which gives each locality the option to create its own program by ordinance.² The state does not require localities to offer relief, but nearly all Virginia cities and counties have adopted some form of it.

Localities can structure relief in three ways:

Exemption. A portion or all of the tax bill is forgiven outright.
Deferral. The tax is postponed rather than forgiven. The deferred amount typically becomes a lien on the property, collected when you sell, transfer the home, or from your estate.
Tax-increase freeze. The locality exempts or defers only the portion of tax that reflects increases since you turned 65 or became disabled, locking your bill at the level it was when you first qualified.²

Some localities combine these. A common setup is a full exemption for lower-income households paired with a deferral option for those whose income sits just above the exemption threshold.

Who Qualifies

State law sets the baseline. To qualify under any program adopted under § 58.1-3210, you must meet all of the following:

Age or disability. You must be at least 65, or permanently and totally disabled as defined by Virginia Code § 58.1-3217. If the home is jointly owned with your spouse, only one of you needs to meet the age or disability threshold.²
Ownership. You must own the property. Homes held in a revocable living trust where you retain the power of revocation qualify, as do homes in an irrevocable trust where you hold a life estate or continuing right of use.²
Occupancy. The property must be your sole dwelling. A temporary absence for medical care or a nursing facility stay does not disqualify you as long as it remains your legal residence.
Income and net worth. Your household income and financial worth must fall below the limits your locality sets.

Localities decide what counts as income and where to draw the net worth line. In general, income includes everything received by everyone living in the household, not just the owner. Virginia law lets localities exclude certain categories, and many do: disability payments where an owner or household member is permanently and totally disabled, life insurance proceeds paid on the death of an owner, and a set dollar amount of income earned by non-owning relatives who live in the home. Fairfax County, for example, excludes the first $6,500 of a non-owning relative’s income.³

For net worth, the value of the home itself and the land it sits on are almost always excluded. You can own a home worth several hundred thousand dollars and still qualify, as long as your other assets fall under the locality’s cap.

How Much Relief You Actually Get

Most localities use a sliding scale tied to income rather than a straight pass-or-fail cutoff. Lower income means a larger percentage of relief; income closer to the top of the range means a smaller reduction. Fairfax County’s 2026 schedule shows how this plays out:

$60,000 or less: 100 percent relief
$60,001 to $70,000: 75 percent relief
$70,001 to $80,000: 50 percent relief
$80,001 to $90,000: 25 percent relief³

Other localities set different brackets and different maximum income levels. A household that qualifies for full relief in one county might receive only partial relief across the county line. The numbers that decide your bill are the ones in your locality’s ordinance, not the state statute.

How to Apply

Applications go through the office of the Commissioner of the Revenue, or the Director of Finance in some cities. Forms are usually posted on the locality’s website and available in person. Loudoun County and New Kent County, for example, both publish their 2026 relief application forms online as downloadable PDFs.⁴

Be ready to provide:

Proof of age (birth certificate, driver’s license, or passport)
Income documentation (federal tax returns, Social Security benefit letters, pension statements)
Asset records (bank and investment account statements)
Disability certification from a physician or the Social Security Administration, if you are applying on the basis of disability rather than age

Deadlines vary. Arlington County’s 2026 deadline falls on November 16, though submitting by March 31 ensures your adjusted bill arrives on time.⁵ In many jurisdictions, missing the deadline means waiting another full year.

Renewing Each Year

Approval does not lock in relief permanently. Most localities require an annual check-in. Some jurisdictions require a full new application every three years, with a shorter recertification form in the years between.⁵ On the recertification you confirm that income, household composition, and ownership remain the same.

Report changes. If your income rises above the limit, or someone with substantial income moves into your household, the locality expects to hear about it. Failing to disclose a change that would affect eligibility can result in being billed for the taxes that were improperly exempted. Many localities mail the renewal form automatically in late winter or early spring.

A Different Deal for Disabled Veterans

The senior relief program is not the only route to a lower property tax bill, and veterans should not confuse the two. If you are a veteran rated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as having a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability, your principal residence is fully exempt from property taxes.⁶ Veterans rated below 100 percent whom the VA classifies as individually unemployable and “permanent and total” also qualify.⁷

This exemption is statewide and mandatory, not a local option. There is no age requirement and no income or net worth test. The exemption covers the qualifying dwelling and up to one acre of land, and localities that provide exemptions on more acreage under the senior program must extend the same acreage to disabled veterans. If you own a manufactured home but not the land beneath it, the home itself is still exempt.⁶

The exemption extends to the surviving spouse of a qualifying veteran, provided the spouse does not remarry. Since July 1, 2019, the surviving spouse can also move to a different home in Virginia and carry the exemption to the new residence.⁷ You apply through your local Commissioner of the Revenue, the same office that handles senior relief.

Why the Numbers Depend on Where You Live

The variation across Virginia is deliberate. State law says localities may offer relief to owners who are 65 or older or permanently disabled, and may impose income and net worth limits. It does not tell them what those limits must be, what percentage of taxes to forgive, or how to build the sliding scale. A rural county with modest home values might set lower income ceilings and offer full exemption to everyone who qualifies. A high-cost suburban county might set higher income limits but tier the relief more aggressively.

The only reliable way to know your eligibility and your likely benefit is to contact the Commissioner of the Revenue or tax office in the city or county where your home is located. Most localities post the ordinance details and application forms on their website, which is a reasonable place to start before calling.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Constitution of Virginia – Article X, Section 6
2
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia Title 58.1-3210 – Exemption or Deferral of Taxes on Property of Certain Elderly Individuals and Individuals With Disabilities
3
Fairfax County. Tax Relief for Seniors and People With Disabilities
4
Loudoun County. Tax Assessment and Tax Relief Forms
5
Arlington County. Real Estate Tax Relief Program
6
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia 58.1-3219.5 – Exemption From Taxes on Property for Disabled Veterans
7
Virginia Department of Veterans Services. Tax Exemptions