Virginia farm use tags come in two forms: an F-tag license plate issued by the DMV for farm vehicles weighing 7,500 pounds or more, and a permanent farm use placard for lighter pickups, panel trucks, and SUVs used exclusively for farming. F-tag vehicles can travel anywhere in the state for farm purposes and get a limited personal-use allowance. Placard vehicles cannot: they’re restricted to specific farm-related trips, most capped at 75 miles. Breaking the F-tag rules is a Class 2 misdemeanor. Breaking the placard rules is a traffic infraction with a fine up to $250.
Which Option Fits Your Vehicle
The 7,500-pound gross vehicle weight rating is the dividing line.
If your farm vehicle is at or above that weight, you can register it with the DMV and get F-tag plates. The vehicle has to be titled and insured, and the registration fee is half the standard private-vehicle rate, with a $15 minimum. Any person who owns, rents, or operates a farm large enough to reasonably need a vehicle for hauling agricultural products can register.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Registered Farm Vehicles (F-tag)
If your pickup, panel truck, or SUV is under 7,500 pounds and used only for farming, you can skip registration and instead display a permanent farm use placard. As of July 1, 2024, the DMV-issued placard replaced the homemade “Farm Use” signs farmers used to make themselves.2Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. New Rules for Farm Use Vehicles on July 1, 2024 The placard costs $15 per vehicle and doesn’t expire as long as the vehicle stays in farm use.3Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Virginia Farm Use Plates – A Farmer’s Guide
Trailers, semitrailers, and vehicles over 7,500 pounds that aren’t registered with F-tags can also operate under the farm use exemption without a placard, though they must follow the same use restrictions as placard vehicles.4Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Virginia Permanent Farm Use Placard Exempt Purposes
Both programs require a real agricultural or horticultural operation. Virginia’s definition covers crop production, livestock, poultry, dairy, fruits and vegetables, tobacco, nursery and floral products, and timber harvesting. Owning rural land or keeping a backyard garden doesn’t qualify. Passenger cars and motorcycles never qualify for either program.
Where You Can Drive on a Placard
Unregistered vehicles running on a farm use placard face the tightest rules, and this is where most farmers get tripped up. The word to watch is “exclusively.” A placard vehicle has no personal-use allowance whatsoever.4Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Virginia Permanent Farm Use Placard Exempt Purposes
Public highway use is limited to:
- Crossing a highway to get from one part of the farm to another
- Traveling up to 75 miles between separate tracts of the owner’s land, whether or not they border each other
- Taking the vehicle or attached equipment to and from a repair shop
- Picking up supplies within 75 miles, including seeds, fertilizer, chemicals, and animal feed
- Hauling refuse from the farm to a disposal facility, including incidental household trash from the farmer’s or employees’ homes
- Transporting farm produce and livestock seasonally within 75 miles to a storage facility, packing plant, or market
- Commuting between the owner’s home and farmland used for agricultural or horticultural purposes
- Hauling sawmill materials within 75 miles between a sawmill and the farm
The 75-mile figure is a distance along the road, not a radius. Any trip that doesn’t fit one of these categories requires standard registration. That rules out personal errands, hauling for hire, and lending the truck to a neighbor for non-farm work. Law enforcement can stop a farm use vehicle and ask the driver to explain the trip’s purpose.
Where You Can Drive on an F-Tag
F-tag vehicles can travel anywhere in Virginia for farm purposes without a distance limit. They also carry a narrow personal-use allowance: the owner and immediate family can use the vehicle to attend church or school, get medical treatment or supplies, or pick up household and family necessities.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Registered Farm Vehicles (F-tag) Anything beyond that (running a side hauling business, using the truck as a for-hire vehicle) crosses the line.
How to Apply
Placard
Submit DMV Form VSA 132, Permanent Farm Use Placard Certification.5Virginia DMV. Permanent Farm Use Placard Certification You’ll need to provide the vehicle title (or pay a $15 titling fee if it isn’t already titled, because all motor vehicles driven on Virginia roads must be titled even when exempt from registration),6Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-600 – Owner to Secure Registration and Certificate of Title the approximate location and acreage of each farm where the vehicle will be used, the type of agricultural commodities you produce, a signed statement that the vehicle will only be used for exempt farm purposes, a signed statement that the vehicle carries liability insurance, and the $15 placard fee per vehicle. There’s no cap on how many placards one farmer can hold.
The placard is nontransferable. Both a front and rear placard must be displayed on the vehicle at all times, and homemade “Farm Use” signs are no longer legal.2Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. New Rules for Farm Use Vehicles on July 1, 2024 Each placard carries a unique ID number so law enforcement can verify it.
F-Tag
F-tag registration runs through the standard DMV vehicle registration process. The vehicle must be titled, and you pay half the private-vehicle registration fee, minimum $15. Farm tractors, forestry equipment, and certain specialized farm machinery are exempt from both titling and registration.1Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Registered Farm Vehicles (F-tag) F-tag registrations run for 12 months and must be renewed annually, though the Commissioner can approve multi-year registration.7Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-646 – Expiration and Renewal of Registration If the vehicle stops qualifying as a farm vehicle, you must notify the DMV within 30 days or at your next renewal, whichever comes first.
Insurance (Both)
Every farm vehicle on a public road must carry liability insurance, whether it has an F-tag or a placard.8Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Unregistered Farm Vehicles (Farm Use) Placard vehicles can satisfy the requirement with a general liability policy carrying personal injury and property damage coverage, a standard motor vehicle policy, or an umbrella or excess policy. Self-insurance is not permitted for farm use vehicles. If an officer asks for proof of insurance and you can’t produce it within 30 days, the fine is $600.
Safety Equipment on the Road
Farm vehicles designed to operate at 25 mph or less must display a triangular slow-moving vehicle emblem on the rear whenever they travel on a public highway, day or night.9Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-1081 – Slow-Moving Vehicle Emblems If the vehicle is towing something that blocks the emblem, the towed unit needs its own.
Between sunset and sunrise, farm vehicles not otherwise covered by specific lighting rules must carry at least one white light visible 500 feet to the front and one red light visible 500 feet to the rear.10Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code – Article 3, Lights and Turn Signals An approved reflector can substitute for or supplement these lights. Farm vehicles exempt from registration don’t need electrical turn signals, but hand signals are still expected.
Penalties for Misuse
The consequences depend on which tag you’re using.
Using an F-tag vehicle for anything outside its permitted purposes is a Class 2 misdemeanor, which carries a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.11Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-11 – Punishment for Conviction of Misdemeanor The same charge applies to operating an F-tag vehicle without paying the registration fee, using it as a for-hire vehicle, or continuing to drive on F-tag plates after the vehicle no longer qualifies as a farm vehicle.12Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-698 – Fees for Registration
Willfully violating the placard rules (driving beyond 75 miles, running personal errands, hauling for hire) is a traffic infraction. A first offense carries a fine of up to $250. A second or subsequent violation is a flat $250 fine.13Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-613 – Infractions Relating to Registration, Licensing, and Titling No jail time. However, operating an unregistered vehicle without a legitimate farm exemption can bring additional charges for driving an unregistered vehicle.
The DMV can also revoke farm use privileges for repeated violations, and an insurer may raise premiums or cancel coverage after misuse. For most farmers, losing the exemption and having to pay full registration and commercial insurance rates costs more than the fine itself.
Tax Benefits
Farm designation lowers taxes beyond the reduced registration fee.
Virginia exempts farm machinery and tangible personal property used in agricultural production from state sales and use tax when purchased by a farmer, along with agricultural supplies like seeds, fertilizers, and chemicals used in production for market.14Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-609.2 – Agricultural Exemptions Structural construction materials meant to be permanently attached to real property don’t qualify.
Virginia localities may also exempt motor vehicles, trucks, and tractors used primarily for agricultural purposes from personal property tax. Since 2019, the standard is “primarily” rather than “exclusively,” which broadened eligibility for vehicles that occasionally see non-farm use. Because this is a local option, check with your county or city commissioner of the revenue to see whether your locality participates.
At the federal level, agricultural vehicles subject to the Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax are exempt if driven 7,500 miles or fewer during the tax period, compared with the standard 5,000-mile threshold for other commercial vehicles.15Internal Revenue Service. Key Filing Deadlines for the Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Exceed the limit and the full tax becomes due.