Tax Type
Local Taxes
Property Tax
Description
Motor Vehicle Owned by Military Person
Topic
Exemptions
Local Power to Tax
Local Taxes Discussion
Property Subject to Tax
Date Issued
06-12-1984
[Opinion - Virginia Attorney General: 1984 at 395]
REQUEST BY: Honorable John H. Dressler Commissioner of the Revenue for the City of Poquoson
OPINION BY: Gerald L. Baliles, Attorney General
OPINION:
You have asked whether a certain motor vehicle owned by a serviceperson stationed in Arlington, Virginia in compliance with military orders is subject to personal property taxation. The serviceperson is a domiciliary of Texas and is the owner of record of the motor vehicle. The motor vehicle is registered with the State of Virginia and is normally garaged or parked in the City of Poquoson and used by the serviceperson's spouse who lives and is employed in the City of Poquoson. You suggest that the location of the serviceperson's motor vehicle is so distant from the military assignment that the exemption from personal property taxation provided by the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act would appear to be lost.
Section 514 of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940, as amended, 50 U.S.C.A. App. § 574, provides that "[f]or the purposes of taxation . . . PERSONAL PROPERTY [OF the nondomiciliary serviceman] . . . shall not be deemed to be located or present in or to have a situs for taxation in such State [in which the property is physically located] . . . ." Consistent with this statute, this Office has held that a Virginia locality cannot tax motor vehicles owned by nondomiciliary service people who are stationed in Virginia. See Reports of the Attorney General: 1981-1982 at 370; 1965-1966 at 196.
In the particular situation which you present, the motor vehicle is owned solely by the nondomiciliary serviceperson. It is, however, located and operated in a Virginia locality other than the Virginia locality in which the serviceperson is stationed. A similar situation was presented in United States v. Arlington County, 326 F.2d 929 (4th Cir. 1964). In that case, a naval officer, domiciled in New Jersey, was living with his family in Arlington, Virginia. Although he was assigned to sea duty outside of Virginia and New Jersey, he left his family and personal property in Arlington for a year and one-half after his assignment. Arlington County contended that his personal property ceased to be exempt from taxation when he was transferred pursuant to military orders to a post outside Virginia, but elected to leave his family and personal property in Arlington County. The lower court held for the county finding that the personal property was not in Virginia by virtue of the naval officer's military orders, and it was, therefore, subject to the same personal property taxes as other personal property located in Virginia. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed this decision holding that the intent of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act was to exempt a serviceperson from taxation on his personal property except by his "home" state. Thus, although a nondomiciliary serviceperson's personal property may be located in a jurisdiction other than the one in which the serviceperson is stationed pursuant to military orders, the property is still exempt from taxation in any jurisdiction of the host state.1
Accordingly, I am of the opinion that the personal property in question is not subject to personal property taxation in the City of Poquoson.
1 See, also, 1972-1973 Report of the Attorney General at 410 in which it was held that a domiciliary serviceperson is amenable to local personal property taxes in Virginia although physical location of his or her property is outside of the Commonwealth during the period of military service.
Attorney General's Opinion