In Fairfax County we pay a personal property tax on our vehicles, and that tax is based on the assessed value of our vehicles. By this definition, shouldn't we be able to deduct it from our federal taxes? I can't find any information about this either way. Note, I'm not talking about our state DMV fees or the county $33 vehicle registration fee. I know we can't deduct these in Virgina. Anybody have a link with more info about deducting the personal property tax paid on our vehicles?

I is deductible as an itemized deduction on schedule A of your return. It is ordinarily listed as "personal property tax". See the instructions for schedule A for more information.

Yes, it is deductible on Schedule A, however, if you use Turbo Tax, the software tries to tell you that there is no allowable deduction if you live in Virginia. Presumably, this is because the tax is administered at the county level rather than by the state, and the folks at Intuit don't include tax information for counties.

My Turbo Tax always allowed it for the last six years for me in VA.

I deduct the entire bill from my state and federal returns for four vehicles. I have never had a problem.

The total for all four vehicles (where each doesn't trigger the $20k threshold) probably isn't as much as others' single vehicle... I think that's why I don't get flagged.

You can deduct the actual personal property tax ("car tax") that is based on the value of your vehicle.

You cannot deduct the $33 "registration fee" that Fairfax County charges you on top of the car tax because that fee is a flat fee that is not based on the value of the vehicle. The same applies in other Virginia jurisdictions that still require the odious county (or city) decal. The tax is deductible; the decal fee is not.

TurboTax tells you that you can't deduct registration fees because in Virginia the registration fee refers to the fee for the decal (in jurisdictions requiring one) or for "registration" (in Fairfax County). The "car tax" is technically separate and is not a car registration fee; rather, it's "personal property tax." In the end as a practical matter it doesn't have any effect on your final taxes where you enter it in TurboTax. But if you want to be 100% correct about, enter the car tax (after subtracting the $33 registration fee) in the area where TurboTax asks you whether you paid personal property tax.

On the federal return in turbo tax there's a section on property taxes for your home. Just below that is a box for other taxes. Put your car tax in there and it doesn't affect the federal return but does reduce your virginia taxes by about half or more!

Turbo fucking tax? That's about as secure as a twenty dollar bill on the ground at a day labor 7 Eleven.

I would deduct it all..they will never know.