A HUGE Win for Virginia Sellers

March 4th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Local News, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt

As many of you know, whether you’re a seller or just “in the know” last year the Authority was granted to the Virginia Transportation Authority to impose an additional $4/$1000 to the Virginia Grantor’s Tax. This was a 400% increase over our previous tax of $1/$1000 bringing the new total tax to $5/$1000… HUGE difference to a seller!

Well, as we suspected (and as I’ve previously written about), it was ruled by the Virginia Supreme Court to be unconstitutional to enable a non-elected body to impose taxes. What does this mean? It’s unclear. One thing that IS clear is that they will have to come up with another way to pay for the road improvements here in Northern Virginia as well as in the Hampton Roads area, which is the other locality affected by this tax. The second thing that’s crystal clear is that they will have to figure out some way to refund those who have already paid this tax since January 1, 2008.

J0285181 Meanwhile, I suspect they’ll go back to the drawing board - whether it means gas taxes, increased local taxes, bond money, etc… we need the money from somewhere to relieve congestion – I’m glad this time it won’t be paid for by those selling their homes!

If you have any questions about this, and/or if you were a seller who paid these higher taxes from January 1, 2008 through the present, please contact your settlement agent about what the refund process might look like, how long it might take, etc… then, REJOICE!

Happy Tuesday!

Jennifer

Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!

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