Listing Business Personal Property
What to list:
Business personal property includes computer and office equipment, supplies, materials, machinery, farm equipment, leasehold improvements, etc. Vehicle bodies or equipment mounted on vehicles are to be listed with the information as requested on Schedule B of the business listing form. Only the cab and chassis are being valued in the DMV bill. All vehicles and trailers that have permanent/multi year tags are to be listed, as these are not assessed through the DMV billing after that first year. All vehicles and trailers that have multi-year tags are required to be listed the second through the fourth years, as they are not required to be registered again through the DMV until the fifth year. All vehicles and trailers are required to be taxed each year either through the DMV billing or by listing on Schedule B. Values for business personal property are determined by applying trending factors developed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue to original costs reported by the taxpayer, producing a value that reflects replacement cost less depreciation.
When to list:
The listing form:
What If The Property Sold Or Moved
If you have sold or junked property for which you have received a listing or discovery, you must provide proof of the sale, or some other compelling evidence that you did not own the property as of January 1st. The following are examples of proof:
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A Bill of Sale signed by both the seller and the buyer with contact information for the buyer
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A title in the new owners name
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Receipt for charitable donation of property
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Receipt from the person or company receiving the junked property
If you have moved the property out of Guilford County , you must provide proof that the property was moved out of the County prior to January 1st of the taxing year. The following are examples of proof:
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Update to wildlife registration showing your watercraft in another county or out of state
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Tax bill for the property from another county
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Copy of contract for a storage facility, marina, aircraft hangar or mobile home park outside of Guilford County showing the date your property transferred to their facility.
If the property was sold or moved after January 1st of the taxing year, you are still responsible to list the property and pay the related tax bill usually mailed in the fall.
Listing Individual Personal Property
What to list:
- Unlicensed motor vehicles
- All Permanent or Multi Year Tagged Vehicles/Trailers
- Boats, boat motors, jet skis and other watercraft
- Mobile homes not listed as real property
- Airplanes, hot air balloons, gliders and other aircraft
When to list:
North Carolina General Statutes require all individuals owning personal property on January 1st of each year to annually list property that is subject to taxation. The listing period is from January 2nd through January 31st. Listings submitted by mail shall be deemed filed as of the date shown on the postmark affixed by the US Postal Service. If no date is shown on the postmark, or if the postmark is affixed by postage meter, the listing shall be deemed filed when received by the Stanly County Tax Administrators Office. All late filings will be charged a 10% penalty.
The listing form:
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Guilford County Tax Department
THE GREENSBORO & HIGH POINT TAX OFFICES ARE OPENED TO THE PUBLIC |
The Guilford County Tax Offices in Greensboro and High Point are fully opened to the public for face-to-face services. The following contact information listed below may be used to communicate electronically or by telephone with any division of the Tax Department. Here are the Alternative Ways to Access Our Services Pay your taxes with American Express, Discover Card, MasterCard, VISA, or e-Check.1. 2. Call: 336-203-7795 3. Mail your check or money order to: PO Box 71072, Charlotte, NC 28272-1072 4. 24/7 Drop Box located at 400 W. Market Street Greensboro 5. 24/7 Drop Box located at 325 E Russell Avenue High Point The Guilford County Tax Department uses a service called Payit that allows you to pay tax bills online, by phone, or in person. Payit collects processing and/or transaction fees to deliver quality services more efficiently with no upfront costs to Guilford County. The Guilford County Tax Department does not collect or benefit from the transaction/processing fees. – Web/Mobile and Phone payments: 1.85% of transaction amount processing fee + $2.00 transaction fee – ACH/e-Check payments: $1.25 per transaction amount processing fee + $2.00 transaction fee – Point of Sale payments: 2.35% of transaction amount processing fee |
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Qualifications & Rates For Business Personal Property Tax

Generally speaking, the business personal property of all businesses is subject to property tax. Like real estate, however, there are exemptions, principally for charitable, educational, and other not-for-profit activities and institutions. Such exemptions can be very specific, so consult with counsel to determine if the business personal property qualifies for exemption.
Business personal property and real estate are taxed in the same manner at the same rate. In each case, the property is supposed to be valued and taxed at its fair market value. The tax rate applicable to each is the same. The tax rate varies from county to county and also within a specific county if the property is located within a municipality within the countyin which case both a county tax rate and a municipal tax rate applies. Tax rates are usually published on the county tax office website.
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Individual Personal Property Includes:
- Unlicensed vehicles, which are those not having an active North Carolina registration on January 1 of a year, including automobiles, trucks, trailers, permanent multi-year trailers, campers and motorcycles
- Boats, Boat Motors, Jet Skis, etc.
- Aircraft, including Hot Air Balloons, Ultralights, and Gliders
- Vehicles with permanent multi-year tags issues by the NCDMV
For information on vehicles having an active North Carolina registration, please view the motor vehicles section of this website.
If you received a property tax bill for a gap in registration and have questions, please view the Gap Tax Notice section of this site.
Personal Property Tax Bills
Personal Property tax statements are normally mailed to owners in July of each year. If you do not receive your statement by September 1, please contact our office to request a duplicate. Property taxes not paid in full by January 5 following billing are assessed an interest charge of 2% for the month of January and an additional ¾ of 1% each month thereafter.
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When To Look Out For Your Business Personal Property Tax Notice
In real estate revaluations, the county sends a revaluation notice to the property owner advising him of the new value for his real estate, generally in the first quarter of the year of revaluation.
However, with business personal property, the tax office typically does not send out a separate revaluation notice informing the owner of the new value each year. Instead, the notice comes when the tax office sends out tax bills based on the business personal property listing form. Tax bills are sent out typically in July and August. For the business personal property owner, this is the only notice they will receive regarding the current years value of their business personal property.
Electronic Listing Of Personal Property
North Carolina General Statute 105-310.1 provides that the North Carolina Department of Revenue may establish standards and requirements for electronic listing of personal property, including the minimum requirements that must exist before electronic listing will be allowed in a county.
The North Carolina Electronic Listing Standards and Requirements document, as updated by any subsequent revisions, constitutes the standards and requirements for electronic listing of personal property as established by NCDOR.
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How & When To Appeal Business Personal Property Tax Valuation
The appeal process for business personal property is the same as for real estate. The business personal property owner first appeals to the county Board of Equalization and Review. If not successful, the BPP owner can appeal to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission in Raleigh.
The appeal deadline for business personal property valuation is a trap for the unwary. With real estate, the deadline for filing an appeal cannot be before the first Monday in April and generally is sometime between the end of April and the end of June. One usually knows the tax value of the property before the end of the first quarter and can file an appeal before the end of March to be safe.
On the other hand, with business personal property, the owner does not know what the tax value of the BPP is until receiving a bill in mid to late summer. The owner then has 30 days from the date on the billnot from receipt of the billto file an appeal. Frequently, especially with large businesses, the bill may get passed around for some time before landing on the desk of the responsible person. Often, the deadline for appeals has then passed.
Additionally, the bill can be paid as late as January 6 of the following year without interest or penalty, so people frequently dont think about the bill or appealing the value until the deadline for payment approaches, which is too late to appeal.
This article was first published on August 16, 2017 and updated on December 21, 2020.
Types Of Property To Be Taxed
The three main elements of the property tax system in North Carolina are real property, personal property, and motor vehicles. Real property consists of land and buildings. Personal property consists of, for this guide, tangible personal property or all personal property that is not intangible and is not permanently affixed to real property. Motor vehicles, if registered, are assessed according to its registration renewal date.
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Business Personal Property Tax Requirements
In the property tax realm, property can be categorized as either real or personal. Real property includes land and buildings. Personal property is anything that is not real property and is typically movable property, for example, furniture, machinery, equipment, computers, etc. Both real and personal property can also be categorized as business use or personal use property.
Most real property is taxable, regardless of whether it is business use property or personal use property . Business use personal property is typically taxable, while personal use personal property is typically not taxable . Finally, personal property can also be categorized as tangibleit can be seen, touched, and felt such as a desk or a computeror intangibleit cannot be seen, touched, or felt, such as computer software, trademarks, or financial accounts. Most intangible business personal property is exempt, while tangible business personal property is generally taxable.
So, the tangible business personal property that is generally subject to the property tax in North Carolina includes machinery, equipment, furniture, motor vehicles, computers, etc. used for business purposes.
North Carolina Property Tax Rates

Property taxes are collected on a county level, and each county in North Carolina has its own method of assessing and collecting taxes. As a result, it’s not possible to provide a single property tax rate that applies uniformly to all properties in North Carolina.
Instead, Tax-Rates.org provides property tax statistics based on the taxes owed on millions of properties across North Carolina. These statistics allow you to easily compare relative property taxes across different areas, and see how your property taxes compare to taxes on similar houses in North Carolina.
The statistics provided here are state-wide. For more localized statistics, you can find your county in the North Carolina property tax map or county list found on this page.
While the exact property tax rate you will pay will vary by county and is set by the local property tax assessor, you can use the free North Carolina Property Tax Estimator Tool to calculate your approximate yearly property tax based on median property tax rates across North Carolina.
If you would like to get a more accurate property tax estimation, choose the county your property is located in from the list on the left. Property tax averages from this county will then be used to determine your estimated property tax.
will send you a bill detailing the exact amount of property tax you owe every year.
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Individual Personal Property Includes But Is Not Limited To:
Unlicensed vehicles | |
Boats, boat motors | Gliders |
Typically Tax Listing Period
Owners of these items must list them with the Tax Office each January. A listing penalty of 10% is added for any property that has not been listed before the end of each January.
- If you did not receive a Property Tax Listing form, click here to print one or contact us.
- 2022 Individual Personal Property Listing Form
Appeals: Once you have submitted your listing form and you have received your tax bill, you may request an appeal. Appeal requests must be received in the Tax Office within 30 days of the billing date on your bill. Therefore, it is suggested that you verify the information on your bill as soon as you receive it.
While unlicensed vehicles must be listed annually in January, licensed vehicles should not be listed annually, with the exception of multi-year tagged vehicles.
Tax bills for licensed vehicles are now included in the invitation to renew your license plate that you receive from the NC Department of Motor Vehicles. The taxes must be paid when the vehicle is registered, and they must be paid to the NC Department of Motor Vehicles.
Common Mistakes Made On A Business Personal Property Tax Listing Form
The most common mistake we see is a failure to remove property that is no longer in service from the listing form. Most businesses use their fixed asset schedule as a starting point for the business personal property listing form, and many businesses do not remove items that are no longer used, like old computers. Because business personal property is depreciated to a residual value and not zero, this results in an inflated tax bill.
A second common mistake we see is including assets that should not be on the business personal property listing formeither because the assets are exempt or because they are real property, not personal property. Of course, this error can go the other way too, where assets that should be listed are not listed because the taxpayer erroneously believes that they are exempt or already taxed as real property.
A third common mistake is failing to “scrub” your construction in progress or supplies account at year end. The values in the CIP and supplies account never depreciate for property tax purposes. So, to the extent that the values in these accounts are higher than they could be, your property tax bill will be higher.
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The Ins And Outs Of Business Personal Property Tax
The majority of property tax appeals concern arguments over the value of real estateland and buildings such as commercial retail buildings, commercial office buildings, multi-family buildings, and industrial facilities. However, real estate is not the only type of property that is taxable for property tax purposes in North Carolina. Business personal property is also taxable for property tax purposes.
North Carolina Property Taxes By County
You can choose any county from our list of North Carolina counties for detailed information on that county’s property tax, and the contact information for the county tax assessor’s office. Alternatively, you can find your county on the North Carolina property tax map found at the top of this page. Hint: Press Ctrl+F to search for your county’s name
Median Property Taxes In North Carolina By County
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City Of Brevard Tax Bills
Just a reminder that beginning with the 2019 tax bills, the City of Brevard began collecting taxes for the City of Brevard and Heart of Brevard districts. If your property is located in either of these districts, you will continue to receive two tax bills one from Transylvania County and one from the City of Brevard.
Do not hesitate to contact our office at 884-3200 if you have any questions concerning your Transylvania County tax bill. For questions concerning City of Brevard or Heart of Brevard taxes, you may contact Tina Tanner at 885-5600.
What We Do
The Tax Administration office is responsible for the discovery, listing and appraisal of all real and personal property in Transylvania County while abiding by the NC General Statutes that govern our office. The month of January is our Listing Period. Taxpayers are required to list any personal property, business personal property, income producing farm equipment and any additions, deletions, or other changes to their real property. January also begins the appeal period each year. Taxpayers may appeal informally with the Tax Administration office from January 1st until the date Board of Equalization and Review convenes, which is generally the first Monday in April. When the Board of E & R is in session, appeals must be directed to the Board. Once the Board has adjourned, it ends the appeal period for that year. A taxpayer must appeal to the Board of E & R in order to continue in the appeal process to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission in Raleigh.
The Tax Administration office also maintains the GIS records. Property records are edited and maintained through documents recorded in the Transylvania County Register of Deeds and the Transylvania County Clerk of Court office.
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