Rental Property Taxes in West Virginia (2026 Guide)

1. Property Tax: the Class III/IV Double-Levy

This is the single most important West Virginia landlord fact. WV sorts every parcel into one of four classes (W.Va. Code 11-8-5), and a rental never lands in the favorable owner-occupied class:

• Class II — property "owned, used and occupied by the owner exclusively for residential purposes," plus owner/tenant-farmed farmland. This is the owner-occupied home (and farms).
• Class III — all property situated outside municipalities that is not Class I or II. A rental beyond city limits sits here.
• Class IV — all property situated inside municipalities that is not Class I or II. A rental inside a town or city sits here.

All property is assessed at 60% of true and actual value (W.Va. Code 11-3-1). West Virginia’s overall effective property-tax burden is widely cited as one of the lowest in the nation (roughly 0.55%–0.6% of value), but the headline figure reflects owner-occupied Class II homes — a Class III/IV rental pays the doubled levy on top of the same 60% base.

The $20,000 homestead exemption (W.Va. Code 11-6B-3) only reaches owner-occupants who are 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled. A rental never qualifies — another reason the landlord’s base is higher than an owner-occupant’s.

2. Income Tax (Falling Toward 4.58% for 2026)

West Virginia has a graduated income tax that has been cut repeatedly — HB 2526 (2023) dropped rates about 21%, a 2024 trigger cut them again, and SB 392 (2026) applied a further ~5% reduction retroactive to January 1, 2026:

• The 2026 schedule runs 2.11% / 2.81% / 3.16% / 4.22% / 4.58%, with the top rate down to 4.58% (W.Va. Code 11-21-4j; tax.wv.gov).
• Federal adjusted gross income is the starting point (W.Va. Code 11-21-12), with West Virginia modifications layered on.
• Capital gains are taxed as ordinary income — there is no special WV capital-gains rate, exclusion, or deduction for individuals, so a rental sale’s gain is taxed at the same graduated schedule.

3. Bonus Depreciation (Full Conformity)

West Virginia conforms to federal bonus depreciation (§168(k)). Because WV income starts from federal AGI and uses rolling IRC conformity (W.Va. Code 11-21-9), and the modification list in W.Va. Code 11-21-12 contains no bonus-depreciation add-back, the federal deduction flows straight through to your WV return — no separate state depreciation schedule to maintain. That is a genuine advantage over add-back states.

4. Transfer / Excise Tax

West Virginia has no statewide percentage transfer tax, but W.Va. Code 11-22-2 imposes a county excise tax on the privilege of transferring real estate: a base of $1.10 per $500 of value (county-retained), plus a separate additional county tax of $0.55 per $500 that a county commission may raise up to a cap of $1.65 per $500. The grantor (seller) pays, and a flat $20 per-transfer fee also applies. Confirm your county’s rate before closing.

5. LLC Annual Report ($25)

A West Virginia LLC must file an annual report with the Secretary of State and pay a $25 fee (W.Va. Code 59-1-2a), due by June 30 each year (the SOS opens the filing window January 1). It is inexpensive, but miss it and the state can administratively dissolve the LLC — calendar the June 30 deadline.

6. Rent Control

West Virginia has no rent-control law and no statute expressly preempting local rent control — nothing in W.Va. Code Chapter 37 or the Chapter 8 municipal-powers article addresses rent regulation. In practice rents are set at market statewide. (Some secondary sources claim a §37-6 preemption; no such language exists in the code.)

7. Security Deposit Rules (Wingo Act)

• No statutory cap on the deposit amount (W.Va. Code 37-6A).
• Return within 60 days of the tenancy ending, or within 45 days of a subsequent tenant occupying the unit, whichever is shorter, with a written itemized statement of any damages or charges (W.Va. Code 37-6A-1, 37-6A-2).
• 15-day extension is allowed when a third-party contractor’s estimate is needed, provided you give the tenant written notice. Keep records of deductions for at least one year (W.Va. Code 37-6A-3).

8. How SheltrIQ Helps West Virginia Landlords

West Virginia’s rates keep moving and its property classification is easy to get wrong — SheltrIQ keeps your return on the current rules:

• Current-year income modeling — applies the 2026 2.11%–4.58% schedule from a federal-AGI base, not a stale prior-year table.
• Disposition modeling — treats the gain as ordinary WV income (no state capital-gains break) so your projected liability is realistic.
• Bonus-depreciation pass-through — recognizes WV’s full §168(k) conformity, so there is no add-back to reconcile and your federal and state depreciation match.
• AI Schedule E classification — sorts each expense to the right line so your WV income starts from an accurate federal return.