Virginia tax filing: file VA state taxes online, Form 760, deadlines and requirements

Do you have to file a Virginia tax return?

Virginia decides this with a Virginia adjusted gross income (VAGI) test. You are required to file a return if your VAGI is at or above the threshold for your filing status. For tax year 2025 the thresholds are:

VAGI is your federal adjusted gross income with Virginia additions and subtractions applied, so it is not identical to your federal AGI. You file as a resident on Form 760 if Virginia was your home for the full year. If you moved into or out of Virginia during 2025 you file Form 760PY, and if you lived elsewhere but earned Virginia-source income you file Form 763 as a nonresident.

Even below the threshold, file if Virginia income tax was withheld from your pay and you want it back, since a refund only comes from a filed return. Virginia also has reciprocity agreements with several neighboring states. The full requirement and reciprocity details are published by Virginia Tax, and the state tax filing pillar lists the reciprocity map.

Virginia tax rates, brackets and the standard deduction

Virginia is a graduated-rate state, but the brackets are compressed. Only the income inside each band is taxed at that band's rate, and the top rate arrives fast:

Because the top bracket starts at $17,000, a typical full-time worker pays 5.75 percent on most of their taxable income. Virginia does not add local income taxes on wages, so the state rate is the whole income tax picture.

Virginia raised its standard deduction for 2025, which offsets some of that. The 2025 amounts are $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for married couples filing jointly (married filing separately is $8,750 each). You can itemize on the Virginia return instead, but only if you also itemized on your federal return. On top of the deduction, Virginia gives a personal exemption of $930 for you, your spouse, and each dependent, and an additional $800 exemption if you are 65 or older or blind.

Older filers get a further break. The Virginia age deduction lets residents 65 and older subtract up to $12,000 of income, phased out at higher income levels, which is separate from the exemptions above. Current rate schedules and deduction amounts are posted on tax.virginia.gov. For a rough read on your federal return first, the tax refund calculator gives an estimate.

Virginia tax filing deadline and the automatic extension

Virginia's deadline is May 1, 2026, not April 15. This is the single most common Virginia filing mistake for people used to the federal calendar. It applies to both the return and any balance owed.

Every Virginia filer gets an automatic six-month extension to file, with no application and no form to submit. That moves the paperwork deadline to November 2, 2026 (the sixth month lands on a weekend, so it rolls to the next business day). What the extension does not do is postpone payment. To avoid an extension penalty you must pay at least 90 percent of your total tax by May 1, and if you are paying by voucher, that voucher is Form 760IP. Interest runs on any unpaid balance from May 1 regardless.

The federal side is separate and uses the April 15 calendar, so do not assume one covers the other. Our guide to filing a federal tax extension explains Form 4868, and when taxes are due lays out the full 2026 calendar including quarterly estimated payments.

Filing your Virginia return online with TaxFile

The Virginia return draws directly on your federal figures, then applies Virginia additions, subtractions, and its own deduction and exemption rules. Preparing the two separately means entering the same income twice and reconciling any mismatch yourself. TaxFile builds both from one pass.

• Upload or talk. Drop in your W-2s and 1099s and it reads them, or describe your year in plain language and it asks what it still needs.
• Federal and Virginia prepared together. One set of documents produces both returns, with VAGI, the graduated rate, and the 2025 standard deduction carried through consistently.
• Deductions and credits checked. It applies the $930 exemptions and the age deduction where they fit, and looks for credits you qualify for.
• Error check, then you approve. Inconsistencies are flagged before submission, and nothing is e-filed until you review and approve every line, through an authorized IRS e-file provider.

Pricing is \$39 for a simple return, \$89 self-employed, \$199 business, plus \$19 for each state return. There is no free tier. If your Virginia income comes from contract or freelance work, self-employed tax filing covers the Schedule C and Schedule SE side in more detail. TaxFile does not e-file Form 4868 federal extensions or prepare amended returns, and it does not currently handle capital gains on Schedule D, rental income on Schedule E, or cryptocurrency. TaxFile is self-prepared tax software and does not provide personalized tax, legal or accounting advice, and no refund or refund amount is ever guaranteed.