Retiring in Virginia

Every figure below is sourced to Virginia’s own publications and dated. Estimates only, and not tax advice.

Retirement tax by state

What your state actually takes from a 401(k) withdrawal, a pension, and Social Security — in dollars, not a yes/no list.

Long-term index-fund growth after expense-ratio drag — and what your state takes from the gains at withdrawal.

Decided on the two rates that actually govern it — yours now, and yours at withdrawal, in the state you'll retire in rather than the one you're in.

2026 limits, employer match, the 60-63 super catch-up, and whether the Roth catch-up mandate applies to you.

When your RMDs start under SECURE 2.0, how much this year's is, and what missing it costs.

What a backdoor Roth conversion would actually cost you in tax — the pro-rata rule most calculators only describe.

The tax a leveraged rental owes inside a self-directed IRA — computed at trust rates, not the rate you'd assume.

401(k) and IRA withdrawals: Partly excluded; From age 65.
Social Security: Not taxed
Top marginal rate: 5.75%; The top of 4 graduated brackets.
Tax year: 2026; Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.

Virginia's retirement picture is unusual in this dataset: Social Security is fully exempt, military benefits get a large and newly age-free subtraction, and everything else -- private pensions, government pensions, 401(k) and IRA distributions -- is taxed at the ordinary schedule with only the age deduction as relief.
The age deduction's $1-for-$1 phase-out is much steeper than the partial phase-outs common in other states. A single 70-year-old at $62,000 of adjusted federal AGI receives nothing from it, and there is no residual floor.
Because the top Virginia bracket begins at just $17,000 of taxable income, nearly every retiree with meaningful pension or IRA income is in the 5.75% bracket, and the age deduction is worth at most $690 of tax per qualifying individual ($12,000 x 5.75%).