Tangible property is property which occupies physical space. People can hold this type of property and they can also see it. This is in contrast with intangible property, which cannot be physically touched and is not corporeal in nature. Within the law, there are many categories of tangible property which may be considered for purposes of taxation, valuing an estate, and so forth.
Some simple examples of tangible property include things like furniture, cars, and houses. All of these things can be seen and touched. In the case of furniture and cars, they can also be moved, as may occur when they are sold. For legal purposes, livestock are also considered tangible property. One might think of tangible property as physical property. Something like real estate is also considered immovable property because it cannot be relocated, although people can sell their rights to it, thus transferring ownership of the property to another party.
By contrast, intangible property is something like an interest in land, a stock certificate, or a bank account. These things have value but the value is representative rather than physical in nature. Someone cannot hold interest in land, a stock certificate represents ownership rather than having intrinsic value, and a bank account is not physical in nature. Easements are another example of intangible property since they involve a concept, not an actual physical thing.
Money is an interesting example of something which straddles the divide. Historically, cash currency was often viewed as intangible property, despite the fact that it could be seen and felt, because it was backed with gold or silver and thus represented value rather than having a value of its own. Today, such standards have been struck down, and currency may be considered tangible property because it is inherently valuable, rather than standing in for something sitting in a bank vault.
There may be cases in which the distinction between tangible and intangible property becomes important. Likewise, the difference between categories such as movable and immovable property can become crucial. For property taxes, for example, motor homes, even if people are living in a fixed location, are taxed differently than homes which have foundations, because one is technically movable and the other is not without leaving the foundation behind; one could relocate a motorhome, if desired, to another location, while a house cannot be wheeled away.
