Disabled Veteran personal property tax exemption benefits offered

By Richard M. Hutchins Elgin Courier Online
Bastrop County Veterans Service Officer

The State of Texas offers outstanding benefits for veterans, their families and survivors. One of those benefits is eligibility to apply for personal property tax exemptions based on the percentage level and degree of disability awarded by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Disabled veterans, their surviving spouse and the spouses and minor children of a person who dies on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible for property tax exemptions on the appraised value of their property. Eligible veterans must have a minimum of 10% service-connected disability rating by the VA or a branch of the Armed Forces. Veterans with a rating of 10% or less are not entitled to a property tax exemption.

A veteran who has a disability rating of 10% or higher and who is 65 years or older is entitled to the maximum property tax exemption. A veteran whose disability consists of the loss of use of one or more limbs or total blindness in one or both eyes is entitled to the maximum exemption.

The benefit is also available to: a surviving spouse of a deceased disabled veteran, as long as the spouse remains unmarried; a surviving minor child of a disabled veteran, if the veteran’s spouse is deceased and if the child is both under 18 and unmarried; a surviving spouse of a person killed while on active duty, whether the spouse has remarried or not at application time and a surviving minor child of a person killed while on active duty, if the child or both under 18 and unmarried.

A veteran’s percentage of service-connected disability determines the amount of the exemption ranging from a $5,000 to a $12,000 deduction from the veteran’s property value. An applicant may claim the exemption on only one piece of property, such as a home or any other property the applicant owned on Jan. 1. The applicant must be a Texas resident to qualify.

Read More at the Elgin Courier Online