Deductions & Exemptions

Permanently & Totally Disabled Veterans & Surviving Spouses

Qualified New Jersey resident war veterans having certain service connected disabilities described in the law or having been declared totally or 100% permanently disabled by the United States Veterans’ Administration are granted full tax exemption on their dwelling house and the lot or curtilage on which it’s located, as of the date the veteran acquires the property, or as of the date his/her total or 100% permanent disability is declared.

The surviving spouse of such New Jersey resident disabled veteran, who at time of death was lawfully entitled to exemption, is eligible, on making proper claim, for the same exemption as the deceased spouse, while widowed or widowered, a State resident and the legal owner and actual occupant of the dwelling house to be exempted or any other dwelling thereafter acquired, and used as the principal residence.(The surviving spouse of a deceased service person who was a citizen and resident of this State and who had wartime service in the U.S. Armed Forces and died on active duty may also qualify for the full property tax exemption.)

The surviving spouse of a disabled veteran or service person who would have become eligible had he or she lived is qualified to receive the exemption based on the broadening of the tax exemption on January 10, 1972. The January 10th broadening of the exemption via passage of P.L. 1971, c.398 concerned the character of the qualifying wartime service-connected disability and added the phrase “or from other service connected disability declared by the U.S. Veteran’s Administration or its successor to be a total or 100% permanent disability and not so evaluated solely because of hospitalization or surgery or recuperation.”

Eligibility

To qualify for real estate tax exemption, the disabled war veteran must meet all requirements of:

• Active wartime service in the United States Armed Forces
• Filing of an application for exemption with the local tax assessor
• Honorable discharge
• Legal or domiciliary New Jersey residence
• New Jersey citizenship
• Principal or permanent residence in the claimed dwelling
• Property ownership
• Veterans Affairs certified 100% permanent and total disability

Disability

A service-connected disability as declared by the United States Veterans Administration from:

1. Paraplegia, sarcoidosis, osteochondritis resulting in permanent loss of the use of both legs or permanent paralysis of both legs and lower parts of the body
2. Hemiplegia involving permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm on either side of the body, resulting from injury to the spinal cord, skeletal structure, or brain, or disease of the spinal cord not resulting from any form of syphilis
3. Total blindness
4. Amputation of both arms or both legs, or both hands or both feet, or the combination of a hand and foot
5. Other service-connected disability declared by the Veterans’ Administration to be a total or 100% permanent disability and not so evaluated because of hospitalization or surgery and recuperation.

The disability must have been sustained through:

1. Enemy action
2. Accident
3. Disease contracted while in active service “in time of war.

Note: Paraplegia or hemiplegia resulting from locomotor ataxia, or other forms of syphilis of the central nervous system, or from chronic alcoholism, or other forms of disease resulting from the veteran’s own misconduct are not grounds for a disabled veteran’s tax exemption.

Posthumous Disability Ratings

If the veteran dies while waiting to get his or her rating, and the Department of Veterans Affairs retroactively grants the 100 percent total and permanent disability rating posthumously, the surviving spouse, civil union partner or domestic partner, if otherwise eligible, is entitled to receive the disability rating evaluation.

Relevant Form

• Claim Form (PDF)