Kentucky's homestead exemption takes $49,100 off your home's assessed value for the 2025-2026 assessment years, and a veteran with a total service-connected disability rating qualifies. The state runs that one exemption for two groups of homeowners, those at least 65 years old and those classified as totally disabled, and the veteran path runs through the second, total-disability group. Your county computes the property tax bill on what's left after the subtraction.

For a disabled veteran, knowing which program you're actually in changes where you file and what you have to prove. Kentucky's exemption is created and administered under state law by the Kentucky Department of Revenue and your county Property Valuation Administrator (PVA), and it's a separate program from the disability compensation and pension benefits paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). You claim it on Form 62A350, filed with the county, and a veteran with a service-connected disability doesn't have to reapply each year after the first approval.

In This Guide

How Kentucky Handles the Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

If you're hunting for a Kentucky exemption written specifically for disabled veterans, with a dollar figure that climbs as a rating climbs, the official state and federal sources for Kentucky don't describe one. What they describe is a single homestead exemption open to two groups of homeowners: those at least 65 years old, and those classified as totally disabled. A veteran of the United States Armed Forces with a total service-connected disability rating from the VA reaches Kentucky's homestead exemption through that second, total-disability door.

The dollar value is identical either way, so a disabled veteran in Kentucky gets the same reduction a 68-year-old neighbor gets, just on a different qualifying basis.

Two practical consequences follow. First, the paperwork and the office are the same ones every qualifying Kentucky homeowner uses: Form 62A350, filed with the county PVA. Second, both official sources state the disability route for a veteran as the total-disability path, and neither describes a tier for partial ratings, so a veteran rated below total does not reach the exemption on disability. If that describes you and you're 65 or older, the age door is still open, and our guide to Kentucky senior property tax relief walks through that track.

Do You Qualify for the Kentucky Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

Kentucky's eligibility test has a service piece and a property piece, and both have to be true.

On the service side, Kentucky's official sources describe the veteran path as a veteran of the United States Armed Forces with a total service-connected disability rating from the VA, and both attach a second condition. The Department of Revenue states the rule in general terms, and cumulatively: the homeowner must have been classified as totally disabled under a program authorized or administered by an agency of the United States government or any retirement system located within or outside of Kentucky, and must have been receiving payments pursuant to that disability for the entire assessment period. Its page also hedges the list with "and meet other requirements," so treat it as a floor rather than the whole test. The official Army benefits summary for Kentucky states the same rule in veteran-specific terms: a total service-connected disability rating from the VA, and disability compensation received for the entire assessment period. A veteran whose total rating, or whose compensation, did not run for the whole assessment period does not qualify on the disability route for that period. A rating that takes effect partway through a year, in other words, may point you toward the following assessment year rather than the current one. Your county PVA is the office that processes the application, so ask them how your rating dates will be read.

On the property side, the home has to be owned, occupied, and maintained as your personal primary residence on the January 1 assessment date, and the Department of Revenue's qualifying rules for the homestead exemption don't set an income limit.

How Much the Kentucky Homestead Exemption Is Worth

The exemption is a flat subtraction from assessed value, not a discount on your tax rate. Your county assesses the home, the $49,100 Kentucky homestead exemption for the 2025-2026 assessment years comes off that figure, and the property tax is computed on the remaining assessment. The order is what makes it worth money: the subtraction lands on the assessment before the tax is computed, not on the bill afterward.

The Kentucky Department of Revenue resets the homestead exemption amount every two years under Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 132.810 to keep pace with the purchasing power of the dollar. So the amount comes in two-year steps, and the figure that applies to you is the one set for the assessment period you're filing under.

Assessment years Amount subtracted from assessed value
2023-2024 $46,350
2025-2026 $49,100

Your county PVA is the office that administers the exemption on your assessment.

Can a Surviving Spouse Keep the Kentucky Exemption?

Neither the Kentucky Department of Revenue nor the official federal benefits summary for the state states a surviving-spouse carryover of this exemption based on the veteran's service-connected disability. That is narrower than it sounds: those two sources are silent on the question, and silence is not proof that no carryover exists. Your county PVA is the office that can answer it, and it is worth asking rather than concluding either way. What is clear is that a surviving spouse can qualify in their own right, on the age basis of being 65 or older or on the total-disability basis. Qualifying on total disability comes with a string the age basis doesn't have: the homeowner has to reapply annually, unless they are a veteran with a service-connected disability, or have been determined totally and permanently disabled under Social Security Administration or Kentucky Retirement Systems rules.

That age basis is open to any Kentucky homeowner who is at least 65 at any point during the tax period, and who owns, occupies, and maintains the home as their personal primary residence on the January 1 assessment date. The two dates test different things: a birthday on January 2, in March, or in December still counts for that same year's $49,100 exemption, and Jefferson County's PVA puts it as being eligible in the year of your 65th birthday. Only the owning and occupying has to be true on January 1, and the application still has to reach the county PVA by December 31. If you're recently widowed and the exemption was on the property under your late spouse's qualification, contact your county PVA before the next assessment date to confirm what has to be refiled in your name.

How to Apply With Your County PVA

The application is yours to file, and it goes to your county's property valuation administrator rather than to the VA.

1
Step 1

Gather your VA rating documentation

Have the VA decision showing your total service-connected disability rating, along with evidence that you were receiving disability compensation across the assessment period in question.

2
Step 2

Complete Form 62A350

This is the Kentucky Department of Revenue's Application for Exemption Under the Homestead/Disability Amendment, the single form that carries both the age path and the disability path; the department posts it on its homestead exemption page.

3
Step 3

File it with the property valuation administrator of your county

The application goes to the PVA for the county where the property is located, and the deadline is December 31. If you're filing late in the year, confirm the cutoff with that office before you mail anything.

4
Step 4

File once and keep the record

A veteran with a service-connected disability only needs to apply for Kentucky's homestead exemption the first time they're eligible. Tell the PVA if ownership or primary-residence status changes.

If your rating paperwork is incomplete, or a claim for a higher rating is still pending, start with the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs. The department staffs full-time, fully accredited Veterans Benefits Field Representatives at field offices across the state who help veterans and their families file federal VA compensation and pension claims free of charge. Its main office is at 1111B Louisville Road in Frankfort, reachable at (502) 564-9203.

How It Works With Your VA Benefits

Kentucky's homestead exemption is created and administered under state law, by the Department of Revenue and the county PVAs, and it's a separate program from the VA's disability-compensation and pension benefits. It lowers what you owe your county, and it isn't a payment from the VA. What a change in your property tax bill means for a needs-based federal benefit in your own circumstances is a question for the VA or an accredited representative, and Kentucky's Department of Veterans Affairs will take it at no charge.

That's worth raising if you're also weighing VA Aid and Attendance, the pension add-on for veterans who need help with daily activities. From December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026, the maximum annual pension with Aid and Attendance is $29,093 for a veteran with no dependents and $34,488 for a veteran with one dependent, paid in monthly twelfths. Those maximums are ceilings, not payments: VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and that limit, so a household with countable income receives less than the maximum. Aid and Attendance is needs-based, with a net worth limit of $163,699 from December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026, and a requirement that you need another person's help with activities like bathing, feeding, and dressing. That limit counts your assets and your annual income together, and your spouse's net worth with them. What doesn't count: your primary residence, one personal vehicle, and basic household goods. The house you live in doesn't push you over the limit, and a mortgage comes off the asset side.

The two programs run on different tests. Kentucky's asks about your service-connected rating and the home you live in; the federal one asks about wartime service, need for care, and countable net worth. Our Kentucky Aid and Attendance guide covers the federal side in detail, and VA benefits for senior care in Kentucky shows how these pieces sit alongside VA health care and the state's veterans centers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a specific disability percentage to qualify in Kentucky?

Kentucky's official sources describe the veteran path in terms of a total service-connected disability rating rather than a numeric threshold, and neither lays out a tier for partial ratings, so a veteran rated below total does not reach the exemption on the disability route. Both sources also require that the disability payments ran for the entire assessment period. If your rating isn't total, check whether the age path at 65 or older already covers you, and ask your county PVA how your particular rating documentation will be read. Kentucky property tax law changes periodically, so confirm the current rules with the Department of Revenue or your PVA rather than relying on a summary written for another year.

Do I have to reapply every year?

No, if you're on the veteran path or the age path. A veteran with a service-connected disability only needs to apply for Kentucky's homestead exemption the first time they're eligible to receive it. Once the county approves the application, the exemption carries forward. That scope matters: a homeowner approved on total disability alone does have to reapply every year, unless the Social Security Administration or the Kentucky Retirement Systems has determined them totally and permanently disabled. Tell your PVA if you sell the home, move your primary residence, or change how the property is titled, since all three can affect whether the exemption still applies.

Where do I file, and by when?

You file Form 62A350 with the property valuation administrator of the county where the property is located. The filing deadline is December 31, and the home has to be owned and occupied as your primary residence as of the January 1 assessment date. If you're close to the deadline, call the PVA office rather than mailing the form and hoping.

Can my spouse keep the exemption if I pass away?

Kentucky's published sources don't answer it. Neither the Department of Revenue's page nor the official federal benefits summary states a surviving-spouse carryover of this exemption based on the veteran's service-connected disability, and that silence is not the same as a rule against one, so put the question to your county PVA rather than settling it yourself. What a surviving spouse can do in any event is qualify in their own right, on age 65 or older or on total disability. A total-disability approval has to be renewed each year unless the spouse is a veteran with a service-connected disability or has an SSA or Kentucky Retirement Systems determination of total and permanent disability. The date to work back from for the property itself is January 1, since the exemption is tested against whoever owns, occupies, and maintains the home as their personal primary residence on the assessment date. Ask your county PVA what has to be refiled in the surviving spouse's name, and get it settled before that date rather than after it.

Will claiming this affect my VA compensation or pension?

The homestead exemption is created and administered under Kentucky law, a separate program from the VA's disability-compensation and pension benefits, and what it changes is the property tax you owe your county rather than a federal payment. The VA's own programs have their own rules: disability compensation and VA pension are decided by the VA, and pension is needs-based, with a net worth limit of $163,699 from December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026 that the home you live in and your car don't count toward. If you receive a needs-based VA benefit and want certainty about your own circumstances, ask the VA directly or bring it to a Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs field representative, who'll review it with you at no charge.

Learn More

VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in KentuckyVA Aid and Attendance in Kentucky for 2026: who qualifies, monthly rates up to $2,874, how to apply, and free accredited help from KDVA field reps. VA BenefitsVA Benefits You Can Use for Senior Care in KentuckyA complete guide to VA senior care benefits in Kentucky: home care, nursing homes, Aid and Attendance, state veterans centers, and how to access them in 2026. FinancialKentucky Senior Property Tax ReliefKentucky's $49,100 Homestead Exemption goes to homeowners 65 or older, or totally disabled at any age. No income limit. See who qualifies and how to file. VA BenefitsDisabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption by StateMost states fully or partially exempt a service-connected disabled veteran's home from property tax. See how the three models work and find your state. VA BenefitsVA Benefits for Senior Care: A Complete GuideA complete guide to VA benefits for senior care: long-term care, Aid and Attendance, pensions, DIC, and home grants for older veterans and surviving spouses.

Find personalized help claiming Kentucky's homestead exemption as a disabled veteran at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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