If the VA has rated you with a service-connected disability and you own a home in Massachusetts, the office that can lower your property tax bill is the one at your city or town hall. The break is written into state law, in the Clause 22 series of Massachusetts General Laws chapter 59, section 5, and only your local board of assessors, acting as the local tax administrator, can decide whether you qualify.

The Massachusetts disabled veteran property tax exemption is a ladder rather than a single break. It opens under Clause 22 at a VA service-connected disability rating of 10% or more, where it abates a set amount rather than wiping the bill out, and it climbs through Clause 22E for a rating of 100% to Clause 22F, a full exemption of the domicile for a veteran who is a paraplegic or has a 100% disability for service-connected blindness. Whichever clause fits you, the application runs on an annual cycle: you file with the assessors for each fiscal year, and the deadline moves with your community's tax billing.

In This Guide

Who Qualifies for the Massachusetts Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

Eligibility starts with two facts about you: you're a legal resident of Massachusetts, and the VA has rated you with a service-connected disability. Clause 22 sets the entry point at a service-connected disability rating of ten per cent or more, so a rating of 10% is enough to get in the door even though the abatement at that level is modest. The application itself goes to the assessors in the city or town where the property is located.

Who decides is the part that is easy to get wrong. Massachusetts writes these exemptions into statute, but only your board of assessors, as the local tax administrator, can decide whether you qualify, which is why two veterans with identical ratings in adjoining towns deal with two different offices and two different sets of clerks.

Scale matters here because the population this touches is large and aging. The VA's National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics estimated about 264,411 veterans living in Massachusetts as of 2024, mostly over age 60, and the VA estimates that population will keep declining roughly 3% a year for the next decade.

Clause 22 relief is keyed to a service-connected disability rating from the VA. If you're an older homeowner without a service-connected rating, our guide to senior property tax relief in Massachusetts covers a separate track that may fit you better.

What the Massachusetts Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Is Worth at Each Clause

Clause 22 and Clause 22E each describe the same break two ways over, and you get the better of the two. One way is a flat dollar amount struck off what you owe. The other is a reduction in the assessed taxable valuation, so what it takes off your bill is the tax due on that amount of value. The statute settles which one applies with a single test: whichever would result in an abatement of the greater amount of actual taxes due. The table below carries both figures for each clause.

Clause Who it covers What it takes off your bill
Clause 22 Veteran with a VA service-connected disability rating of 10% or more $400, or the tax on $2,000 of assessed taxable valuation, whichever abates more
Clause 22E Veteran with a service-connected disability of 100% $1,000, or the tax on $6,000 of taxable valuation, whichever abates more
Clause 22F Veteran who is a paraplegic, or who has a 100% disability for service-connected blindness Full exemption of the domicile

Clause 22F works on a different principle from the tiers beneath it. It exempts the domicile itself instead of naming a dollar figure, so what it's worth tracks the home's own tax bill.

Those are the three clauses this guide covers. If none of them matches your situation, ask your board of assessors which clause fits, and read the statute itself alongside the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services guide for qualifying veterans.

Filing With Your Board of Assessors, Every Fiscal Year

The exemption reaches you through an application you file with your assessors, and that filing repeats for each fiscal year.

1
Step 1

Work out which clause your rating opens

Clause 22 opens at a rating of 10% or more, Clause 22E at a service-connected disability of 100%, and Clause 22F covers a veteran who is a paraplegic or has a 100% disability for service-connected blindness. Because the decision on whether you qualify belongs to your board of assessors, have your VA rating decision to hand and ask that office what it needs to see.

2
Step 2

File with the assessors in the city or town where the property is located

That board is where the application for each fiscal year goes, and it's the office with authority to decide it.

3
Step 3

Put the deadline on the calendar

The application is due on April 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, so the effective date shifts with your community's billing schedule.

4
Step 4

Refile next year, and every year after

The requirement is an application for each fiscal year, so approval this year still leaves next year's filing to do.

If the paperwork or the rating documentation is the obstacle, Massachusetts puts a local office within reach of every household. Veterans' Service Officers are in every city and town in the state by law, and their work includes taking applications for state veterans' benefits, educating veterans about the benefits and services available to them, and making referrals for veterans and their dependents. You can find the one serving your community through the state's Find Your Local Veterans Service Officer tool, searchable by city, town, or ZIP code. For this exemption, though, the application itself goes to the assessors in the city or town where your property is located, by the deadline above.

If you can't reach your local officer, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services, which became a cabinet-level secretariat in March 2023, can be reached at (617) 210-5480. It also administers Chapter 115 benefits and runs the Massachusetts Veterans' Homes in Holyoke and Chelsea.

If You Are a Surviving Spouse

The statute carries the exemption past the veteran's death in defined circumstances, and the conditions differ between Clause 22 and Clause 22F.

Under Clause 22, a surviving spouse who has never remarried can qualify. Under Clause 22F, the statute is more protective still: the exemption continues unchanged for the benefit of the surviving spouse after the veteran's death, for as long as that spouse remains an owner and occupant of the domicile subject to the exemption.

Hold onto the two conditions in that 22F language, because both are easy to break without meaning to. Ownership has to stay with you, and you have to keep living in the home. A move to assisted living, or a transfer of the deed into a trust or to an adult child, can put one or both in question. If either is on the table, raise it with the assessors before the paperwork is signed rather than after, and ask that same office what a surviving spouse needs to file, and when.

Where This Sits Next to Your Federal VA Benefits

This is a benefit created under state law and administered by your city or town, a separate program from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its disability compensation and pension benefits. What it changes is the property tax your municipality bills you.

That distinction matters most if you're also looking at Aid and Attendance, the needs-based pension add-on for veterans who require help with daily activities. For the year running 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 as monthly twelfths. Aid and Attendance carries its own tests, including a net worth limit of $163,699 for the year running December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026, and a need for help with activities such as bathing, dressing, or feeding.

The two programs run on different criteria. Clause 22 is keyed to your Massachusetts residency, your service-connected rating, and the assessors' decision on your application. VA pension, including the Aid and Attendance add-on, is needs-based, and the VA's net worth calculation counts your and your dependents' assets and income for VA purposes. If you receive or are applying for pension, ask the VA or a Veterans' Service Officer how a state or local benefit is treated in your own case before you count on a particular outcome. Our Massachusetts Aid and Attendance guide covers the federal side in full, and VA benefits for senior care in Massachusetts shows how the pieces fit together with VA health care and the state's veterans homes. If you're comparing what different states give, the national disabled veteran property tax exemption by state directory lines them up.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to be rated 100% to get anything?

No. Clause 22 opens at a service-connected disability rating of 10% or more, so a partial rating qualifies you for the entry-level abatement of $400, or the tax on $2,000 of assessed taxable valuation, whichever abates more. A 100% rating moves you to Clause 22E and its $1,000 figure, and 22F, a full exemption of the domicile, is narrower still: it takes paraplegia or a 100% disability for service-connected blindness. Those are the three clauses covered here; if none of them matches your situation, ask your assessors which clause fits. If a later VA decision raises your rating, tell the assessors so they can consider the higher clause at your next filing.

Do I really have to reapply every year?

Yes. An approval covers one fiscal year and does not roll forward, so the filing comes round again with each new tax year. Because the due date shifts with your community's billing schedule rather than sitting on a fixed calendar date, a recurring reminder in late winter is the simplest way to keep it from slipping. The filing steps above carry the exact date rule.

Who actually decides whether I qualify, the state or my town?

Your town, or your city. The exemption is created by state statute, in the Clause 22 series, and administered under that statute by your city or town, but the eligibility call belongs to the board of assessors as the local tax administrator. That is also where the application goes: the assessors in the city or town where your property is located.

Can my spouse keep the exemption after I die?

Sometimes, and the clause you hold decides it. Under Clause 22, a surviving spouse who has never remarried can qualify. Clause 22F reaches further: the exemption continues unchanged for the surviving spouse, but only for as long as that spouse stays both an owner and an occupant of the domicile. Because both of those have to keep holding, confirm with the assessors before any change to the deed or to where the surviving spouse lives.

Will claiming this reduce my VA pension or compensation?

The Massachusetts exemption is created under state law and administered by your city or town, separate from the federal VA's disability-compensation and pension programs, and what it reduces is a municipal tax bill. That is not a blanket answer for your own case, though. VA pension, and the Aid and Attendance add-on that rides on it, is needs-based and weighed against the VA's own net worth and income tests. If you receive or are applying for pension, put the question to the VA or to a Veterans' Service Officer in your city or town and get the answer for your own file.

Where do I read the rules myself?

Go straight to the sources this guide is built on. The statute is Massachusetts General Laws chapter 59, section 5, where the Clause 22 series sets the ratings and the amounts. Its plain-language companion is the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's Guide to Real Estate Tax Exemptions for Qualifying Veterans, which lays out the clauses, the filing office, and the deadline.

Learn More

VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in MassachusettsVA Aid and Attendance in Massachusetts for 2026: who qualifies, monthly rates up to $2,874, how Chapter 115 fits in, and free help filing from your town's VSO. VA BenefitsVA Benefits You Can Use for Senior Care in MassachusettsA guide to VA senior care benefits in Massachusetts: home care, nursing homes, Aid and Attendance, the state Veterans' Homes, and how to access them in 2026. FinancialMassachusetts Senior Property Tax ReliefHow Massachusetts seniors cut property taxes: the refundable Circuit Breaker credit, local Clause 41C exemptions, the 41A deferral, and the work-off program. 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.

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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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