New Jersey can drop the property tax on a disabled veteran's home to zero, and a 100% permanent and total rating is only one of the ways in. The statute also names seven specific conditions that qualify on their own, among them total blindness, paraplegia, and the amputation of two limbs, with no 100% rating required. It's a full exemption written into state law, not a fixed dollar discount, and it can carry over to a surviving spouse on any of four separate routes, one of which needs no disability rating at all.

In This Guide

Do You Qualify for New Jersey's Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

New Jersey grants this exemption under state law (N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.30) to veterans who meet a specific set of conditions. It isn't a means-tested benefit you apply for through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It's a state property-tax benefit that rests on a determination the VA has already made about your disability.

Three of the conditions are the same for everyone:

  • Active duty service in the U.S. Armed Forces, with an honorable discharge.
  • New Jersey citizenship and residency.
  • Ownership of the home, which you occupy as your main home (the dwelling house and its lot).

The fourth condition is the disability, and this is where the exemption is most often given away by people who qualify. It is not a single 100% test. The statute qualifies a veteran the VA has declared to have a service-connected disability from any of the following:

  • Paraplegia.
  • Sarcoidosis.
  • Osteochondritis resulting in permanent loss of the use of both legs.
  • Permanent paralysis of both legs and the lower parts of the body.
  • Hemiplegia with permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm, or of either side of the body, resulting from injury to the spinal cord, skeletal structure or brain, or from disease of the spinal cord not resulting from any form of syphilis.
  • Total blindness.
  • Amputation of both arms or both legs, or both hands or both feet, or a combination of a hand and a foot.
  • Any other service-connected disability the VA has declared to be a total or 100% permanent disability.

That list matters most to the veteran who has been told the exemption takes a 100% rating. A totally blind New Jersey veteran, or one who is paraplegic, qualifies for the full exemption on the named condition itself, with no rating percentage anywhere in the test.

The last route, the catch-all 100% one, carries two limits the named conditions don't. The disability must not be rated that way solely because of hospitalization or surgery and recuperation, so a temporary convalescent 100% evaluation doesn't qualify, and it must have been sustained through enemy action or accident, or have resulted from disease contracted while in active service. The statute also excludes paraplegia or hemiplegia resulting from locomotor ataxia or other forms of syphilis of the central nervous system, or from chronic alcoholism, along with other disease resulting from the veteran's own misconduct.

One more thing worth knowing before you walk into an assessor's office. The New Jersey Division of Taxation describes the benefit more narrowly than the statute does, as being for a veteran "who was 100% permanently and totally disabled during active duty service," and asks for a VA certification stating 100% permanent and total disability. Where the two differ, the statute's list controls. If you qualify on one of the named conditions and are told you don't, that's the text to point to. No taxpayer is allowed more than one exemption under the act.

How Much Is the Exemption Worth?

This is where New Jersey's benefit stands apart from the property-tax breaks other states offer. It isn't a $5,000 credit or a percentage discount. When you qualify, your principal residence is fully exempt from local property taxation, so the tax owed on that home drops to zero.

Because it's a full exemption rather than a fixed amount, the dollar value is simply whatever your annual property tax bill would otherwise have been. In a state with some of the highest property taxes in the country, that can mean thousands of dollars saved every year, and the savings continue for as long as you meet the conditions and keep the home as your main residence.

What About a Surviving Spouse?

The exemption doesn't end automatically when the veteran dies. A surviving spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner can carry it forward, which can protect the family home during an already difficult time.

There are four ways in, and three of them are missed constantly because families assume the veteran had to have held the exemption already:

  1. The veteran was a New Jersey citizen and resident who was entitled to the exemption at the time of death.
  2. The veteran was a New Jersey citizen and resident, honorably discharged, and is declared after death to have suffered a qualifying service-connected disability. A rating that arrives posthumously still qualifies the spouse.
  3. The deceased was a New Jersey citizen and resident who died in active service in any branch of the Armed Forces. No disability rating is required on this route at all, so a Gold Star spouse should file.
  4. The deceased was a New Jersey citizen and resident who died before January 10, 1972 and would have become eligible had P.L.1971, c.398 been in effect during their lifetime.

Whichever route you come in on, the same conditions have to keep holding. The surviving spouse or partner must:

  • Remain a New Jersey resident.
  • Stay in widowhood or widowerhood, meaning they have not remarried or formed a new registered civil union or domestic partnership.
  • Continue to own and occupy the home.

If the surviving spouse remarries or forms a new civil union or domestic partnership, the exemption ends. It also depends on staying a New Jersey resident who owns and occupies the home, so moving out of state ends it. As long as those conditions hold, though, the surviving spouse keeps the same full exemption, on that dwelling house or any other one acquired afterwards. The Division of Taxation also asks the applicant to document that the deceased veteran or service person was a New Jersey resident at the time of death, so gather that proof before you file.

How to Apply for the Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption in New Jersey

You don't file this one with the state or the VA. You file it with the tax assessor in the municipality where you live. Here's how it works.

1
Step 1

Work out which route you qualify on

That is either a VA certification of a total or 100% permanent service-connected disability, or a VA determination of one of the named conditions, such as total blindness or paraplegia, which needs no rating percentage. Either way you'll need the VA documentation of it. If you don't yet have a determination, an accredited Veterans Service Officer can help with the underlying VA claim, and the VA says an accredited VSO representative's services on your claim are always free.,

2
Step 2

Get Form D.V.S.S.E

Ask your local municipal tax assessor for the claim form for the disabled veteran's exemption, or download it from the assessor's office or the New Jersey Division of Taxation.

3
Step 3

File the form with your proofs

Submit the completed claim form and all documentary proofs, which typically include your VA certification, your discharge papers, and proof that you own and occupy the home, to your local assessor.

4
Step 4

If you're denied, appeal on time

An appeal goes to the County Board of Taxation on Form A-1, filed on or before April 1 following the denial. If you live in Burlington, Gloucester or Monmouth county, your deadline is earlier: on or before January 15.

If any part of the VA claim or paperwork feels overwhelming, you don't have to sort it out alone. The New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs runs a Veterans Service Office in each of the state's 21 counties, led by trained, accredited Veterans Service Officers who serve as a point of entry for veterans and their dependents to local, state, and federal benefits, and you can reach one through the state's toll-free line at 1-844-671-1019. The VA's rule on representation is that the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claim are always free; only an accredited attorney or claims agent may charge fees.

How It Works With Your VA Benefits

Veterans often confuse this exemption with the cash benefits they get from the VA, so it helps to keep them straight. The property-tax exemption is a New Jersey program run under state law, separate from your federal VA disability compensation and pension, and it lowers a property tax bill rather than paying you. If you receive, or are applying for, a needs-based VA Pension or Aid and Attendance, which the VA assesses on income and net worth, confirm your own situation with an accredited representative.

Aid and Attendance is the benefit most easily mixed up with the exemption, and the two are very different. Aid and Attendance is a federal monthly cash pension for wartime veterans who need regular help with daily activities. The VA sets it as a maximum annual pension rate of $34,488 for a veteran with one dependent, about $2,874 a month, and it carries a net-worth limit of $163,699 for 2026., That maximum is a ceiling rather than a payment: VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and the maximum rate, so a veteran with countable income left after deductions gets less than the headline figure. The property-tax exemption has no such wartime-service or need-for-care requirement. It turns on the VA's determination about your disability and your ownership of a New Jersey home.

The net-worth limit is the other place families talk themselves out of a benefit they have. VA's assets do not include your primary residence, your car, or basic home items like appliances you wouldn't take with you if you moved. The house you live in doesn't push you over the limit, whether or not it's exempt from property tax. What counts is the fair market value of your other property, minus any mortgage you owe on it, plus your income for VA purposes, and the calculation includes your spouse's net worth; VA may subtract unreimbursed medical and educational expenses from the income side.

The two run on different tests. The property-tax exemption turns on the VA's determination about your disability and your ownership of a New Jersey home, so a veteran already receiving Aid and Attendance who meets the exemption's disability and ownership tests can claim it too. For a fuller picture of the cash and care benefits available to New Jersey veterans, see our guide to VA benefits for senior care in New Jersey and our walkthrough of Aid and Attendance in New Jersey. For the wider federal picture, our VA benefits guide covers how the programs fit together.

If the veteran isn't the one who qualifies here, New Jersey also offers age- and income-based property-tax relief for older homeowners, which our New Jersey senior property tax relief guide walks through.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does New Jersey's disabled veteran property tax exemption have an income limit?

Under N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.30 the eligibility criteria are stated in terms of service, disability and occupancy rather than finances. To qualify, you must be an honorably discharged New Jersey citizen and resident who owns and occupies the home as a main home, and the VA must have declared a service-connected disability that is total or 100% permanent, or one of the conditions the statute names on its own, such as total blindness or paraplegia. A veteran who meets those conditions is entitled to the full exemption under state law.

Can I qualify if my VA rating isn't 100% or isn't marked permanent?

You may well be able to. A total or 100% permanent certification is one route into the exemption, but the statute lists seven conditions that qualify on their own: paraplegia, sarcoidosis, osteochondritis resulting in permanent loss of the use of both legs, permanent paralysis of both legs and the lower body, hemiplegia of the kind the statute describes, total blindness, and amputation of both arms or both legs, both hands or both feet, or a hand and a foot. If the VA has found one of those service-connected, the rating percentage isn't the test. The Division of Taxation's consumer page describes the benefit in the narrower 100% terms, so be ready to point to the statute.

My husband died in service and was never rated. Can I still claim it?

Yes, that is one of the four surviving-spouse routes, and it requires no disability rating. The statute reaches the surviving spouse of a New Jersey citizen and resident who died in active service in any branch of the Armed Forces. A rating that arrives after death also qualifies you, as does a death before January 10, 1972 where the veteran would have become eligible had the 1971 law been in effect during their lifetime. On every route you have to stay unmarried, stay a New Jersey resident, and own and occupy the home.

If a surviving spouse moves, does the exemption follow to a new home?

Within New Jersey, yes. A surviving spouse who stays unmarried and a New Jersey resident can carry the exemption to another New Jersey home they later own and occupy, not only the home the veteran lived in. It ends only if they remarry, leave the state, or stop owning and occupying a qualifying home.

Learn More

VA BenefitsVA Benefits for Senior Care in New JerseyAid and Attendance pays up to $2,874/month, plus VA home care, nursing homes, and New Jersey's three state veterans homes. How to access each in 2026. VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in New JerseyNew Jersey VA Aid and Attendance in 2026: monthly rates, who qualifies, the net-worth limit, how to apply, and free help from NJ Veterans Service Officers. 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. FinancialNew Jersey Senior Property Tax ReliefNew Jersey senior property tax relief: Senior Freeze, ANCHOR, Stay NJ, and the $250 deduction. Who qualifies, income limits, and the combined PAS-1 application.

Find personalized help claiming New Jersey's disabled veteran property tax exemption 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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