Virginia Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption: No Income Test

Virginia's disabled veteran property tax exemption can eliminate the real estate tax on a qualifying veteran's home entirely, and unlike most tax breaks, it doesn't depend on your age or your income. If the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has rated you 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and totally disabled, and you live in the home, the Commonwealth exempts that principal residence, and the acre it sits on, from local property tax.

This guide walks through exactly who qualifies, what a surviving spouse keeps, and the one step families most often miss: the exemption is not automatic, so you have to claim it.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• Do You Qualify for Virginia's Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?
• How Much Is the Exemption Worth?
• What About a Surviving Spouse?
• How to Apply for the Virginia Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption
• How It Works With Your Federal VA Benefits
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Virginia is home to one of the largest veteran populations in the country. VA's National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics puts the count at 678,148 in FY2024, the fifth-largest of any state, against a national total of 17,921,245 veterans.2 For those with the highest disability ratings, this exemption is one of the most valuable state benefits available.

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

The exemption comes from Article X, Section 6-A of the Constitution of Virginia and Code of Virginia § 58.1-3219.5. Two things have to be true at the same time.1

First, the rating. You qualify if the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has rated you 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and totally disabled. The exemption covers real property held by the veteran alone and the joint real property of married individuals.1

Individual unemployability is the question that comes up most, and the honest answer is that it depends on where you live. The text of § 58.1-3219.5 states no individual-unemployability route. Fairfax County's tax administration says that a veteran with a service-connected permanent and total disability rating of less than 100 percent who receives VA benefits at the 100 percent rating because of individual unemployability also qualifies.1 So if you're paid at the 100 percent rate through unemployability, file the application, and ask your own commissioner of the revenue how that locality reads it rather than assuming Fairfax's answer is the Commonwealth's.

Second, the home. You have to occupy the property as your principal place of residence. This is a benefit for the place you actually live, not a rental or a second home.1

Notice what's not on the list. There is no age requirement, and the exemption is based on your rating and your residence rather than on your income.1 That's the single biggest difference between this benefit and Virginia's age-and-income senior tax relief, which many localities also offer to homeowners 65 and older who fall under locally set income and net-worth limits.3 If you're looking for that age-based program instead, see our guide to Virginia senior property tax relief.

Here's how the most common situations sort out.

How Much Is the Exemption Worth?

For most qualifying veterans the exemption is complete. Virginia exempts the real property tax on your principal residence, so the tax on the home itself goes to zero, and the locality must exempt the land the dwelling sits on up to one acre.1

The acre isn't always the ceiling. If your locality exempts or defers real property taxes on more than one acre under Article 2 of the tax code, it has to provide an exemption for that same number of acres here.1 On a larger parcel, ask the commissioner of the revenue what acreage the locality allows under Article 2 before you accept a one-acre answer.

Two more rules decide real cases. A house or manufactured home that is the veteran's residence is exempt even if the veteran doesn't own the land beneath it, and land the veteran doesn't own is not exempt. A separate improvement inside the exempt acreage, such as a garage or a shed, is exempt too, as long as its principal use is to house or cover motor vehicles or household goods and personal effects and it isn't used for a business.1

The exemption isn't invariably total, and this is the part to check before you budget on a zero bill. It's prorated in two co-ownership situations. If you qualify by holding the property as a life tenant, through a revocable trust, or through an irrevocable trust giving you a life estate or a continuing right of use or support, and other people hold an ownership interest that lets them occupy the home, the exemption is prorated by the number of qualifying people over the total number of occupying owners. If the residence is jointly owned by two or more people, not all of whom qualify, and nobody qualifies through one of those three holding forms, the exemption is prorated by the qualifying owners' percentage of ownership interest. An interest held under a leasehold or term of years doesn't count at all.1

When the exemption starts is worth as much as whether you get it. If your rating comes through after January 1, 2011 and you already have a qualifying principal residence on the date of the rating, the exemption begins on the date of that rating. If you buy the property after January 1, 2011, it begins on the date of acquisition, and the previous owner may be entitled to a pro rata refund.1 A rating that arrives with a back-dated effective date can therefore mean a refund of tax you've already paid. One limit on that: no county, city, or town is liable for interest on a refund of taxes paid before you filed the affidavit § 58.1-3219.6 requires, which is a plain argument for filing the moment the rating letter lands.1

The exact dollars you save depend on your locality's assessed value for the home and its real estate tax rate, both of which vary from one county, city, or town to the next.

What About a Surviving Spouse?

This is one of the most reassuring parts of the law, and one families should understand before it's needed. A surviving spouse continues to qualify for the exemption after the veteran dies, so long as two conditions hold: the veteran's death occurred on or after January 1, 2011, and the surviving spouse does not remarry.1

If both are true, the spouse keeps the exemption on the principal residence. Remarriage ends it. And because the January 1, 2011 date is tied to when the veteran passed, a spouse whose veteran died before that date does not carry the benefit forward under this provision.1

Here's the part most families assume works the other way: the exemption applies without any restriction on the spouse moving to a different principal place of residence.1 A widow who sells the house and buys something smaller, or moves closer to her children, carries the exemption to the new principal residence. Her holding form travels too, reaching property held as a tenant for life, in a revocable trust she can revoke, or in an irrevocable trust giving her a life estate or a continuing right of use or support, though not an interest under a leasehold or term of years.1

Localities set practical conditions on the claim itself. Fairfax County, for one, asks that the veteran would have qualified for the exemption before death, that the spouse was living in the home the veteran occupied at the time of death and was married to the veteran then, and that a spouse applying after the death keep living in the property as their principal residence until the application is approved.1 Confirm your own locality's version before you move mid-application.

A surviving spouse claims the exemption the same way the veteran would, by filing with the locality, and must also document that the veteran's death occurred on or after January 1, 2011.1 If your spouse was already receiving the exemption, contact your local commissioner of the revenue to confirm what they need to continue it in your name.

How to Apply for the Virginia Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

The exemption is not granted automatically when the VA assigns your rating. Under Code of Virginia § 58.1-3219.6, you have to claim it by filing with your locality.1

If you're house-hunting, you can start before you close. A veteran or surviving spouse may claim the exemption before purchasing a qualifying dwelling by filing the same documentation along with valid documentation of the purchase agreement. The locality has to process the application and send an approval or denial letter within 20 business days, and the exemption takes effect once you become the owner.1 For a veteran deciding whether a house is affordable, that answer in hand before closing is the difference between a guess and a number.

If you're not sure who your commissioner of the revenue is or what your locality requires, the Virginia Department of Taxation can point you to the right local office, and many localities post the form and instructions on their own websites. For help documenting your VA rating, the Virginia Department of Veterans Services offers assistance through a network of 38 benefit service offices and itinerant sites, free of charge. Both of its claims pages ask you to make an appointment rather than walk in, and the disability page lists the core documents every new client should bring: a DD-214, a photo ID, and an SF-1199 direct-deposit form.4 Arriving without them costs you the visit or delays the claim.

How It Works With Your Federal VA Benefits

It helps to keep two very different things straight. This property tax exemption is created under Virginia law and administered by the locality where the property sits.1 The VA decides your disability rating and pays your monthly compensation on its own federal rules; your locality applies the exemption to your property tax based on that rating and where you live.

The rating is the bridge between them. The 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total rating the VA assigns is exactly what unlocks the state exemption.1 So the practical move for many veterans is to make sure the VA rating is documented and current, then bring that documentation to the locality.

VA Aid and Attendance is a different benefit that families sometimes confuse with this one. Aid and Attendance is a monthly cash pension add-on for wartime-era veterans (or surviving spouses) who need help with daily activities, and it carries its own tests: qualifying wartime service, a need for help with tasks like bathing, dressing, or feeding, and a net worth below $163,699 for 2026. That figure combines the claimant's and their dependents' assets with their income for VA purposes, and it includes the spouse's net worth.5

Do not count your house against that limit. VA's assets don't include the home you live in, your car, or basic home items like appliances you wouldn't take with you if you moved. Your other real and personal property counts at fair market value minus any mortgages, and VA may subtract unreimbursed medical and educational expenses from your income when it works out both your income for VA purposes and your net worth.5 A surviving spouse sitting in a paid-off house in Roanoke has often talked herself out of a benefit she qualifies for.

Aid and Attendance is an income-and-assets benefit. The property tax exemption, by contrast, has no age or income test at all.1 A veteran can qualify for one, both, or neither, depending on their situation. To see how the federal cash benefits fit together in Virginia, read our guide to VA benefits for senior care in Virginia.

Learn More

Find personalized help claiming the Virginia 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.