Allegheny County: Applying for the State's Disabled Veterans Real Estate Tax Exemption

Allegheny County Veterans Services takes applications for Pennsylvania's full real estate tax exemption, on which the State Veterans' Commission decides need. Its page and checklist ask for a 100% permanent and total letter, which leaves out three routes the statute opens: individual unemployability, and blindness, paraplegia or the loss of two limbs at any rating.

Also called: property tax, real estate tax exemption, RETX, 51 Pa.C.S. 8902, OVA-PIRO Form 40, $114,637, financial need, surviving spouse.

For: Veteran or service member, survivor.

Where it applies

Written for the jurisdictions listed here.

Allegheny County, PACounty

The exemption is the State's; see the Pennsylvania entry. It removes all real estate tax on the home, and the State Veterans' Commission decides need. In Allegheny County the application goes through Veterans Services, not the assessment office. How to apply here. Use the State's application, OVA-PIRO Form 40 (January 2025), which the county posts with its own checklist. The county director of veterans affairs must sign the certification, and a new application must be date-stamped by the County Office of Tax Assessment. Send it to Allegheny County Veteran Services, One Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh PA 15222, or [email protected]; questions to 412-621-4357. Income at or below $114,637 (from January 1, 2025) is presumed to show need; above it, the applicant documents expenses. State and federal veterans' benefits are not counted as income. Where the county narrows the statute. 51 Pa.C.S. 8902(a)(2) asks that, as a result of wartime service, the veteran "is blind or paraplegic or has sustained the loss of two or more limbs, or has a service-connected disability declared by the United States Veterans' Administration ... to be a total or 100% permanent disability." The State's own form asks the same two questions. Allegheny's page says instead that "The veteran must be a 100% service-connected disabled veteran", and its checklist asks for the annual VA letter "stating that the Veteran is 100% totally and permanently disabled". Three routes disappear: A veteran paid at the 100% rate for individual unemployability has a "total" disability in the statute's words. A veteran who is blind (3/60 or 10/200 acuity), paraplegic or has lost two or more limbs qualifies at any combined rating. The surviving spouse route is for an unmarried surviving spouse, a word the page drops. A veteran in any of these groups should apply anyway, attach the VA decision showing the condition or the unemployability award, and ask Veterans Services to send it on.

Thresholds

Thresholds for Allegheny County: Applying for the State's Disabled Veterans Real Estate Tax Exemption
Gate	Rule
100% permanent, on one path	One path is a VA rating of 100% made permanent. The rating filter does not hide this entry, because the statute also opens on blindness, paraplegia or the loss of two limbs at any rating.
Permanent on the 100% path	The 100% rating has to be permanent.
Individual unemployability	A "total" disability includes individual unemployability, though the county checklist asks only for a 100% permanent and total letter.
Blindness, paraplegia or the loss of two or more limbs	Service-connected blindness, paraplegia or the loss of two or more limbs qualifies at any combined rating.
Financial need, presumed at $114,637 or less	Income at or below $114,637 from January 1, 2025 is presumed to show need. Veterans benefits are not counted.

Sources

Updated

Last updated 2026-10-01.

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Disclaimer

VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.