Cabell County Assessor: Homestead Exemption intake

The exemption is the State's, under Code 11-6B-3: the first twenty thousand dollars of assessed value off the property tax of an owner-occupied homestead for an owner sixty-five or older or certified permanently and totally disabled. The Cabell County Assessor is Irv Johnson; the homestead desk is (304) 526-9899, at the courthouse, 750 5th Avenue. The county's own rules. Applications run July 1 to December 1 - "If you do not apply by the December 1st deadline, you must wait till the next year" - and the assessor adds a wrinkle of its own: "Signing up for Homestead is a one time event unless you move houses, it is not required yearly." The disability route requires the award letter: "Your award letter from the Social Security or Veterans Administration, etc. will be required", so a VA award letter is accepted proof, which matters because Code 11-6B-4(b)(5) accepts "a written certification signed by the veterans administration". Other county-stated requirements: the owner's name on the deed, six months' residence at the homestead, two consecutive years as a West Virginia resident, and no similar exemption in another county or state - the statutory oath. The statute's military carve-out applies as everywhere in West Virginia: a service member who kept the state as home of record and returns on retirement or on separation for permanent and total disability is deemed to satisfy the two-year residency test, Code 11-6B-3(a), which the county's pages do not mention. Online filing runs through the state SmartFile portal the assessor links; paper filing is at the courthouse. The assessor's pages cite no statute, so a veteran disputed at the counter should bring Code 11-6B-3 and 11-6B-4 rather than the county's summary.