Chatham County Board of Assessors: Disabled Veteran Homestead Exemption

The exemption is the State's, under Code section 48-5-48; see the Georgia entry. In Chatham the Board of Assessors takes every homestead application, at 222 West Oglethorpe Avenue, Suite 113, Savannah, on the first floor of the Pete Liakakis Government Building (912-652-7271), or through its e-file system. A basic homestead exemption comes first, and the special exemptions are added to it. What the Board says. Its list of special exemptions includes "Disabled Veterans or Unremarried Surviving Spouse of 100% Disabled Vet" and "Unremarried Surviving Spouse of US Service Member Killed in Action", and it asks applicants for documents "such as federal and state income tax returns, DD214, Veteran's Administration letter to document 100% disability, or a letter from a Georgia licensed medical physician". For 2026 the State amount is $126,526. Where that is narrower than the law. Section 48-5-48(a) also takes a veteran paid at the 100% rate for individual unemployability, a veteran with a VA statutory award for loss or loss of use of a foot or hand, loss of sight or the defined loss of vision, the wartime limb-loss routes, and a veteran eligible for a specially adapted housing grant. A veteran on one of those routes should file the letter the statute names for that route (section 48-5-48(c)) and cite the section. The Board's page also does not mention the three-year refund for a retroactive VA decision in section 48-5-48(g). Income returns have nothing to do with this exemption, which has no income test; they belong to the senior and disability exemptions on the same list. Filing. The Board's homestead poster: "The deadline date to apply online is April 1st, however you may apply in person any time prior to the 45-day annual assessment notice appeal due date to receive benefits of the application year." Its page adds that applications "must be completed in person by the property owner, unless they have given another party their power of attorney", other than through e-file. Senate Bill 566 of 2026 makes any application filed by the appeal deadline count for the year; a veteran who misses April 1 online should go in person before the appeal date on the assessment notice. Stephens-Day. Chatham's own base-year exemption freezes the taxable value at the value in the year before the application, with a consumer price adjustment for school and City of Savannah taxes, and passes to an unremarried surviving spouse.