Housing

Connecticut Full Property Tax Exemption at Permanent and Total Disability

The veteran’s share of the primary residence is exempt from local property tax where VA has found the veteran permanently and totally disabled based on a 100 percent service-connected rating, or one motor vehicle instead if the veteran has no such residence. Since 2025 unemployability is a separate municipal option, not this exemption.

Also called: property tax, 12-81(83), 12-81pp, permanent and total, P&T, 100 percent, full exemption, Public Act 24-46, Public Act 25-168, individual unemployability, one motor vehicle, surviving spouse.

For: Veteran or service member, spouse, child, survivor.

Where it applies

Written for the jurisdictions listed here.

ConnecticutState

This is the largest property tax benefit Connecticut offers a veteran. It was created in 2024 and rewritten twice in 2025, so guidance written before the 2026 Supplement to the General Statutes describes a different benefit. The General Statutes page revised to January 1, 2025 still prints the 2024 text; the 2026 Supplement carries the current one. How it got here. Public Act 24-46 added subdivision (83) to General Statutes section 12-81, applicable to assessment years from October 1, 2024, for a veteran with "a service-connected permanent and total disability rating". Public Act 25-2, effective on passage and applicable back to the October 1, 2024 assessment year, narrowed that to a veteran "determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to be permanently and totally disabled based on a service-connected disability rating of one hundred per cent". Public Act 25-168, sections 233 to 242, then rebuilt the subdivision for assessment years from October 1, 2025. Who qualifies now. A Connecticut resident who served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force or Space Force and whom VA has found permanently and totally disabled on a 100 percent service-connected rating. A veteran paid at the total rate through individual unemployability is not covered by subdivision (83). For that veteran, Public Act 25-168 created section 12-81pp, a municipal option: a town may vote to give the same exemption, in place of the subdivision (20) exemption, to a veteran VA has found to have a service-connected total disability based on individual unemployability. It exists only where the town has adopted it, so ask the assessor. What it exempts. The veteran's fractional share of a dwelling, including a condominium, a unit in a common interest community and, since 2025, a mobile manufactured home, occupied as the primary residence. It reaches a dwelling held in trust for the veteran and one the veteran holds as a tenant for life or for a term of years liable for the tax. It does not reach any part of the building used commercially or producing rental income, so a two-family house with a rented unit is exempt only on the veteran's own part. If the veteran has no such residence, the exemption attaches to one motor vehicle owned by or held in trust for the veteran and garaged in Connecticut, which keeps a renter in. If the dwelling or vehicle is in a domiciled spouse's name, the spouse's is exempt instead. Town choices. For assessment years from October 1, 2025 a town may exempt up to two acres of the lot, may cap the exemption at the town's median assessed value of residential property, and may extend it to the surviving spouse of a qualifying veteran who died before October 1, 2024 and after a date the town picks. So the same veteran can get a different result in neighbouring towns. Survivors. When a qualifying veteran dies, the dwelling or vehicle of the surviving spouse remains exempt while the spouse does not remarry, and property of the veteran's minor children remains exempt during their minority, while they live in Connecticut. A separate municipal option in section 12-81qq covers the unremarried surviving spouse of a service member killed in action. No one receives more than one of these exemptions. Two procedural points are worth acting on. If VA changes the determination to anything other than permanent and total on a 100 percent rating, that is treated as a waiver of this exemption, and the veteran can seek the subdivision (20) exemption instead; the veteran must disclose a change. And a veteran who could not submit proof of the determination in time may apply within one year of obtaining it for an abatement or refund, retroactive to the assessment day after the date VA's determination took effect, for no more than three years. Until October 1, 2026 that application goes to the tax collector; Public Act 26-114 makes the assessor responsible for receiving the proof from October 1, 2026. Connecticut will refund, but only if asked.

Thresholds

Thresholds for Connecticut Full Property Tax Exemption at Permanent and Total Disability
Gate	Rule
100% service-connected rating	General Statutes section 12-81(83), as amended by Public Acts 25-2 and 25-168: VA must have determined the veteran permanently and totally disabled based on a service-connected disability rating of 100 percent.
Permanent and total	The 100 percent rating must be one VA has found permanent and total.
Individual unemployability, only where the town adopted section 12-81pp	A veteran VA has found to have a service-connected total disability based on individual unemployability is outside subdivision (83). Section 12-81pp, created by Public Act 25-168, lets a town grant the same exemption in place of the subdivision (20) exemption. It is a local option.
Occupied as the primary residence, or one vehicle instead	The veteran’s share of the dwelling occupied as the primary residence, excluding any part used commercially or rented. A veteran with no such dwelling takes the exemption on one motor vehicle garaged in Connecticut.
Surviving spouse and minor children continue	On the veteran’s death the exemption continues for the surviving spouse while unremarried, and for property of minor children during their minority, while they remain Connecticut residents. A town may extend it to spouses of veterans who died before October 1, 2024.
Three years of retroactive refund	A veteran who obtains proof late may apply within one year for abatement or refund, retroactive to the assessment day following the date of VA’s determination, for no more than three years. The application goes to the assessor from October 1, 2026 under Public Act 26-114.

Sources

Legislation

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Public Act 26-114, sections 8 and 17 to 21 Accepts proof of any qualifying discharge for veterans’ exemptions and moves retroactive claims to the assessor

Catalog reconciledEnactedScope changed

2026 Regular SessionTakes effect 2026-10-01

Introduced Done, 2026-02-26, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2026-03-13, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2026-04-30, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2026-05-06, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2026-06-04, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2026-10-01, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Accepts proof of any qualifying discharge rather than only an honorable one for the veterans' property tax exemptions and extends the allied service exemption to general discharges.

Lets the proof of service show any discharge that qualifies rather than only an honorable one, extends the Second World War allied service exemption to general discharges and similar characterizations, makes the assessor rather than the tax collector receive proof for retroactive disability-based claims, and specifies which grand lists a town compares when raising exemption amounts after a revaluation. Generally effective October 1, 2026 and applicable to assessment years from then.

Sponsor

Touches Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-81 · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-93

Also touches

Official record

Public Act 25-168, sections 233 to 242 Rebuilt the permanent and total exemption and created municipal options for unemployability and killed-in-action spouses

Catalog reconciledEnactedScope changed Program created

2025 Regular SessionTakes effect 2025-10-01

Introduced Done, 2025-06-02, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, date not recorded, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-06-02, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2025-06-03, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2025-06-30, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2025-10-01, step 6 of 6

Expands and restricts Limits the permanent and total exemption to the veteran's share of the dwelling and excludes commercial and rental space, while letting towns extend it to individual unemployability and to surviving spouses of earlier deaths.

For assessment years from October 1, 2025: limits 12-81(83) to the veteran’s share of the dwelling, excludes commercial and rental space, adds mobile homes, trusts and life tenancies, requires disclosure of rating changes, and lets towns exempt up to two acres, cap at the median residential assessment and reach surviving spouses of earlier deaths. Creates 12-81pp (the same exemption for individual unemployability, where a town adopts it) and 12-81qq (surviving spouse of a service member killed in action).

Public Act 25-2, sections 4 to 6 Narrowed the full permanent and total exemption to a permanent and total finding on a 100 percent rating

Catalog reconciledEnactedScope changed

2025 Regular Session

Introduced Done, 2025-02-23, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, date not recorded, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2025-02-24, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2025-02-25, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2025-03-03, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, date not recorded, step 6 of 6

Restricts benefits Narrowed the full permanent and total exemption to a permanent and total finding on a 100 percent rating, dropping veterans found permanently and totally disabled through individual unemployability.

Rewrote 12-81(83) to require that VA have determined the veteran permanently and totally disabled based on a service-connected rating of 100 percent, applicable to assessment years from October 1, 2024, and let towns that had published their 2024 grand lists adjust them. A veteran with a permanent and total finding on individual unemployability is no longer covered by (83).

Public Act 24-46 Full property tax exemption for a veteran with a permanent and total disability rating

Catalog reconciledEnactedProgram created Scope changed

Signed 2024-05-21Takes effect 2024-10-01

Introduced Done, 2024-03-13, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2024-04-02, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2024-04-29, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2024-05-07, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2024-05-21, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2024-10-01, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Exempts the whole primary residence of a veteran with a permanent and total disability rating, with the exemption continuing to the surviving spouse.

Added subdivision (83) to section 12-81, exempting the whole primary residence, or one motor vehicle where the veteran has no such residence, and continuing the exemption for an unremarried surviving spouse and for minor children. The same act took permanent and total ratings out of the sliding scale in subdivision (20) so the two do not overlap. Guidance written before 2025 does not have it, and the statute allows a retroactive abatement or refund for up to three years.

Sponsor

Touches Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-81(83) · Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-81(20)

Also touches

Connecticut Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

Official record

Updated

Last updated 2026-09-30.

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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.