Connecticut Wartime Veteran Property Tax Exemption

General Statutes section 12-81(19) exempts $1,000 of assessed value belonging to a Connecticut resident who is a veteran, as defined in section 27-103, and who served in time of war. The figure is assessed value, not market value and not tax, so at a typical Connecticut mill rate this is worth tens of dollars a year rather than hundreds. It is the base on which the additional exemptions in this catalog are calculated, which is where the real money is. The same subdivision reaches several people who are not the ordinary case. A citizen who served with a government allied with the United States during the Second World War qualifies, as does a Second World War member of an armed force of a government signatory to the United Nations Declaration of January 1, 1942 who has been a United States citizen for at least ten years. So does a member of the American Merchant Marine in ocean-going service between December 7, 1941 and August 15, 1945 who holds an armed forces discharge certificate. So does a serving member who has not yet been discharged, and a person retired from the armed forces after thirty years. If the veteran lacks $1,000 of property in their own name, the exemption attaches to a domiciled spouse's property. Two 2026 changes to proof and eligibility take effect for assessment years from October 1, 2026 under Public Act 26-114. Until then the proof of service filed with the town clerk had to show an honorable discharge, even though a general discharge and the Connecticut qualifying-condition discharges already made a person a veteran for the exemption; section 18 lets the proof show any discharge that qualifies. Section 17 extends the Second World War allied service route, which had required an honorable discharge, to other qualifying characterizations such as a general discharge under honorable conditions. A veteran turned away at the town clerk for a general discharge before October 1, 2026 should file again. The survivor and family subdivisions run alongside it and each carry $1,000: Subdivision (22) covers a surviving spouse while unremarried, or a minor child, or both, of a person who served and who died during service or after becoming a veteran. That amount rises to $3,000 if the death was due to service and occurred while on active duty. Subdivision (24) extends that $3,000 amount to a surviving spouse or minor child who is drawing compensation from VA, on verification by letter from the department. In practice that is the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation route, and it reaches a survivor whose veteran did not die on active duty. Subdivision (23) covers a surviving spouse who is receiving or has received a pension, annuity or compensation from the United States. Subdivision (25) covers a sole surviving parent, while unremarried, of a person who left no surviving spouse or whose surviving spouse has remarried or died. A parent of more than one such service member gets $1,000 for each. Subdivision (26) covers a father or mother of someone who served, as long as that parent receives or has received a pension, annuity or compensation from the United States. No disability rating appears anywhere in this group, so a rating filter never hides it. The gate is wartime service under section 27-103, which means ninety cumulative days in a recognized period of war. Two limits matter. A veteran entitled to the full exemption for permanent and total disability under subdivision (83) cannot also take one of these, and the exemptions in this group do not stack with each other either. And the claim goes to the assessor of the town where the property sits, under the filing rules in sections 12-89, 12-90 and 12-95, not to the state. That last point is worth stating plainly for anyone arriving from another state. Connecticut abolished county government in 1960. There is no county assessor, no county tax office, and no county veterans service officer to call. The town or city is the unit of local government for every property tax question in this catalog, and the Department of Veterans Affairs is the state-level office.