City of Danville Disabled Veteran Real Estate Tax Exemption

In Danville the Real Estate Assessment Division, which does the assessing work of a commissioner of the revenue, takes the statewide disabled-veteran real estate exemption (434-799-5120). Section 37-70 of the city code, adopted in October 2011, exempts the dwelling and up to one acre of a veteran with a VA rating of 100% service-connected, permanent, and total disability who occupies it as the principal residence, on an affidavit with the VA documentation. The veteran refiles only after a move, and there is no income test. The surviving spouse. Section 37-70(b) and the city's page say the spouse qualifies if "the death of the veteran occurs on or after July 1, 2011" and the spouse "continues to occupy the property". Section 58.1-3219.5(B) of the Code of Virginia sets the date at January 1, 2011, and since 2019 lets the spouse move to a new principal residence and keep the exemption. The spouse of a veteran who died between January 1 and June 30, 2011, or a spouse who has moved, qualifies under the statute and should apply citing subsection B; the city's ordinance cannot narrow the Commonwealth's exemption. Neither the page nor the ordinance mentions individual unemployability; a veteran rated permanent and total on that basis should ask, since the Department of Veterans Services treats that rating as qualifying.