Falmouth Veterans’ Property Tax Exemptions (Clauses 22 to 22F)

The Town of Falmouth grants the veterans’ exemptions of G.L. c. 59, s. 5, clauses 22 to 22F, through its board of assessors. The statute sets them as dollars off the tax bill, $400 under clause 22, $750, $1,250 and $1,500 under 22A to 22C and $1,000 under 22E, and exempts the whole domicile under 22D and 22F; a town can add to them only by accepting a local option, clause 22I, clause 22J or section 5C½. Every figure on this entry carries its source and the day it was read. The Assessing Department’s Taxpayer’s Guide to Real Estate Tax Exemptions in Massachusetts prints $800 under clause 22, $1,500 under 22A, $2,500 under 22B, $3,000 under 22C and $2,000 under 22E, each twice the statutory amount, and a total exemption for a paraplegic veteran; its clause 22D line prints a $400.00 figure beside what it calls a full exemption for surviving spouses. The guide names no local option; clause 22J at 100 per cent, or section 5C½, produces this doubling, and no town meeting vote on either was found in the warrant books and votes of the April 2025, November 2025 and April 2026 town meetings. Ask the assessors for the option behind the amounts. The guide’s residence section still prints the pre-HERO Act test, five years before filing or one year in a community that has accepted the alternative local option; the statute now asks for six months’ domicile before entering service or two consecutive years before filing. Chapter 115 benefits, the Commonwealth’s needs-based help with rent, food, fuel and medical costs, are applied for through Falmouth Veterans Services. Their amounts are set by the Commonwealth and are the same in every city and town; the statewide chapter 115 entry describes them.