Houston County Board of Tax Assessors: Disabled Veteran Homestead Exemption

The exemption is the State's, under Code section 48-5-48; see the Georgia entry. In Houston County the Board of Tax Assessors takes homestead applications at 201 Perry Parkway, Perry, and decides eligibility. What the Board says. "Taxpayers must submit an initial application in person ... The filing period is from January 1st to April 1st each year. At this time mailed in or electronically filed applications are not accepted." It lists as eligible "Honorably discharged Georgia veterans" who are "VA-rated 100% totally and permanently disabled" or "VA-rated less than 100% disabled, but compensated at the 100% rate due to unemployability", with a Georgia driver's license or ID, vehicles registered in Houston County and a VA benefit summary letter. It notes that the exemption continues for an unremarried surviving spouse or minor children. Where that is narrower than the law. Deadline. Senate Bill 566, signed April 22, 2026 and applying from tax year 2026, rewrote Code section 48-5-45 so that an application filed during the year counts for that year if it is in by the final date to appeal that year's assessment notice. A veteran who missed April 1, 2026 should file before the appeal deadline on the notice and cite the Act. Rating. Section 48-5-48(a)(1) needs a 100% totally disabling rating, not a permanent one, and also takes 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 adapted housing eligibility are further routes. The Board lists none of those. Discharge. The statute takes a discharge under honorable conditions, which includes a general discharge. Refund. Neither office mentions the three-year refund for a retroactive VA decision in section 48-5-48(g). The Tax Commissioner's page. Its general information still describes the exemption as "up to $50,000 deducted from the 40% assessed value", restricted "to certain types of very serious disabilities", and an April 1 deadline. The amount is the greater of $32,500 or the federal adapted housing maximum, $126,526 for 2026 by the Department of Revenue's memorandum. The surviving spouse of a service member killed in a war. The Board describes a member "killed in combat or during an armed conflict"; section 48-5-52.1 reaches a death in or as a result of a war or armed conflict, proved by Survivor Benefit Plan documents. See the Georgia entry.