City and Borough of Juneau Assessor: Senior Citizen/Disabled Veteran Exemption and Hardship Exemption

The exemption is the State's, AS 29.45.030(e); the Alaska entry records the statute. The City and Borough of Juneau adds its own deadline and rules in CBJ 69.10.020, which the Assessor prints on the back of the application. Amount. The first $150,000 of assessed value of the home is exempt. Juneau has no larger local amount for disabled veterans. Who qualifies. A disabled veteran (the form asks for a VA letter verifying the disability, required annually unless permanent) who owns the property and occupies it as the primary residence and permanent place of abode; the form asks the applicant to physically occupy it at least 186 days a year. CBJ 69.10.020(1)(A)(ii) adds that the owner must be eligible for a Permanent Fund Dividend for the same year or the year before. A widow, widower or surviving same-sex domestic partner at least 60 years old of a person who qualified keeps the exemption. Any rental or business use of part of the home must be disclosed. Deadline. The first application must be filed by March 31 of the first assessment year. A permanently disabled veteran (and a senior, or a qualifying widow or widower) need not file again, but the assessor may ask for proof at any time. Missing the deadline. The Assembly may waive a late filing for good cause, which the code defines as extraordinary circumstances beyond the claimant's control - a medical condition or disability, impaired mental capacity, illiteracy, a family emergency or death in the family - and not inadvertence, lack of knowledge, financial hardship or bad advice from a broker, banker, attorney or accountant. No late application is accepted more than one year after it was due, whatever the cause (CBJ 69.10.020(1)(C) and (D)). In practice the Assessor brings lists of late-filed senior, disabled veteran and hardship applications to the Assembly; lists were on its agendas of October 27, November 17 and December 15, 2025 and March 9 and April 6, 2026. The Finance Committee was told on November 5, 2025 that the Assembly approved 69 late applications for 2024 and, so far in 2025, 55 (26 senior, 5 disabled veteran and 24 hardship). Hardship exemption (CBJ 69.10.021). A veteran who receives the exemption can apply each year by April 30 for a hardship exemption that limits the real property tax to 2 percent of gross household income, if household income from all sources in the prior year was no more than 120 percent of HUD's median family income for Juneau (the 2026 form prints the 2025 limits, $115,562 for one person and $204,628 for seven), or falls below it after a documented one-time extraordinary expense. The application needs Form 21-400c and the prior year's federal tax return for everyone in the home who files. In extreme hardship the Assembly may, by a two-thirds vote, exempt up to 100 percent of the home's assessed value. Where to file. City and Borough of Juneau Assessor's Office, 1208 Glacier Avenue, Juneau, AK 99801 (the application's header also prints 155 Heritage Way); (907) 586-5215 ext. 4906; [email protected]; weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Assessor's property tax page adds that a late-filed exemption still pending on September 30 does not stop the bill from being due: pay it on time to avoid penalties. Check the assessment notice for the exemption: on March 25, 2026 the Assessor announced that about 300 notices mailed March 18 had not reflected the senior citizen and disabled veteran exemption, and mailed corrected notices on March 30.