Kanawha County Assessor: Homestead Exemption and the veteran lane

The exemption is the State's, under Code 11-6B-3: the first twenty thousand dollars of assessed value off the property tax of an owner-occupied homestead for an owner sixty-five or older or certified permanently and totally disabled. The Kanawha County Assessor's homestead page is the county's own statement of it, and it is unusually specific. The qualifiers. The page lists: sixty-five or older on or before June 30; "Or be totally disabled. (requires submission of disability letter)"; "Or honorably discharged Veteran homeowner 90%-100% disabled. (requires submission of disability letter)"; lived at the residence at least six months; and a West Virginia resident for two years. The 90-100 percent veteran bullet is not in the homestead article - Article 6B carries no veteran wording - and corresponds instead to the 2023 Disabled Veteran Real Property Tax Credit, an income-tax credit the State entry covers, which the Department of Veterans Assistance describes as for veterans "rated 90-100 percent permanent and disabled" who "should contact their County Assessors' Office or their local Benefit Office". The Kanawha assessor has folded the two into one intake; a 90-100 percent veteran applying there should make sure both the homestead exemption and the credit claim are in train, because they are different benefits with different gates. The mechanics. Online filing opens in April for the coming tax year, or applicants come to the courthouse Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the deadline is December 1 and the page says so bluntly: "This deadline is statutory and by state law, the Assessor has no authority to extend it." Questions go to (304) 357-0207 or [email protected], and the housebound are served: "If you are unable to come to the Courthouse, please call and a Deputy Assessor will gladly come to your house and assist you with the application." The statute's military carve-out applies as everywhere in West Virginia: a service member who kept the state as home of record and returns on retirement or on separation for permanent and total disability is deemed to satisfy the two-year residency test, Code 11-6B-3(a), whatever the application form asks. The exemption attaches on the July 1 assessment date and applies to the following tax year.