Massachusetts Full Property Tax Exemption for a Surviving Spouse or Parent

These are the two best property tax results in Massachusetts, and unlike the rest of the clause Twenty-second series they exempt the whole of the taxable valuation rather than a few hundred dollars of tax. Clause Twenty-second D covers the surviving spouse. It reaches the surviving spouses of soldiers and sailors, members of the National Guard and veterans who either, during active duty service, suffered an injury or illness documented by VA or a branch of the armed forces which was a proximate cause of their death, or are missing in action with a presumptive finding of death as a result of active duty service. Read the first route carefully, because it is wider than a service-connected death finding. The injury or illness must have been suffered during active duty service and must have been a proximate cause of death. It does not have to have been rated, and the death does not have to have occurred in service or soon after it. A spouse whose husband or wife died decades after discharge from a condition documented as having begun on active duty is inside this clause. The National Guard is named expressly alongside veterans, which matters because a Guard member on state or training duty may not be a veteran under clause Forty-third at all. Clause Twenty-second H does the same for surviving parents or guardians, on the same two routes. Guardians are named, which is unusual and reaches the person who actually raised the servicemember. The differences between the two clauses are in the small print and they are the things that decide cases. Residency. Clause Twenty-second D asks that the surviving spouse have been domiciled in the commonwealth for the two consecutive years immediately before filing, or that the servicemember have been domiciled here for at least six months before entering service. Clause Twenty-second H asks the surviving parents or guardians for five consecutive years, with the same six-month alternative through the servicemember. Retrospective reach. Both clauses say eligibility does not depend on when the death or the missing-in-action finding occurred, so an old loss still qualifies. But clause Twenty-second D applies only to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and clause Twenty-second H only to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2019. Neither reaches back further than that. Duration. Clause Twenty-second D is available until the surviving spouse dies or remarries. Clause Twenty-second H runs until the surviving parents or guardians are deceased, with no remarriage condition, which makes sense for a parent. Local acceptance. This is the difference that will surprise people. Clause Twenty-second D operates everywhere in the commonwealth. Clause Twenty-second H takes effect only upon its acceptance by a city or town. A Gold Star parent in an accepting community pays no property tax on their home; the same parent across the town line may pay the full bill. Before relying on clause Twenty-second H, ask the assessors whether the town has accepted it, and if it has not, ask the select board or city council what it would take. Both clauses require the real estate to be occupied by the claimant as their domicile, and neither exempts property the assessors adjudge was conveyed to the claimant to evade taxation. Who pays. For both clauses the commonwealth bears the amount of the exemption and the state treasurer reimburses the city or town annually for the tax that would otherwise have been collected. A town accepting clause Twenty-second H is not taking on the cost, which is worth saying to a select board that thinks it is. A surviving spouse who does not fit clause Twenty-second D should check the ordinary series as well. Clauses Twenty-second A, B, C, E and F each continue unchanged for a surviving spouse who remains an owner and occupant of the domicile, with no remarriage cut-off, and clause Twenty-second (d) carries the base $400 abatement to an unremarried surviving spouse of a veteran who was entitled at death.