Montgomery County Military Retiree Property Tax Credit

County Code section 52-110 uses the local option in Tax-Property Article section 9-258 to give a credit of 20% of the county property tax on the home for seven years. It is not a credit against the state or a municipal tax. The Department of Finance lists it as the Individuals 65 and Above and Retired Military Services Members Tax Credit, and the forms call it the Bill 42-16 credit. A military retiree qualifies at 65 or older when the home had an assessment of $550,000 or less at the time of the first application. Retired means retired from the uniformed services as defined in 10 U.S.C. 101, the military reserves, or the National Guard, which the county page lists as the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, the NOAA Corps, the Public Health Service, and the reserves and Guard. The county page is plain that a veteran who is not actually in retired status does not qualify. Proof is a retired military ID or a DD-214 that says retired. The owner who is 65 must be on the deed; other owners need not qualify. The same section gives the credit to an owner of 65 who has lived in the home for 40 years with an assessment up to $700,000, and the two routes do not add together. The code also gives the credit to the surviving spouse of a retired member who is at least 65 and has not remarried. The county's page and its surviving spouse application, updated June 30, 2026, are narrower than section 52-110(c)(3). They say the retiree must have been at least 65 at death, and the form applies the $550,000 assessment limit to the spouse. The code asks only that the spouse be 65 and unremarried and names no assessment limit for the spouse. A spouse turned down on either ground can point to the code. The spouse sends the death certificate, proof of the retiree's retired status, and an affidavit of not remarrying. The application goes to the Department of Finance, Division of Treasury, by April 1 before the tax year, and approved credits appear on the July bill. No yearly application is needed. The credit ends after seven years. The state's 9-258 also allows a credit for a service member or veteran with a service-connected disability, but Montgomery has not adopted that part.