Housing

New Hampshire Tax Credit for Service-Connected Total Disability

A $700 credit statewide once the town has adopted RSA 72:35, which a town may raise to as much as $5,000. The statute gives the applicant a real evidentiary right: the assessors must treat the VA certification as conclusive unless they have specific contrary evidence and let the veteran rebut it.

Also called: 72:35, $700, $5,000, total and permanent, double amputee, paraplegic, conclusive on the question of disability, 2025 chapter 15, 2026 chapter 252.

For: Veteran or service member, survivor.

Where it applies

Written for the jurisdictions listed here.

New HampshireState

RSA 72:35 is the largest of the New Hampshire credits and the only one that comes with a procedural right attached. The standard amount is $700. Paragraph I: any person "who has been discharged of a character outlined in RSA 21:50 or an officer honorably separated from the military service of the United States and who has total and permanent service-connected disability, or who is a double amputee or paraplegic because of service-connected injury, or the surviving spouse of such a person, shall receive a standard yearly tax credit in the amount of $700 of property taxes on the person's residential property." The optional amount, on adoption under RSA 72:27-a, is "an amount from $701 up to $5,000". That is by far the widest band in the chapter, and in a town that voted near the top of it the credit can cover most of a modest tax bill. Then the sentence that has to be read carefully, in paragraph I-a: "The optional tax credit for service-connected permanent and total disability shall replace the tax credits pursuant to RSA 72:28, 72:28-b, 72:28-c, and 72:36-a in its entirety and shall not be in addition thereto." RSA 72:36-a is not a credit. It is a full exemption from all taxation on the homestead of a veteran with a specially adapted house. On the words of paragraph I-a, adopting the optional disability credit displaces it. In a town with a high tax rate, a full exemption is worth more than $5,000, so a veteran with an SAH or SHA adapted home could be left worse off in a town that adopted the optional credit than in one that did not. Whether an assessor would actually read a credit provision as overriding a separate exemption is untested, and the catalog records the conflict rather than resolving it. If this is your situation, raise RSA 72:36-a with the assessing office in writing before accepting the credit, and note that the appeal route in RSA 72:34-a runs to the board of tax and land appeals or the superior court. The disability test has two alternative routes and neither is a percentage. Total and permanent service-connected disability, or double amputation or paraplegia because of service-connected injury. Nothing in the section says one hundred percent. The discharge standard was widened on August 31, 2026 by 2026 chapter 252, section 7, which put "discharged of a character outlined in RSA 21:50" in place of the older language. That reaches a general discharge under honorable conditions and an uncharacterized discharge based on a service-connected injury. Paragraph II restricts the credit to property occupied as the principal place of abode by the disabled person or the surviving spouse, and allows it against appurtenant land and buildings or manufactured housing used as the abode. Paragraph III is the part that has no equivalent in most states in this catalog, and it came in with 2018 chapter 105. Subparagraph (a): the applicant furnishes certification from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs that the applicant is rated totally and permanently disabled from service connection, and then "the assessors or selectmen shall accept such certification as conclusive on the question of disability unless they have specific contrary evidence and the applicant, or the applicant's representative, has had a reasonable opportunity to review and rebut that evidence." The applicant must also be given a reasonable opportunity to submit additional evidence on the question of disability. That is a burden-shifting rule. A local assessor cannot second-guess a VA rating on a hunch. To go behind it they need specific contrary evidence, and they must show it to the veteran and let the veteran answer. Subparagraph (b): "Any decision to deny an application shall identify the evidence upon which the decision relied and shall be made within the time period provided by law." A bare denial is not a lawful denial. Subparagraph (c) handles the mechanics: the credit is divided evenly among the number of tax payments the town requires annually, so a semi-annual biller applies half to each bill rather than the whole credit to one. A surviving spouse takes the credit on the same terms, subject to the remarriage and divorce rules in RSA 72:29, V.

Thresholds

Thresholds for New Hampshire Tax Credit for Service-Connected Total Disability
Gate	Rule
Total and permanent service-connected disability	RSA 72:35, I. The test is total and permanent service-connected disability rather than a rating percentage, and paragraph III(a) requires certification from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs that the applicant is rated totally and permanently disabled from service connection.
Or double amputation or paraplegia from a service-connected injury	RSA 72:35, I provides an alternative route for a person who "is a double amputee or paraplegic because of service-connected injury", with no permanence or total disability finding required.
A discharge of a character outlined in RSA 21:50	2026 chapter 252, section 7, effective August 31, 2026, replaced the older discharge language, so a general discharge under honorable conditions and an uncharacterized discharge based on a service-connected injury now qualify.
$700 where the town adopted RSA 72:35; $701 to $5,000 if it voted higher	RSA 72:35, I and I-a. Paragraph I-a states that the optional credit replaces the credits under RSA 72:28, 72:28-b, 72:28-c and 72:36-a in its entirety, and RSA 72:36-a is a full exemption from all taxation on an adapted homestead.
The VA certification is conclusive unless the town produces specific contrary evidence	RSA 72:35, III(a) and (b). The assessors must accept the certification as conclusive unless they hold specific contrary evidence and the applicant has had a reasonable opportunity to review and rebut it, and a denial must identify the evidence relied on.

Sources

Legislation

Law the tracker is watching for this entry. See the legislation tracker for every jurisdiction.

Laws of New Hampshire 2026, chapter 252 Pointed the veteran benefit statutes at the RSA 21:50 discharge standard, widening several at once

Needs reviewEnactedScope changed

Signed 2026-07-02Takes effect 2026-08-31

Introduced Done, 2026-01-07, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2026-01-07, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2026-03-26, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2026-05-07, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2026-07-02, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2026-08-31, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Points several veteran tax credits, the Veterans Home and the employment preference at the RSA 21:50 definition, which reaches a general discharge.

A conforming act with substantive effect. Effective August 31, 2026 it replaced older discharge language with a cross-reference to the definition in RSA 21:50 across the code, touching at least RSA 72:28-b (all veterans’ tax credit), RSA 72:35 (tax credit for service-connected total disability), RSA 72:36-a (exemption for a specially adapted homestead), RSA 119:1 and 119:2 (the New Hampshire Veterans’ Home and the qualifications of its board of managers), RSA 119:6 (veteran employment preference at the home), RSA 283:4 (preference in public employment) and RSA 261:86 (special number plates for former prisoners of war, Purple Heart recipients and Pearl Harbor survivors). Because RSA 21:50, I(a)(2) reaches an honorable discharge, a general discharge under honorable conditions and an uncharacterized discharge based on a service-connected injury, illness or disability, every one of those provisions is now open to a veteran with a general discharge who was previously outside it. RSA 72:28, the standard and optional wartime credit, was not amended and still requires an honorable discharge, so the two neighbouring property tax credits now carry different discharge tests. Tracked because no published New Hampshire benefit guidance reflects the change, a veteran refused before August 31, 2026 should apply again, and because RSA 72:27-a, IV arguably requires a town that previously adopted RSA 72:28-b, 72:35 or 72:36-a to vote again before the wider eligibility applies locally, which is unresolved.

Sponsor

Touches N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 72:28-b · N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 72:35 · N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 72:36-a · N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 119:1, 119:2 and 119:6 · N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 283:4 · N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 261:86

Also touches

Official record

Laws of New Hampshire 2018, chapter 105 Made the VA disability certification conclusive against a town unless it produces contrary evidence

Catalog reconciledEnactedScope changed

Signed 2018-05-25Takes effect 2019-01-01

Introduced Done, 2018-01-03, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2018-01-03, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2018-02-22, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2018-04-19, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2018-05-25, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2019-01-01, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Makes the VA's total disability certification conclusive for the credit unless the town has contrary evidence the veteran can rebut.

Rewrote RSA 72:35, III effective January 1, 2019. An applicant for the tax credit for service-connected total disability furnishes certification from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs that they are rated totally and permanently disabled from service connection, and the selectmen or assessors "shall accept such certification as conclusive on the question of disability unless they have specific contrary evidence and the applicant, or the applicant’s representative, has had a reasonable opportunity to review and rebut that evidence", with a further right to submit additional evidence on the question of disability. Any decision to deny "shall identify the evidence upon which the decision relied and shall be made within the time period provided by law", and the credit must be divided evenly among the number of tax payments the municipality requires annually. Tracked because it is the strongest procedural protection in the New Hampshire file and almost no benefit summary mentions it: a veteran whose credit is refused on an assessor’s doubt about the rating, or refused without reasons, has a specific statutory answer and an appeal under RSA 72:34-a to the board of tax and land appeals or the superior court.

Sponsor

Touches N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 72:35, III

Also touches

Applying for a New Hampshire Veteran Property Tax Credit

Official record

Updated

Last updated 2026-10-24.

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Disclaimer

VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.