New Hampshire Tax Credit for the Surviving Spouse of a Service Death

RSA 72:29-a is narrow in who it reaches and unusually wide in what it covers. Paragraph I, which applies statewide without a town vote: the surviving spouse of any person "who was killed or died while on active duty in the armed forces of the United States or any of the armed forces of any of the governments associated with the United States in the wars, conflicts or armed conflicts, or combat zones set forth in RSA 72:28, shall receive a tax credit in the amount of $700 for the taxes due upon the surviving spouse's real and personal property, whether residential or not, in the same municipality where the surviving spouse is a resident." Three things in that sentence. "Real and personal property, whether residential or not." Every other credit in the chapter is confined to residential real estate as defined in RSA 72:29, II. This one is not. A surviving spouse who owns a rental property, a woodlot or taxable personal property in the same town can set the credit against the tax on any of it. RSA 72:28, III carries a narrower version of the same idea for the spouse of a service-connected death, allowing the credit against any real property; this section goes further and includes personal property. "Any of the armed forces of any of the governments associated with the United States." Service with an allied government's forces in a listed conflict counts. That reaches a spouse whose husband or wife served with a co-belligerent rather than with the United States, which is a clause written for the world wars and still live. "In the same municipality where the surviving spouse is a resident." The property and the residence must be in the same town. Paragraph II is the local option, and the statute prints it twice. The version effective until April 1, 2027 lets a town adopting it grant "an amount from $701 up to $2,000". The version effective April 1, 2027, from 2026 chapter 96, raises the band ceiling to $2,500. As everywhere in this chapter, RSA 72:27-a, IV means a town that already adopted must vote again before the higher ceiling means anything locally. The qualifying event is death on active duty in a listed conflict or combat zone. It is not a service-connected death after separation. A spouse whose veteran died years later of a service-connected condition is outside this section and should look instead at RSA 72:28, IV(c), which reaches "the surviving spouse of any resident who suffered a service-connected death" and carries the RSA 72:28 amount, or RSA 72:35, whose credit passes to the surviving spouse of a totally and permanently disabled veteran. Remarriage ends the credit, through the definition in RSA 72:29, V, and that definition has two further turns worth knowing. If the surviving spouse later divorces, "his or her status as the surviving spouse of a veteran is regained". But if the spouse remarries and the new husband or wife then dies, the spouse "shall be deemed the widow or widower of the latest spouse and shall not revert to the status of a surviving spouse of a veteran". So divorce restores the credit and a second widowhood does not. Ownership is read generously here as in the rest of the chapter: RSA 72:29, VI extends ownership to property in a grantor or revocable trust and to equitable title or a beneficial interest for life.