New Jersey 100 Percent Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

This is the most valuable veterans benefit in a state with some of the highest property taxes in the country. What it covers. N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.30 exempts from taxation "the dwelling house and the lot or curtilage whereon the same is erected". There is no dollar cap and no acreage limit in the statute. A veteran who lives in part of a multi-family building is exempt on the share of the value that he or she occupies, under N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.31. Since P.L.2021, c.175 a tenant shareholder in a cooperative or mutual housing corporation is exempt on that unit's share of the tax. Who qualifies. A citizen and resident of New Jersey honorably discharged from active service, whom VA has declared to have a service-connected disability from paraplegia, sarcoidosis, osteochondritis with permanent loss of use of both legs, hemiplegia with permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm, total blindness, or amputation of both arms, both legs, both hands, both feet or a hand and a foot, "or from other service-connected disability declared ... to be a total or 100 percent permanent disability, and not so evaluated solely because of hospitalization or surgery and recuperation". A temporary 100 percent rating does not qualify. The named conditions carry a 100 percent rating under VA's schedule in almost every case. Unemployability counts, if it is permanent. The Division of Taxation's claim form D.V.S.S.E., revised March 2025, offers two boxes: a service-connected disability declared total or 100 percent permanent, or a disability "rated unemployable with payment of 100% and stated to be totally and permanently disabling". A veteran paid at the total rate through individual unemployability qualifies when VA's letter says the disability is permanent and total. Without that statement, neither route is open. Any era. Until 2020 the veteran had to have served in a war or emergency. P.L.2019, c.413 removed that, conditioned on a constitutional amendment the voters approved on November 3, 2020, and the form says so. Surviving spouses. N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.30(b) and (c) extend the exemption, while unremarried and a resident who owns and occupies the home, to the surviving spouse of a veteran who was entitled to it at death, of a veteran whom VA found totally disabled only after death, and of a resident who died on active service. The spouse can carry it to another home bought later. The Division of Taxation's form says the deceased veteran must also have met the ownership requirement at the time of death. How to apply. File form D.V.S.S.E. with the municipal assessor at any time in the year, with the DD-214 and VA's certification. N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.31 has the exemption prorated from the date title was acquired, so a veteran who buys a house mid-year is exempt for the rest of that year. N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.32 lets the municipality refund taxes collected on exempt property for the year. It does not reach back further, so file as soon as VA's decision arrives. This is separate from the $250 deduction, and a veteran can have both.