New York City Veterans Property Tax Exemptions: Alternative, Cold War and Eligible Funds

These are the State exemptions in Real Property Tax Law 458, 458-a and 458-b; see the New York entries. The City decides the ceilings and the options, the Department of Finance administers them, and the choices are in Title 11, chapter 2 of the Administrative Code. Alternative veterans exemption (458-a). Section 11-245.6 raises the ceilings to one of the higher sets the statute allows a high-appreciation municipality: 15% of assessed value up to $48,000 for wartime service, another 10% up to $32,000 for combat service, and assessed value times half the disability rating up to $160,000, each multiplied by the latest class ratio. The statute would let the City go as high as $75,000, $50,000 and $250,000; it has not. Finance publishes the result as assessed value: up to $2,880, $1,920 and $9,600 on a one- to three-family home (tax class 1), and $21,600, $14,400 and $72,000 on a co-op or condominium (classes 2 and 4). The City applies the exemption to school taxes since 2017 (section 11-245.75), so it reaches the whole City bill, and to the share of a co-op corporation's taxes that a veteran tenant-stockholder carries (11-245.5), except in housing under articles 2, 4, 5 or 11 of the Private Housing Finance Law, which include Mitchell-Lama and HDFC co-ops. It extends the exemption to a Gold Star parent's primary residence (11-245.7), without the disability part. A veteran who sells and buys again within the City keeps a prorated exemption for the rest of the year (11-245.9), but must apply again for the next. Cold War exemption (458-b). Section 11-245.11, added by Local Law 179 of 2025 and in force since December 12, 2025, exempts 15% of assessed value up to $48,000 times the class ratio for active duty between September 2, 1945 and December 26, 1991, plus assessed value times half the disability rating up to $160,000 times the ratio, against City and school taxes, and on co-op shares. The base part runs for as long as the owner qualifies, not the State default of ten years. Finance gives the caps as $2,880 and $9,600 for class 1 and $21,600 and $72,000 for classes 2 and 4. A veteran with wartime service takes the alternative exemption instead; the two cannot be combined. Eligible funds exemption (458). Section 11-245.46 applies it to school taxes from 2018. Switching from it to the alternative exemption gives it up for good. How to apply. File with Finance by March 15 for the tax year that starts July 1; Real Property Tax Law 458-a(3-a) sets March 15 for the City, not the March 1 used elsewhere, and the next business day counts if it falls on a weekend. Online filing runs from September 28 to March 15. The initial application, revised September 17, 2026, needs a DD-214 or separation papers. A surviving spouse or Gold Star parent adds the death certificate, a disabled veteran the VA award letter showing the rating, and a veteran with an other than honorable discharge the State's Restoration of Honor letter. A change in rating is reported on Finance's separate form. Questions go to 311. The full exemption for permanent and total disability. Real Property Tax Law 458-a(11) lets a county, city or school district fully exempt the home of a veteran VA considers permanently and totally disabled, from rolls based on taxable status dates on or after October 1, 2026. In the City it would take a local law. As of 2026-10-02 neither Finance's veterans page nor the Administrative Code, current through Local Law 147 of 2026, provides it, so it is not available on City property tax. Ask Finance or a Council member before the March 15 deadline in case that changes. The Council has a bill pending: Introduction 1051-2026, "A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the alternative exemption for seriously disabled veterans", sits in the Committee on Veterans (read on the Council's Legistar on 2026-10-13). The State Department of Veterans' Services' notification list of 458-a(11) adopters (updated October 11, 2026) names no City or borough adopter - statewide it lists six: Auburn, Monroe County, the Town of Milford, Saratoga Springs, the Town of Huntington and the Village of Rye Brook. Two things Finance's page gets wrong. Its table of conflicts for the alternative exemption lists the Cold War, but Cold War service is not a period of war under 458-a and earns only the separate Cold War exemption. And it describes combat service as service in "a location of active combat"; the statute asks for a United States campaign ribbon or service medal for a combat theatre, or one of the expeditionary medals.