Powhatan County Real Estate Tax Relief for the Elderly and Disabled

Sections 70-51 to 70-58 of the Powhatan County Code relieve real estate tax on the dwelling and land not exceeding one acre - or a manufactured home on land not exceeding one acre - of an owner who is 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled, unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of a medically determinable impairment expected to result in death or to last for life. The division was rewritten by Ordinance O-2025-26, adopted October 27, 2025. Income and worth. Gross combined income of the owner, spouse and relatives living in the dwelling cannot exceed $75,000, with the first $6,500 of each relative other than a spouse left out and the first $7,500 of an owner's own compensation for permanent disability left out. Net combined financial worth, including equitable interests, cannot exceed $250,000, excluding the fair market value of the dwelling and up to two acres. The schedule in section 70-56 grants a 100% exemption at every income level the code admits, subject to a total exemption of $1,600 a year, so a qualifying owner's relief is the tax up to that cap. Filing. File the affidavit annually between January 1 and March 1 with the Commissioner of the Revenue, who may require answers under oath, and who issues an exemption certificate to present to the Treasurer with the balance of the tax. The county's page adds that applications are taken in person and that a handwritten summary is not accepted as income verification. A disabled owner under 65 certifies through the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Railroad Retirement Board, or by the affidavit of two doctors. Exemption holders are not eligible for other local relief such as land use. It is not a VA rating of 100% service-connected, and a disabled veteran who does not meet that test can use it. Veterans who are not 100% service-connected or 100% disabled are asked to provide income statements.