Smyth County Disabled Veteran Real Estate Tax Exemption

In Smyth County the Commissioner of the Revenue, Bradley A. Powers, at P.O. Box 985 / 109 W. Main Street, Suite G011, Marion (276-782-4040, fax 276-782-4041, [email protected]), takes the statewide disabled-veteran real estate exemption. The county's Disabled Veteran Tax Exemptions page cites article X, section 6-A of the Constitution of Virginia and sections 58.1-3219.5 and 58.1-3219.6, and the application is the office's "2025 Disabled Veteran Real Estate Application". What the application requires. A "Summary of Benefits that includes the Service-Connected Disability Rating and Effective Date is REQUIRED to be attached", and the rating rule is printed on the form: "Service-Connected rating must be 100% or veteran must be paid at 100% level due to unemployabilitity" - the county's own spelling of individual unemployability, so a veteran paid at the 100% rate on that basis qualifies. The affidavit certifies the property as the veteran's primary place of residence, promises notice to the Commissioner within 30 days of any change, and - for a surviving spouse - that the spouse remained unmarried and occupies the residence. The exemption covers "up to one (1) acre of land [with] the primary dwelling"; "ancillary dwellings/buildings are not eligible", and the residence must be owned by the veteran. A surviving spouse qualifies where the death occurred on or after January 1, 2011 and files the death certificate; the form still states that the spouse "continues to occupy the real property as his/her primary residence" - section 58.1-3219.5(B) now applies the exemption "without any restriction on the spouse's moving to a different principal place of residence", and a spouse who moves should cite that subsection. The 2026 real estate rate is $0.69 per $100, up from $0.59 in 2025 (the county's Real Estate Information page; the Department of Taxation's TY 2025 table records the 0.590). The budget resolution in the Board's June 18, 2026 minutes and the resolution re-read into the July 23, 2026 record set the same $0.69 for the fiscal year. Taxes are collected on an annual basis with a December 5 due date, per the county's own revenue-note resolution of July 23, 2026. A veteran who is permanently and totally disabled but does not meet this VA test can use the county's T.R.E.D. instead.