Washington Property Tax Assistance for Widows and Widowers of Veterans

Chapter 84.39 RCW creates a property tax assistance grant for the surviving spouse of a veteran. It is structurally different from the exemption in the previous entry: the state pays a grant toward the property tax rather than removing the property from the tax rolls. The surviving spouse has to be unmarried, and has to be at least 62 years old by December 31 of the year before the claim, or retired from employment because of a disability. Combined disposable income has to fall under the threshold, which is set from county median household income in the same way as the veterans exemption. The veteran's side of the test is met by any one of four circumstances: the veteran died as a result of a service-connected disability; the veteran was rated 100 percent disabled by VA for the ten years before death; the veteran was a former prisoner of war rated 100 percent for at least one year before death; or the veteran died on active duty. The ten-year requirement on the 100 percent path is the condition that most often disqualifies an otherwise eligible spouse, and it is worth checking the effective date of the veteran's 100 percent award rather than the date the veteran believed they became totally disabled. Those are frequently different, and an award backdated on appeal can change the answer. As with the veterans exemption, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is excluded from the income calculation, which matters a great deal for a surviving spouse whose DIC is their main income. There is no repayment obligation as long as the surviving spouse remains in the residence. Apply through the Department of Revenue rather than the county assessor, which is the reverse of the exemption in the previous entry and a common source of delay.