Washington County Property Appraiser: Veteran Exemptions

The exemptions are the State's; the Florida entries explain them. The Washington County Property Appraiser, Renea Peters, CFA, publishes an exemptions page, an FAQ and a forms page on qPublic, which answers 403 to plain requests and was read in a visible browser window. What it lists. "$5,000 VETERAN'S DISABILITY EXEMPTION: Florida residents who are members, or former members, of the armed services with at least a 10% disability caused by a service-connected disability are eligible for this exemption. Veterans need to supply a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs as documentation of this disability." And the "SERVICE-CONNECTED TOTAL AND PERMANENT DISABILITY EXEMPTION" for "Any honorably discharged veteran with a service- connected total and permanent disability, surviving spouses of qualifying veterans and spouses of Florida resident veterans who died from service connected causes while on active duty", on a VA letter certifying the service-connected total and permanent disability; "The disability exemption may carry over to the veteran's spouse when they die. You should talk with the Property Appraiser to make this determination." The forms page carries the deployed military application, the Homestead Tax Discount for Veterans 65 or Older with a Combat-Related Disability and the homestead application. Where the pages are narrower than the law. - Section 196.24 gives the $5,000 exemption to an ex-servicemember discharged under honorable conditions who is disabled 10% or more "while serving during a period of wartime service" or "by misfortune". The exemptions page asks for a service-connected disability and the FAQ for "10% or more war-time disability"; each leaves out the other route, and neither mentions the unremarried surviving spouse's $5,000 or the right to apply before the VA letter arrives. - Section 196.081(3) carries the total exemption to a surviving spouse who holds title and lives on the homestead until remarriage or sale; the page makes the carryover a matter to "talk with the Property Appraiser" about. - Neither page describes the section 196.082 combat discount, the section 196.091 wheelchair veteran exemption (which has no income limit) or the section 196.173 deployment exemption, though the forms page posts the applications for the first and last. The FAQ heading still reads "Disability Exemption ($500)". When and where. "Deadline to file is MARCH 1st." Office: 1331 South Blvd., Suite 300, Chipley, FL 32428 (P.O. Box 695); (850) 638-6205; weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.