Washington County, Maryland, Disabled Veterans Real Property Tax Credit

Washington County has its own disabled veteran credit under Tax-Property Article section 9-323(g), a section written for this county alone, in place of the statewide two-tier credit in section 9-265. The Board of County Commissioners adopted it in 2016 and widened it by Ordinance ORD-2018-13, effective for taxable years beginning after June 30, 2018, after Chapters 318 and 319 of 2018 removed the 50% floor. The credit equals the same percentage of the county real property tax on the home as the veteran's service-connected rating: a veteran rated 30% gets 30% off the county tax. The Treasurer's page describes it as open to veterans rated 1% to 100%. The rating has to be permanent, reasonably certain to last for life, and not caused by misconduct, so a temporary rating does not count. There is no income test. It does not reach state or municipal tax, and the ordinance bars stacking it with other local credits so far as to produce a refund. A veteran rated 100% permanent and total, or permanently unemployable, has the full state exemption under section 7-208 instead. A surviving spouse who has not remarried keeps the credit on the home the veteran owned at death, if that home had the credit and the spouse owns and lives in it. The credit ends when the home is sold to anyone else, and a veteran who buys a new home applies again. Application runs through the state. The veteran signs the county form, attaches the discharge certificate, and sends it to the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families, whose county office certifies the rating and forwards it to the Washington County Treasurer, 35 West Washington Street, Suite 102, Hagerstown, 240-313-2110. It has to reach the Treasurer by June 1 for the tax year starting July 1, and the veteran or spouse reapplies every three years. The Treasurer's page gives 301-791-0356 for the state office. The ordinance and the January 2026 form are narrower than the statute in one respect. Both ask for an honorable discharge, and the form still names the department by its pre-2024 name, the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. Chapter 689 of 2026 replaced the honorable-discharge test in section 9-323(g) with "is a veteran" for taxable years beginning after June 30, 2026, so a veteran with a general discharge who is a veteran for VA purposes meets the statute.