Washington County Disabled Veteran Real Estate and Vehicle Tax Exemptions

Washington County's Commissioner of the Revenue, in Abingdon, takes the statewide disabled-veteran real estate exemption on a short county form with the VA certificate or letter showing a disability that is 100% service-connected, permanent, and total. There is no income test. The county's separate form for a surviving spouse of a veteran who died after January 1, 2011 says only that "a change in primary residence requires that a new application be submitted", which fits section 58.1-3219.5(B): the spouse can move and refile. The exemption also covers the town real estate taxes levied in Abingdon, Damascus, Glade Spring, and Saltville, since the statute exempts the property from county, city, and town taxes alike. The vehicle form for the statewide one-vehicle exemption says "please return by July 1" and "vehicles must be owned on January 1st of current tax year". Section 58.1-3668(C) sets no filing deadline and applies the exemption "beginning on the date the motor vehicle is acquired", so a vehicle bought during the year is exempt from the day the veteran buys it. A veteran who misses July 1 or buys a car in the spring should still file. Washington County has no separate rate for the limb loss and blindness class in section 58.1-3506(A)(19); its personal property rate is $1.70 per $100. The county's elderly and disabled program is written two ways on acreage: sections 58-83 and 58-84 of the county code limit it to one acre, but section 58-85 computes relief on the dwelling and land "not exceeding five acres". If the county grants five acres in that program, section 58.1-3219.5(C) requires the same five acres for this exemption; the county's form does not say how many acres it exempts.