Disabled Veterans

Disabled veterans who owned and used a principal residence may qualify for tax relief for all or part of the local property taxes paid for a given tax year on that property.¹Reimbursement is paid on the first $175,000 of the full market value of the property.²Property tax relief will not be extended to any person who was dishonorably discharged from any branch of the armed services.³

For the purposes of T.C.A. § 67-5-704, a "disabled veteran" means a person who has served in the armed forces of the United States, and who has

1. acquired in connection with his or her military service a disability from paraplegia or permanent paralysis of both legs and lower part of the body resulting from traumatic injury or disease to the spinal cord or brain, or from legal blindness, or from loss or loss of use of two or more limbs from any service-connected cause;
2. acquired 100 percent permanent total disability, as determined by the United States Veterans' Administration, and the disability resulted from having served as a prisoner of war; or
3. acquired service-connected permanent and total disability or disabilities, as determined by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.⁴

The determination of the United States Veterans' Administration concerning the disability status of a veteran is conclusive for purposes of this statute.⁵

Property tax relief will also be extended to the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who at the time of the disabled veteran’s death was eligible for disabled veterans' property tax relief. If a subsequent amendment to the law concerning eligibility as a disabled veteran would have made the deceased veteran eligible for disabled veterans' property tax relief, then property tax relief shall also be extended to the surviving spouse. A surviving spouse shall continue to qualify for disabled veterans' property tax relief as long as the surviving spouse does not remarry, solely or jointly owns the property for which tax relief is claimed, and uses the property for which tax relief is claimed exclusively as a home.⁶

Property tax relief will also be extended to the surviving spouse of a veteran whose death results from a service-connected, combat-related cause, as determined by the United States Veterans’ Administration; provided that the surviving spouse does not remarry and the property for which tax relief is claimed is owned by and used exclusively by the surviving spouse as a home.⁷