Property Tax Awareness for Elderly and Disabled American Veterans
The National Association of American Veterans (NAAV) is committed to providing support to our Nation’s veterans and their family members through various category of resources. The following information, although not directly endorsed or researched by NAAV, but is instead being submitted at the request of a concerned citizen, who has had experience with the very topic wanted to share on NAAV’s website in order to bring awareness to veterans and those with disabilities who might be affected. This Property Tax information is particularly for residence living within Prince William County. However, the overall message might be the catalyst for some to ask questions and or raise awareness for others facing similar situations within your own respective counties.
Most of my attention in the past 3 years has been to assure that ELDERLY and DISABLED residents are at least advised about the exemption programs in our county. I’d met only a few disabled residents who told me their stories about having to go back [over] property tax several times to provide medical documents but I’ve not had the chance to delve into their specific situations to find out why it required them to make several visits to the property tax office. I may have mentioned the one woman whom I met who told me that she had to drive her quadriplegic son to the tax office at least twice if not 3 times. When I spoke to
her she told me that he still had not been certified as exempt and I don’t know what documentation the tax office was asking for.
Speaking to [a gentleman] was a case where I could instantly provide him a clear avenue to obtaining exemption because his age and financial status 100% qualified him for an elderly tax exemption and I was happy to be able to tell him this.
I don’t know anything else that I could provide to veterans regarding our county’s property tax exemptions. Attached is our county’s exemption brochure which is available in our two local tax offices—the county does not (purposely) mail these out to residents and I believe that this is to prevent this information from becoming too well known.
The two classes of exemption are: 1) for elderly people over 65 and 2), for disabled residents, who can provide the documentation noted in this brochure. The only way I might be able to help a veteran is he/she cannot meet the disability requirements but is 65 years or older. I did meet about 3 elderly people in my local Walmart this morning who are at least 70 years old and had never before heard about these exemptions so I briefly told them the requirements for this exemption and all 3 of them will be going to our tax office and they will no longer have to pay property tax on their homes.
If you can think of anything else I can share with your veterans, please let me know. Since I met [this gentleman] I’m now asking elderly residents, if they are veterans just in case they were turned down for a service related disability.
Respectfully submitted by
Concerned Citizen
Resident of Haymarket, Virginia
We hope you find this information useful. If you need help within this subject matter area concerning property taxes or tax benefits for veterans, please contact the Internal Revenue Service or your Veterans Support Program Office for further assistance.