Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption in Massachusetts (2026)

Last reviewed August 26, 2026. Every figure, form and deadline on this page is re-checked against the state’s own government sources once a quarter, and the date above is updated when we do it.

Massachusetts gives disabled veterans a property tax exemption of $400 to $1,500 off the actual tax bill, or an equivalent reduction in assessed value, depending on your disability and how you were injured. It is not a percentage of your home’s value like some states use, it is a set of flat dollar tiers written into Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 59, Section 5, Clause 22 and its sub-clauses. A full exemption only applies to veterans who are paraplegic or 100% blind from service, and to surviving spouses of a service member killed in the line of duty. You apply directly with your city or town’s Board of Assessors, not with the state.

A lot of what circulates about this program treats “100% disabled” as if it means the tax bill goes to zero. In Massachusetts it usually does not. Further down I show you exactly which clause gets you the flat $1,000 tier and which ones get you the full exemption, and why towns near each other can be paying very different amounts for the same disability rating.

How much is the Massachusetts exemption worth?

Clause	Who qualifies	Exemption
22	10%+ service-connected disability rating, a Purple Heart, certain pre-WWI conflict veterans, Gold Star parents, or spouses of the above	$400 or $2,000 of assessed value, whichever cuts more actual tax
22A	Loss or permanent loss of use of one hand, foot or eye in the line of duty; Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross; or former prisoner of war	$750 or $4,000 of assessed value
22B	Loss or permanent loss of use of both feet, both hands, or one of each, or blindness in both eyes	$1,250 or $8,000 of assessed value
22C	Permanent and total service-connected disability, plus a VA “specially adapted housing” grant	$1,500 or $10,000 of assessed value
22D	Surviving spouse of a service member killed in the line of duty, whose service-connected injury or illness was the proximate cause of death, or who is missing in action with a presumptive finding of death	Full exemption of the property’s taxable value
22E	Standard 100% service-connected disability rating	$1,000 or $6,000 of assessed value
22F	Paraplegic veterans, or a 100% rating specifically for service-connected blindness	Full exemption of the property’s taxable value
22H	Surviving parents or guardians of a service member killed in the line of duty or missing in action	Full exemption of the property’s taxable value

Every dollar figure and every tier above is straight out of the statute and the Department of Revenue’s own Assessment Administration guide, not a paraphrase. Whichever number results in the bigger tax cut, the flat dollar amount or the assessed-value reduction, is the one the assessor has to use.

Where the “100% disabled means free” idea comes from, and why it is wrong here

People searching this topic usually expect a 100% VA rating to zero out the tax bill, because that is how several other states do it. Massachusetts does not work that way for most 100% ratings. Clause 22E, the tier for a standard 100% schedular rating, caps out at $1,000. The full exemption only shows up in Clause 22F, which is narrower: it requires paraplegia or a 100% rating specifically for service-connected blindness. A veteran who is 100% disabled from, say, PTSD or a spinal condition short of paraplegia gets the $1,000 tier, not the full exemption. That distinction is easy to miss and it is the single most common mistake in secondhand summaries of this program.

The HERO Act changed the math again in 2024, by town

The “Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing Our Servicemembers and Veterans” (HERO) Act, signed August 2024, added two local options on top of the base statute:

• Clause 22J lets a city or town vote to add an additional exemption up to 100% of the base amount. A town that adopts the full 100% add-on effectively doubles every number in the table above, for example turning the $400 Clause 22 exemption into $800.
• Clause 22I lets a city or town index all the veteran exemption amounts to the Consumer Price Index every year going forward, instead of leaving them fixed until the legislature acts.

Neither is automatic and neither is reimbursed by the state, so a town has to actively vote for it and pay for it locally. That means the real dollar amount for the same disability tier can differ from one town to the next in the same county. Ask your assessor whether your town has adopted 22I, 22J, or both, before you assume the base statutory number above is what you will actually get.

Who qualifies in Massachusetts?

To claim any Clause 22 series exemption in Massachusetts you generally need:

• An other-than-dishonorable discharge or release from the armed forces.
• Domicile in Massachusetts for at least six consecutive months before entering service, or residency in the commonwealth for a set number of consecutive years before filing (two years in most cases, one year if your town has separately voted to shorten that residency rule).
• Ownership and occupancy of the property as your domicile.
• The specific disability, injury, decoration, or survivor status that the clause you are claiming requires (see the table above).

If a multi-family home is involved, Clauses 22A, 22B, 22C, 22E and 22F only exempt the portion of the house the veteran actually occupies. Own a three-family house and live in one unit, and you get roughly a third of the exemption, not the whole thing.

Certification

You provide certification of your service-connected disability from the VA, or from the branch of service that discharged you, the first year you apply. Veterans claiming the 100% Clause 22E exemption have to submit a current VA certification with every year’s application, since that clause depends on the rating staying at 100%. Once most of the other exemptions are granted, you generally do not have to resubmit disability proof in later years unless your status changes.

Surviving spouses

Clause 22D gives a surviving spouse a full exemption if the service member’s service-connected injury or illness was the proximate cause of death, or if the service member is missing in action with a presumptive finding of death. The spouse must have been domiciled in Massachusetts for two consecutive years before filing, or the deceased service member must have met the six-month pre-service domicile rule. Several other clauses (22, 22A through 22C, 22E, 22F) also continue for a surviving spouse of a veteran who was already receiving the exemption, generally as long as the spouse stays unmarried and remains the owner-occupant.

No income test

None of the veteran exemptions under Clause 22 and its sub-clauses have an income limit. That sets them apart from the state’s Clause 41 elderly exemption and the Senior Circuit Breaker income tax credit, both of which are income-tested. Your eligibility here depends on your service record and disability, not your household income.

Can the exemption be used before closing?

In Massachusetts, no, not for the fiscal year you buy in. Eligibility for every Clause 22 exemption is tested on July 1, the first day of the Massachusetts fiscal year. You have to already own and occupy the home as your domicile, and already hold the qualifying VA rating, on that date. Close in September 2026 and the earliest fiscal year you can claim is FY2028, which starts July 1, 2027 and you would apply for during that year.

That timing matters for how a lender qualifies you.

Four states put a pre-purchase determination in the statute. Massachusetts is not one of them

State rule. Four states let a qualifying veteran get something in writing from the taxing authority before they own the home:

• Virginia: file the normal exemption paperwork plus documentation of the purchase agreement and the commissioner of the revenue must process it and send an approval or denial letter, with the exemption amount, within 20 business days. Va. Code § 58.1-3219.6(B). The exemption itself takes effect only after you become the owner.
• Maryland: you may apply for a specific dwelling you intend to purchase, and the Department of Assessments and Taxation must send a preliminary approval or denial, with the amount, within 15 business days. Md. Code, Tax-Property § 7-208(d)(5). No second application is needed once you own it.
• Utah: a qualifying disabled veteran claimant may apply before owning the residence with a real estate purchase contract, filed in the county where the home sits, and the county must send a receipt with preliminary approval or denial and the calculated amount within 15 business days. Utah Code § 59-2a-502(5).
• Alabama: for closings on or after October 1, 2026, the tax assessing official issues a tentative certificate of permanent and total disability before purchase, within 20 days, and the statute says a settlement agent or loan closing officer may not consider the homestead ad valorem taxes when calculating debt-to-income once you hand over that certificate. Ala. Code § 40-9-21.3.

One correction worth having, because it gets repeated a lot: outside of Alabama these laws bind the county or the state tax office, not your lender. They force the taxing authority to answer you in writing before closing. They do not order a lender to waive or exclude the tax. Alabama is the only one of the four that reaches into the loan file itself. North Carolina has a bill that would add a prequalification process, House Bill 94, which passed the House 112 to 0 in May 2025 and has sat in Senate Rules since. It is not law, so do not plan around it.

In Massachusetts it is a lender decision, so shop it

Lender overlay and market practice. There is no Massachusetts statute telling the taxing authority to pre-approve you before you own the home, so whether this benefit helps you qualify comes down to lender policy. Here is what that looks like in practice, from lender guidance we collected directly in August 2026:

• Some lenders will use the reduced tax figure before closing, and some will not. One wholesale lender told us plainly it will consider a veteran real estate tax exemption and a reduced property tax number in the qualifying payment, as long as underwriting gets the local exemption rules and proof you meet them. If the documentation is short, underwriting uses the full tax amount instead. Another wholesaler checks it state by state and county by county on every single closing. If your lender says no, that is not the final answer on the benefit. It is that lender’s answer. Ask another one.
• Every lender will require proof of eligibility if the lower tax is doing work in your file. If the reduced tax is what lowers your debt ratio or raises your residual income, expect to document it: your VA rating decision or award letter showing the qualifying disability, the taxing authority’s own published exemption rules, and usually the completed exemption application. One lender’s VA guide requires proof of 100 percent disability from VA plus a copy of the completed county application for property tax exemption, and where the application has to be notarized it takes an unsigned copy up front and conditions it to be signed at closing.

Lender overlays apply everywhere. State permission is not lender permission. One large investor allows the anticipated reduced tax for qualifying only for primary residences in California, Florida, Maryland, Texas, Utah and Virginia, and only with proof the veteran applied to the taxing authority before the note date. Massachusetts is not on that list.

Practically, ask your loan officer two questions before you write an offer: will you use a reduced tax figure to qualify me, and will you waive the tax escrow. Different lenders give different answers on the same file, and that is normal, not a mistake.

What we can do instead: waive the escrow

If the exemption cannot be counted yet, the fallback is to not escrow the taxes at all, so your monthly housing expense is not carrying twelve months of a tax bill that is about to shrink. VA does not require escrows, so this is a lender and investor decision, and many will allow it on a strong file. There are lenders that will waive the tax escrow on a VA loan even when the property taxes have not been waived yet, so this is a real option and not a rare favor. Some will waive it with no restrictions at all, others want the eligibility proof and the correct paperwork in the file first. Waiving escrow does not require the taxing authority to approve anything, which is why it is usually the easier ask of the two. Understand the tradeoff: with no escrow account, you pay the taxing authority directly and you are on your own for those tax bills until the exemption is actually approved, and approval can take a while. Budget for it and pay the bill on time; a delinquent tax bill on a home you just bought is an expensive way to save a few dollars of monthly payment.

One more VA rule to know, because it runs the other way. On estimating taxes, Chapter 4 says “If taxes are expected to increase, use the increased amount.” There is no matching VA instruction that lets an underwriter write down your taxes, which is why the reduction is always a lender option and never a VA entitlement. The Chapter 4 text is here if you want to read it.

Plan for the gap between closing and approval

These applications take a while to process, and the taxing authority’s calendar does not wait for your loan. A tax bill can come due between your closing date and the day your exemption is approved, and you are the owner, so that bill is yours. That can include taxes attributable to the period the prior owner held the home. One lender’s VA guide makes it explicit and requires a signed letter of explanation from the veteran borrower stating they are solely responsible for the property taxes owed for the prior owner. Keep the money set aside and do not assume the first bill will be reduced, especially if you waived escrow and Massachusetts is billing you directly.

How to apply in Massachusetts, step by step

1. Get the correct local application from your city or town’s assessors’ office. Massachusetts does not use one statewide PDF for every town, each Board of Assessors uses a DOR-approved local exemption application form (commonly labeled “State Tax Form 96” locally, though the exact form number and layout vary by municipality). The Department of Revenue’s own Taxpayer’s Guide to Local Property Tax Exemptions for Veterans (PDF download) (PDF download) explains what the application needs to contain.
2. Attach your certification. A copy of your DD214 and your current VA disability rating letter showing the percentage or condition the clause you are claiming requires. Clause 22E filers (100% rating) have to submit a fresh VA certification every year, since that clause tracks whether you are still rated at 100%.
3. File it with your city or town’s Board of Assessors, not with the state. Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns, each with its own assessors’ office; there is no county layer administering this. Use the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s statewide directory of every Massachusetts city and town hall to find your local assessors’ office address and phone number.
4. Meet the deadline. Applications are due April 1 of the fiscal year, or three months after the actual (not preliminary) tax bill is mailed, whichever is later. Assessors then have three months from receiving your application to grant or deny it.
5. Reapply annually for most clauses, though once an exemption is first granted, assessors generally do not require you to resubmit the underlying disability or discharge proof again in later years, unless the clause requires annual certification (Clause 22E) or your circumstances change.

If your application is denied, or deemed denied because the assessors did not act within three months, you can appeal to the state Appellate Tax Board within three months of that denial.

Can you get a refund of prior year taxes?

Massachusetts handles this as part of the same annual application cycle rather than a separate retroactive refund process. Because the exemption is tied to a specific fiscal year (July 1 through June 30) and the application deadline for that year is April 1 or three months after the actual bill is mailed, there is no mechanism to reach back into a prior fiscal year you did not apply for in time. If you missed a year, the practical move is to apply as soon as possible for the current fiscal year and confirm with your assessor whether your town’s deadline has already passed.

If your application is approved after you have already paid the full bill for the year in question, the approved exemption amount comes back to you as an abatement credited against that bill, or as a refund if you already paid in full. Ask your local assessor how your town handles the mechanics once an exemption is approved late in the collection cycle.

Other Massachusetts programs for disabled veterans

The property tax exemption is the biggest recurring one for homeowners, but Massachusetts runs several other disabled-veteran benefits worth knowing about.

• Motor vehicle excise tax exemption (state, HERO Act). A veteran the VA rates at 100% disability, or unemployable due to a service-connected disability, does not pay excise tax on one passenger vehicle or pickup truck used for non-commercial purposes. The HERO Act moved eligibility to the VA’s own disability determination instead of a separate RMV medical board review. Massachusetts RMV, disabled veteran fee and tax exemptions.
• Sales tax exemption on a vehicle (state). Under M.G.L. Chapter 64H, Section 6, the same disabled veterans who qualify for Disabled Veteran plates do not pay sales tax on one vehicle. Purple Heart recipients with at least a 60% combined rating and Disabled Veteran or Purple Heart plates qualify too.
• Registration and license fee waivers (state, HERO Act). Veterans with a 100% VA disability rating, or an unemployability determination, skip most RMV registration and driver’s license transaction fees. Special plate fees, reinstatement fees, and title and sales tax fees still apply.
• Chapter 115 benefits (state, administered locally). Massachusetts Chapter 115 provides needs-based cash and medical assistance to eligible veterans and their dependents, administered through your city or town’s Veterans’ Services Officer and substantially reimbursed by the state. MassVets veteran financial benefits.
• Adapting a home for a service-connected disability (federal). The VA’s Specially Adapted Housing and Special Home Adaptation grants, along with HISA grants for smaller medical modifications, are federal benefits that can be used alongside a VA loan and are also the trigger for the state’s Clause 22C property tax tier above.

Massachusetts disabled veteran property tax FAQs

Does a 100% VA disability rating get a full property tax exemption in Massachusetts?

Not automatically. A veteran with a standard 100% schedular rating qualifies for Clause 22E, which is only $1,000 (or $6,000 of assessed value, whichever cuts more tax). The full exemption is reserved for veterans who are paraplegic or have a 100% rating for service-connected blindness (Clause 22F), and for surviving spouses of a service member killed in the line of duty or missing in action (Clause 22D). Being 100% disabled by itself does not get you the full exemption.

Why do I see different exemption amounts for the same disability tier in different towns?

The 2024 HERO Act let cities and towns vote to double the statutory exemption amounts (Clause 22J) and to index them to inflation every year (Clause 22I). Both are local options. A town that has adopted 22J pays double the numbers in this article; a town that has not is still on the base statutory amount. Call your local assessor to find out which your town has done.

What is the base exemption amount for a Massachusetts veteran with a 10% VA rating?

Clause 22 gives $400 of tax abatement, or an abatement on $2,000 of assessed value, whichever cuts more from the actual bill. That is the floor set in the statute for a 10% or higher rating, a Purple Heart, or a handful of other categories, before any local doubling.

Can I use the exemption on a home I close on this year?

Only if you own and occupy it as your domicile on July 1 of the tax year and you were already rated by the VA at that point. Massachusetts runs its fiscal year from July 1, and eligibility is tested on that date, not on your closing date. Buy in the fall of 2026 and the earliest tax year you can claim is FY2028, which starts July 1, 2027.

Does a surviving spouse keep the exemption in Massachusetts?

For most clauses, yes, as long as the spouse stays unmarried and remains the owner-occupant. Surviving spouses of veterans killed in the line of duty, or whose service-connected injury or illness was the proximate cause of death, get a full exemption of the property under Clause 22D, which does not require remarriage restrictions the same way some of the older clauses do.

Is Massachusetts’s veteran exemption income tested?

No. Unlike the state’s senior Circuit Breaker credit or the Clause 41 elderly exemption, none of the Clause 22 series veteran exemptions carry an income limit. Eligibility runs on disability rating, discharge status and residency, not income.

What form do I file and where?

There is no single statewide PDF that gets mailed to a state agency. You file directly with your city or town’s Board of Assessors on a DOR-approved local application, by April 1 of the tax year or three months after your actual tax bill is mailed, whichever is later.

Where to go next

• Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Guide, every state’s exemption, form and deadline in one directory
• The complete guide to VA home loans
• Property tax discounts for veterans on VA disability, the national overview
• Bad credit VA loans in Massachusetts
• Funding Fee Waivers and Refunds Guide, the fee is waived outright at a 10 percent rating or higher, and can be refunded if you already paid it
• Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 59, Section 5, the statute setting every exemption clause and amount
• Mass.gov, Local Property Tax Exemptions for Veterans
• Directory of every Massachusetts city and town hall, to find your local assessors’ office