Who qualifies for the 100% disabled veteran real property tax exemption in Virginia?

A veteran rated by the VA as 100% service-connected, permanent and total, who lives in the home as their main home. The surviving spouse also qualifies if the veteran died on or after January 1, 2011 and the spouse has not remarried. The local real estate tax on your home and up to 1 acre is fully exempt. Your locality may exempt more acreage. No income or asset test. A manufactured home can qualify, but the land does not if the veteran does not own it. Deadline: No deadline. The exemption can start on the rating date or the date you acquired the home. A locality may not set a deadline.

Rules by state / Virginia

Virginia property tax, line by line.

Your city or county sends your real estate bill. There is no state bill. The bill shows local real estate tax and can also show local charges like stormwater, refuse and service districts. Due dates, penalties and most relief programs are set locally, and this guide uses Fairfax County as the example.

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At a glance

Who sends the bill: Your local treasurer or finance office. In Fairfax County, the Department of Tax Administration mails the bill.
When it comes: Fairfax: first installment bill by June 30, second by November 5.
When it's due: Fairfax tax year 2026: July 28 and December 5. Due dates are set locally, so check your bill.
If you pay late: Each locality sets its own penalty and interest. State law caps the late-payment penalty at 10% of the tax past due and allows interest and collection fees up to 20% of the delinquent amount. Ask your locality for its exact rates.
Value is set as of: January 1 of the tax year.
Limits on increases: No statewide cap on assessments. A locality may choose to offer an exemption for seniors or people with disabilities, a deferral, or a cap on tax increases.

Bill dates source · Assessment source

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5 programs homeowners can claim

None of these are applied for you automatically. Each one is free to apply for. If you upload your bill, we check which ones are already on it and which may fit you.

100% disabled veteran real property tax exemption

Who: A veteran rated by the VA as 100% service-connected, permanent and total, who lives in the home as their main home. The surviving spouse also qualifies if the veteran died on or after January 1, 2011 and the spouse has not remarried.
What you get: The local real estate tax on your home and up to 1 acre is fully exempt. Your locality may exempt more acreage. No income or asset test. A manufactured home can qualify, but the land does not if the veteran does not own it.
How to apply: Send an affidavit and your VA rating documents to your commissioner of the revenue or assessing officer. Your locality supplies the form. There is no state form number.
Deadline: No deadline. The exemption can start on the rating date or the date you acquired the home. A locality may not set a deadline.
If you're late: The exemption is prorated from the rating or acquisition date. There is no interest on refunds of tax you paid before you filed the affidavit.
After that: One time unless your main home changes. Your locality may ask you to confirm your residence each year.

Source

Surviving spouse of a service member who died in the line of duty

Who: A surviving spouse who has not remarried, with a Department of Defense line-of-duty determination (including a death by suicide), and who lives in the home as their main home.
What you get: Your home is exempt up to your locality's average assessed value of a single-family home, plus up to 1 acre. No income or asset test.
How to apply: Give your commissioner of the revenue an affidavit or written statement, with the Department of Defense line-of-duty papers.
Deadline: No statutory deadline. Refunds for past years are limited.
If you're late: The commissioner may correct and refund, without interest, the current year plus up to three prior tax years after January 1, 2015.
After that: One time unless your main home changes. You must report if you remarry.

Source

Surviving spouse of certain persons killed in the line of duty (local option)

Who: A surviving spouse who has not remarried, of a covered person whose beneficiary is entitled to Virginia line-of-duty benefits. Only in localities that adopted it. Fairfax offers it.
What you get: Your home is exempt up to the locality's average assessed value of a single-family home, plus up to 1 acre.
How to apply: Give your commissioner of the revenue an affidavit.
Deadline: Set by your locality. No statewide deadline.
If you're late: There is no interest on refunds of tax you paid before you filed the affidavit.
After that: Continues while you do not remarry and the home stays your main home.

Source

Fairfax real estate tax relief for seniors and people with disabilities

Who: Age 65 or older, or permanently and totally disabled, and the home is your only dwelling. Either spouse can qualify. Your 2026 household income (from the prior year) must be $90,000 or less, and net assets $400,000 or less, not counting your home and up to 1 acre.
What you get: 2026: 100% relief if income is $0 to $60,000; 75% if $60,001 to $70,000; 50% if $70,001 to $80,000; 25% if $80,001 to $90,000. Relief applies only up to 125% of the mean assessed value of all Fairfax homes. The first $6,500 of a non-spouse relative's income is not counted, and the first $7,500 of a disabled applicant's income is not counted.
How to apply: Fill out the Fairfax 2026 Tax Relief Application for Seniors and People with Disabilities (Homeowner) and send it to the Department of Tax Administration.
Deadline: Returning applicants: May 1, 2026. First-time applicants and hardship cases: up to December 31, 2026 with a written hardship request.
If you're late: Relief is prorated if you turn 65 or become disabled during the application year. A hardship extension runs to December 31. Past years are not generally reopened.
After that: Every year.

Fairfax 2026 Tax Relief Application for Seniors and People with Disabilities (Homeowner): the form

Fairfax real estate tax deferral for seniors and people with disabilities

Who: Age 65 or older, or permanently and totally disabled. Your 2026 combined income must be $100,000 or less, and net assets $500,000 or less, not counting your home and up to 1 acre.
What you get: You put off paying the tax. It is not forgiven. Interest is the Wall Street Journal prime rate plus 1%, capped at 8% a year. Deferred tax plus interest cannot exceed 10% of your home's assessed value. It is due when you sell, make a nonqualified transfer, or within one year after the last qualified owner dies.
How to apply: Use the same Fairfax tax relief application. Form: Fairfax 2026 Tax Relief Application for Seniors and People with Disabilities (Homeowner).
Deadline: May 1, 2026, with a hardship extension to December 31, 2026.

Fairfax 2026 Tax Relief Application for Seniors and People with Disabilities (Homeowner): the form

Think your value is too high?

Asking for a lower assessed value

Free review: Ask your local assessing officer to review your assessment before you go to the Board of Equalization. It is free.
Formal appeal: Your local Board of Equalization, then circuit court. The Fairfax Board of Equalization hears 2026 appeals.
Deadline: Fairfax Board of Equalization: postmarked by midnight June 1, 2026, or delivered by 4:30 p.m. that day. Circuit court: within three years from the last day of the tax year, or one year from the assessment or a final administrative decision, whichever is later.
Good to know: If someone other than the owner files with the Fairfax Board of Equalization, they need a letter of authorization from the owner. Ask your assessor whether the value can go up on appeal.

A formal appeal reopens your whole value: the board can raise it as well as lower it. Bring recent sales of similar homes.

Source · We never charge for help asking for a lower value.

What can't come off

Charges you can't remove

There is no general homestead exemption for owners under 65 who are not disabled.
Elderly and disabled relief stops above your locality's income, asset and assessment limits.
Tax on acreage beyond the exempt acreage.
Special assessments and service fees that are not real estate tax.
The line-of-duty spouse exemptions above your locality's average single-family assessed value.

Stormwater, refuse, sanitary-district and service-district charges are set locally and can appear on your real estate bill. The state veteran and surviving-spouse exemptions remove real estate tax, not these charges. Ask your locality which charges you owe.

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Rules checked October 28, 2026 against official Virginia sources. Rules change: check the deadline with your county before you rely on it. Not legal or tax advice.