Arizona’s property tax exemption for disabled homeowners reduces your home’s taxable value by up to $4,873 for the 2026 tax year, lowering your property tax bill if you are totally and permanently disabled, own and live in the home as your primary residence, and meet the income and assessed-value limits set under Arizona Revised Statutes Section 42-11111.1 You claim it by filing an affidavit with your county assessor during a short window each year.
What the Exemption Actually Does
The exemption does not erase your property tax bill. It subtracts a dollar figure from your home’s Limited Property Value, which is the number the county uses to calculate what you owe. A lower assessed value means a smaller bill, but you still pay tax on whatever value remains.
For 2026, the maximum reduction is $4,873. There’s also a ceiling on how valuable your property can be in the first place. For the 2025 tax year, your total assessed value had to fall below $31,347 to qualify at all. If your home’s assessed value is above the ceiling for the year you’re filing, nothing else matters: you’re out, regardless of disability or income.
Both figures move each year. The Arizona Department of Revenue recalculates them using the GDP price deflator, so the exemption amount and the assessment ceiling drift upward with inflation. Confirm the current numbers with your county assessor or ADOR before you apply.
Who Counts as Totally and Permanently Disabled
Arizona uses a strict standard. You must be unable to perform any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition expected to last at least twelve continuous months or result in death within twelve months. This tracks the Social Security Administration’s disability definition. For 2026, the SSA treats monthly earnings above $1,690 as substantial gainful activity for non-blind individuals, which gives you a working benchmark for the phrase.
A licensed physician or psychiatrist has to certify your disability on ADOR Form 82514B. The form asks the medical professional to confirm you cannot engage in any substantial gainful activity and are therefore totally and permanently disabled. A self-reported disability, or a letter from a non-medical provider, will not do.
Residency, Ownership, Income, and Property Value
You must be a permanent Arizona resident, you must own the property, and the property must be your primary home. Rentals, second homes, and investment properties do not qualify.
You also have to clear a household income limit, which adjusts for inflation annually. Income is measured for the calendar year immediately before the year you’re filing for, and it combines earnings from you, your spouse, and any children living with you. Go over the limit and you’re disqualified even if everything else checks out.
Two kinds of income don’t count toward the ceiling: Social Security payments and veterans’ disability pensions. If most of what your household brings in comes from Social Security, you may still qualify when the raw total looks too high. Only non-excluded income is measured against the limit.
Because the income threshold and the assessed-value ceiling both change each year, call your county assessor or check ADOR’s website for the current figures before you spend time on paperwork.
What to File and When
The application window opens on the first Monday in January and closes on March 1 of the tax year you’re claiming. Many county forms and offices phrase the deadline as the last business day of February, so filing before March 1 is the safer practice. You submit everything to the county assessor’s office where the property sits.
You’ll need:
- ADOR Form 82514, the Affidavit of Individual Tax Exemption
- ADOR Form 82514B, the medical certification signed by your physician or psychiatrist
- Federal and state tax returns, W-2s, and 1099s for every household member for the preceding calendar year
- A valid Arizona driver’s license or state ID as proof of residency
Some counties require first-time applicants to apply in person and have the affidavit notarized. After that, renewals can often be mailed in with a notarized form. You have to reapply every year, so keep copies of what you send.
If you miss the March 1 deadline, you still have a path. Between March 1 and September 1, you can file by including an Exemption Deadline Waiver with your application. After September 1, the exemption is gone for that tax year with no further recourse.
If You’re Denied
The assessor’s office reviews your paperwork and sends written notice of approval or denial. If you’re denied, Arizona’s State Board of Equalization hears property tax appeals, and you have 25 days from the date the decision was mailed to file a petition. Bring the documentation that supports your eligibility and any evidence the assessor may have missed. Denials based on an income miscalculation or paperwork error are worth appealing; a denial because your assessed value exceeds the statutory ceiling is harder to overturn, since that figure is formula-driven.
Disabled Veterans: A Different Calculation
Veterans with a VA disability rating qualify under the same statute, but the math works differently depending on the rating.
- A 100% service-connected disability fully exempts your primary residence from property taxation, provided you also meet the other requirements, including the income limit.
- For any rating below 100% service-connected, or any nonservice-connected disability from 1% to 100%, the $4,873 maximum is multiplied by your VA disability percentage. A veteran rated at 60% would receive a $2,924 reduction against the Limited Property Value.
One point worth flagging: the income limit applies to veterans too. ADOR and county assessors treat the household income ceiling as applying to every applicant under this statute, including veterans with a 100% service-connected rating seeking the full exemption.
Veterans file the same base documents as other applicants and add a DD214 and a current VA Benefit Summary Letter showing the active disability rating. An expired VA letter will stall the application.
What Claiming the Exemption Won’t Affect
If you receive Supplemental Security Income, this exemption will not jeopardize your benefits. Your primary residence is already excluded from the SSI resource limit, and federal rules specifically exclude public agency refunds of real property taxes, along with state assistance based on need, from countable unearned income. Claiming the exemption will not cut your SSI payment or trigger an eligibility review.
On the federal tax side, you can only deduct property taxes you actually paid, so the portion wiped out by the exemption isn’t deductible if you itemize. For most people claiming this exemption, the direct property tax savings easily outweigh any shrinkage in the federal deduction. If a prior-year property tax refund arrives because the exemption was applied retroactively, part of it may need to be reported as income the year you receive it; IRS Publication 530 covers that situation.