California’s disabled veterans property tax exemption lets a qualifying veteran subtract a fixed dollar amount from the assessed value of their home before property taxes are calculated. For the 2024 assessment year, that amount was $169,769 under the basic exemption and $254,656 under the low-income exemption, with both figures adjusted upward each year for inflation.1Sacramento County Assessor. The Disabled Veterans’ Exemption: What Is It? How and When to Apply for It The program is authorized by the California Constitution and governed by Revenue and Taxation Code Section 205.5.
Who Qualifies
Three disability profiles make a veteran eligible: total disability from a service-connected injury or disease, blindness in both eyes, or loss of use of two or more limbs. The statute defines each one. Blindness means visual acuity of 5/200 or less, or a visual field contracted to five degrees or less. Loss of a limb covers amputation, paralysis, and conditions such as ankylosis or progressive muscular dystrophy that eliminate the limb’s function.2California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 205.5 – Property Taxation
“Totally disabled” has a specific legal meaning that trips people up. It means the VA or the veteran’s branch of service has either rated the disability itself at 100 percent, or is compensating the veteran at the 100 percent rate because they cannot hold a substantially gainful job. That second path, often called individual unemployability, lets veterans with ratings below 100 percent still qualify when their service-connected conditions effectively prevent them from working.2California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 205.5 – Property Taxation
You do not need an honorable discharge. The statute requires discharge under “other than dishonorable conditions,” which covers honorable, general under honorable conditions, other than honorable, and even bad conduct discharges. Only a dishonorable discharge disqualifies you.3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Disabled Veterans’ Exemption
The property has to be your principal residence, and it must be owned by you, your spouse, or the two of you jointly. The state looks at physical presence and intent to remain, not just the mailing address on your tax return.
How Much the Exemption Is Worth
Two tiers run in parallel. The basic exemption starts from a statutory base of $100,000, and the low-income exemption starts from $150,000. Both are compounded each year by the annual change in the California Consumer Price Index.2California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 205.5 – Property Taxation
For 2024, those bases had grown to $169,769 and $254,656, with the household income cap for the low-income tier set at $76,235.1Sacramento County Assessor. The Disabled Veterans’ Exemption: What Is It? How and When to Apply for It Figures for later years are somewhat higher. Your county assessor publishes the current amounts, and the Board of Equalization posts updated tables.
Every qualifying veteran gets the basic exemption regardless of income. The low-income tier is where the household income test comes in: if your combined household income from the prior year falls under the adjusted cap, you receive the larger deduction instead. The exemption comes off assessed value before taxes are calculated, which can cut hundreds or thousands of dollars from your annual bill depending on your local rate.
How to File and What to Submit
Use Form BOE-261-G, the Claim for Disabled Veterans’ Property Tax Exemption, available from the Board of Equalization or your county assessor. File it with the assessor in the county where the property sits. With your initial filing, include:3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Disabled Veterans’ Exemption
- A VA letter certifying a 100 percent service-connected rating, or confirming compensation at the 100 percent rate based on individual unemployability.
- A DD-214 or other VA letter showing a discharge under other than dishonorable conditions.
- Documentation of total household income from the prior calendar year, if you are claiming the low-income tier.
The 100 percent VA rating itself is sufficient proof of disability. The assessor should not ask for medical records on top of it.3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Disabled Veterans’ Exemption
The deadline for the full exemption is February 15 of the calendar year in which the fiscal year begins.4Taxes. Property Tax Function Important Dates Miss it and the benefit shrinks. Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 276:
- Filed after February 15 but by December 10, you receive 90 percent of what a timely claim would have given you.
- Filed after December 10, you receive 85 percent.
Those percentages apply to the taxes already levied on the portion of assessed value that should have been exempt, and the county cancels or refunds the applicable amount. For claims filed after November 15, the county may apply the exemption only to the second installment. Your first installment remains due by December 10, and delinquency penalties still apply if you don’t pay it on time. If both installments were already paid, you get a refund.5California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 276
Surviving Spouses
An unmarried surviving spouse can continue the exemption on their principal residence. The key word is unmarried. Remarriage ends eligibility. A spouse qualifies through any one of three paths:3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Disabled Veterans’ Exemption
- The veteran qualified during their lifetime, and the spouse continues the exemption the veteran already had.
- The veteran would have qualified as of January 1, 1977, in which case the spouse can establish retroactive eligibility even if the veteran never claimed it.
- The veteran died from a service-connected cause, which can qualify the spouse even when the veteran’s disability alone would not have met the threshold. VA documentation that the death was service-connected is sufficient.
A spouse filing for the first time submits the marriage certificate, death certificate, and, where the veteran did not qualify during their lifetime, proof that the death was service-connected along with the veteran’s dates of service.3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Disabled Veterans’ Exemption
When Occupancy Breaks the Exemption
The home has to be your principal place of residence. If you are confined to a hospital or care facility, the exemption can still apply to the home you would be living in, but only if the property is not rented or leased to anyone else during that time.3California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Disabled Veterans’ Exemption
This catches families off guard. If a veteran enters long-term care and relatives rent out the house to help cover expenses, the exemption goes away for as long as the property is leased. To keep the benefit, the home must stay vacant or be occupied by the veteran’s spouse.
Moving to a New Home
Veterans who sell and buy a replacement don’t have to start over at a new assessed value. Under Proposition 19, effective April 1, 2021, a severely and permanently disabled person can transfer the base year value of their home to a new primary residence anywhere in California, up to three times in a lifetime. The replacement must be bought or built within two years of the sale, in either order. If it costs more than the original, the difference is added to the transferred value.6California State Board of Equalization. Proposition 19
To claim the transfer, file Form BOE-19-D together with a Certificate of Disability (Form BOE-19-DC). The exemption on the new home itself still requires a separate BOE-261-G filing with the new county’s assessor.
Pending Legislation That Would Expand the Exemption
Lawmakers have tried repeatedly to grow this benefit. In the 2023–2024 session, SB 726 would have raised the ceiling to $863,790 for veterans rated 100 percent disabled; the author canceled a scheduled hearing in June 2024 and the bill died. A companion constitutional amendment, SCA 6, also failed to advance.
The 2025–2026 session brought SB 23, which proposes a full property tax exemption for veterans rated 100 percent disabled, covering the entire assessed value of the home rather than a capped portion. It would apply to lien dates from January 1, 2025, through January 1, 2035, and would bar the veteran from stacking any other real property tax exemption on the same home. As of this writing, SB 23 has not been enacted, and its path remains uncertain. Continue filing under the current rules; if a broader exemption passes, the county assessor’s office will publish instructions on how to claim it.