Washington Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption: Income and Savings

The Washington disabled veteran property tax exemption reduces the property tax bill on your primary home if you have a VA service-connected disability rating of at least 80%, and it goes further for veterans rated 100% totally disabled. The program waives excess levies, can knock a chunk off the regular levy, and freezes your home’s taxable value so future assessment increases do not raise your bill. How much relief you receive depends on your household’s combined disposable income measured against your county’s median.¹

Who Qualifies

Three things have to line up: your disability status, your ownership of the home, and your use of it as a residence.

On disability, you qualify if the VA has rated you at 80% or more for a service-connected condition.² The exemption sits inside Washington’s broader program for seniors and people with disabilities, which also lets non-veterans qualify at age 61 or on a disability retirement. For veterans using the service-connected path, there is no age minimum.¹

On ownership, you must own the home outright, hold a life estate, or be buying it on a contract. A home owned by spouses or domestic partners counts as owned by each of them.¹

On residency, the home has to be your principal residence, and you need to live there more than six months of the assessment year.³ Vacation homes and rentals are out.

The Separate Exemption for 100% Disability Ratings

If you are rated at 100% total disability for a service-connected condition, a separate program under RCW 84.36.379 applies. It uses a flat $40,000 combined disposable income cap instead of the county-based thresholds, and it requires that you have owned and occupied the home for at least one year before you file.⁴ Veterans at 100% should check this version even if income looks too high for the deepest tier of the general program, because the two paths are measured differently.

How Income Is Counted

Washington uses a figure called combined disposable income. It includes income for you, your spouse or domestic partner, and anyone living in the home who has an ownership interest. Social Security, pensions, interest, dividends, and other income all count.⁵

From that total, you subtract certain unreimbursed medical and care costs you or your spouse paid. These deductions often move a household into a better tier:³

Nursing home, assisted living, and adult family home costs
In-home medical treatment, physical therapy, and personal care similar to what a nursing facility provides
Medicare premiums for Parts A, B, C, and D, plus Medigap premiums
Prescription drugs and insulin
Durable medical equipment, mobility devices, prosthetics, and ostomic items
Medically prescribed oxygen
Long-term care insurance premiums
Cost-sharing that counts toward your plan’s out-of-pocket maximum

Only the portion not reimbursed by insurance or anyone else counts.⁶ Medicare premiums alone can subtract several thousand dollars a year. Run the deductions before you decide you are over a threshold.

Income Thresholds by County

The state sets three income levels, each a percentage of the county’s median household income. For taxes collected in 2024 and later, Threshold 1 is 50% of the county median, Threshold 2 is 60%, and Threshold 3 is 70%. Each threshold has a floor set by prior-year amounts, so your county’s number cannot drop even if local median income falls.⁵

Dollar amounts vary widely across the state. For the 2026 tax year, a few examples:⁷

King County: $60,000 / $72,000 / $84,000
Pierce County: $46,000 / $55,000 / $64,000
Clark County: $44,000 / $53,000 / $62,000
Spokane County: $36,000 / $43,000 / $50,000
Ferry County (lowest): $30,300 / $35,350 / $40,400

The Department of Revenue publishes the full county table and updates it every three years.

What You Actually Save

Each tier builds on the one above it, so households at the lowest income tier get everything the higher tiers get plus more.

Threshold 3: You are exempt from all excess property tax levies, the additional state property tax, and voter-approved parts of regular levies where the ballot measure identified this exemption.¹
Threshold 2: Everything in Threshold 3, plus an exemption from regular property taxes on the greater of $50,000 or 35% of your home’s value, capped at $70,000 of assessed value.
Threshold 1: Everything in Threshold 3, plus an exemption from regular property taxes on the greater of $60,000 or 60% of your home’s value.

The Assessed Value Freeze

When you are approved, the taxable value of your home is frozen at its assessed value on January 1 of the assessment year you first qualify. Market value can keep rising, but your tax is calculated from the frozen number. If you lose eligibility for a single year because of income and then requalify, the same frozen value sticks. If you lose eligibility for more than one year in a row, the freeze resets to the current assessed value when you come back. Transferring the exemption to a different home also resets the freeze, to the new home’s value on January 1 of the transfer year.¹

How to Apply

The application is Washington State Form REV 64 0002, available from the Department of Revenue or your county assessor.⁸ Gather these before you fill it out:

Your VA Benefit Summary Letter showing the disability rating, available through VA.gov⁹
Your DD-214 showing character of discharge and length of service
Your most recent federal tax return
Social Security statements and pension reports for everyone counted in household income
Receipts or statements for any medical or care expenses you plan to deduct

File with the county assessor where your home is located. Many counties offer online submission. You have to meet the eligibility requirements during the assessment year, which is the calendar year before the taxes are due; qualifying and filing in 2026, for example, reduces your 2027 bill. Filing early in the year leaves room to fix any missing paperwork. After review, the assessor sends a determination letter stating whether you were approved and at which tier.

If a Veteran Dies, the Spouse Can Keep the Exemption

A surviving spouse who is at least 57 and continues to own and occupy the home as a principal residence can keep receiving the same relief, subject to the income test. Household income often drops after a death, which can put the surviving spouse into a more generous tier. The exemption ends if the surviving spouse remarries, though that person might still qualify on their own age or disability.¹

Keeping the Exemption

Your exemption is not permanent on autopilot. Counties require renewal at least once every six years, on a schedule your assessor sets, and the renewal updates your income to confirm you still qualify.¹⁰

Between renewals, tell the assessor if anything changes that could affect eligibility: a changed VA rating, selling the home, moving, or a lasting shift in household income. When income drops sharply mid-year because of a death or similar change, the county can annualize the monthly average after the change, which can push you into deeper relief.¹ If you move, you can transfer the exemption to your new principal residence rather than restart; the value freeze resets to the new home.

If Your Application Is Denied

Denials usually come down to an income disagreement or a missing document, and resubmitting with full paperwork often fixes the problem faster than any appeal. If you do appeal, the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals must receive your filing within 30 days of the mailing date of the decision; the Board has no authority to extend that deadline.¹¹

1
Washington State Legislature. RCW 84.36.381 – Exemptions – Residences – Definitions
2
Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. Property Tax Relief
3
Washington State Department of Revenue. Property Tax Exemption for Senior Citizens and People with Disabilities
4
Washington State Legislature. RCW 84.36.379 – Exemption – Requirements
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 84.36.383 – Residences – Definitions
6
Washington State Department of Revenue. Combined Disposable Income Worksheet
7
Washington State Department of Revenue. Income Thresholds Tax Years 2024-2026
8
Washington State Department of Revenue. Senior Citizen and People with Disabilities Exemption from Real Property Taxes
9
Veterans Affairs. Download VA Benefit Letters
10
Washington State Department of Revenue. Property Tax Exemptions and Deferrals
11
Washington State Board of Tax Appeals. Property Tax Appeal