A Specially Adapted Housing Home Is Exempt from Property Tax, Whatever It Is Worth
A home acquired under the VA specially adapted housing grant is exempt from all ad valorem taxation regardless of value — no acreage cap and no separate disability test at claim time, because acquiring the home under the grant is itself the gate. An unremarried surviving widow or widower keeps the exemption while they own and occupy the home. This is a different statute from the H-3 disability homestead, which requires permanent and total disability and caps at 160 acres.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
A home acquired under the VA specially adapted housing grant is exempt from all ad valorem taxation regardless of value — no acreage cap and no separate disability test at claim time, because acquiring the home under the grant is itself the gate. An unremarried surviving widow or widower keeps the exemption while they own and occupy the home. This is a different statute from the H-3 disability homestead, which requires permanent and total disability and caps at 160 acres.
What it's worth: The home exempt from all ad valorem taxation, regardless of value
- The exemption is from ALL ad valorem taxation and carries no value ceiling and no acreage cap — unlike the H-3 disability homestead, which stops at 160 acres.
- The gate is that the home was acquired under Public Law 702, 80th Congress — the VA specially adapted housing grant under 38 U.S.C. chapter 12. No separate disability finding is asked for at claim time.
- An unremarried surviving widow or widower keeps the exemption for as long as they own and occupy the home.
- This is a different statute from al-h3-total-disability-homestead. Where both could apply, this one is worth more.
- What it saves depends on your county's millage, which we do not hold for Alabama.
Who is entitled to it
- You are in one of the groups this exemption covers.
- You served in the U.S. armed forces.
- You are the veteran's unremarried surviving spouse.
- You are the veteran's surviving spouse.
- You have not remarried.
- The home was acquired under the VA specially adapted housing grant.
- You own and live in the home as your principal residence.
- Your home is in Alabama.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Claim with your county tax assessing official, citing Ala. Code 40-9-20 — this is not the H-3 homestead claim and asking for H-3 gets you the capped exemption instead.
- 2Take the VA documentation showing the home was acquired under the specially adapted housing grant. That document is the gate, not a rating letter.
- 3A surviving widow or widower claims on the same terms while they own and occupy the home, and should say so rather than assuming the exemption died with the veteran.
- 4Tell the assessor if you have H-3 already. You should be on whichever is worth more, and this one has no acreage cap.
- Form
- County ad valorem exemption claim
- File with
- Your county tax assessing official
- Documents you will need
- va benefit summary letter
- No renewal
- Once granted it does not need renewing.
Sources
- authority · published policyAlabama Department of Veterans Affairs — Laws Affecting Veterans (Ala. Code 40-9-20)
- operating · published policyAlabama Department of Revenue — Homestead Exemptions
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