property taxstate

The Widow's Exemption — and the Much Bigger One a 100% Veteran's Spouse Keeps

A widow or widower gets an exemption of assessed value if their total assessment and income stay under the annual limits — $4,873 with income limits of $39,865 and $47,826 for 2026. Separately, the surviving spouse of a veteran rated 100% service connected continues to claim the FULL exemption while the home remains their primary residence and they do not remarry.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: $4,873 of assessed value for 2026 as a widow or widower — or the veteran's full exemption carried forward

The figures in the statute — $4,188 exemption, $28,459 total assessment, and income limits of $34,901 and $41,870 — are indexed BASE amounts. A.R.S. 42-11111(F) adjusts them annually and the counties certify the result.
The 2026 county-certified figures are an exemption of $4,873, with income limits of $39,865 for a claimant with no children under eighteen and $47,826 where there are children under eighteen or disabled children.
Because the amounts are certified county by county, check your own assessor's published figure for the year you are claiming.
The statute names the remarriage of a widow or widower as a disqualifying event.
Separately, a veteran with a 100% service-connected disability is fully exempt from taxation on the property.
The statute provides that the surviving spouse of such a veteran may continue to claim the full exemption as long as the surviving spouse uses the property as the surviving spouse's primary residence and does not remarry.
A veteran with a lower service-connected rating, or with a non-service-connected disability, receives the exemption amount multiplied by the disability percentage rather than the full exemption.
A veteran is defined in the section as a person discharged, separated or released under honorable conditions from the uniformed services.

Who is entitled to it

This record is about the surviving spouse's exemption.
You have not remarried.
The home is your primary residence.
Your home is in this state.

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

Deadline: March 1

1Establish which limb you are on before you file. If your spouse was rated 100% service connected, you are claiming the full exemption carried forward — not the widow's $4,188 — and the difference is large.
2Take the late spouse's VA rating documentation to the assessor, not just the death certificate. The full exemption depends on what the VA had decided about them, which the assessor cannot look up.
3Keep the home as your primary residence. The continued full exemption is conditioned on that in terms, so letting the house become a rental ends it.
4Understand what remarriage does here: the statute names it as a disqualifying event, and nothing in the section reinstates the exemption if a later marriage ends.
5Re-file every year and watch the indexed figures. The assessment cap and both income limits move, and a claimant refused one year on an old figure may qualify on the current one.

Form: Affidavit of Individual Tax Exemption
File with: Your county assessor
Documents you will need: va benefit summary letter · dd214
Re-file every year: Entitlement is retested annually. Missing a year costs that year.

CorrectionThe two limbs are constantly conflated. A widow's exemption of $4,188 of assessed value, capped by a $28,459 assessment ceiling, is a modest thing. The full exemption a 100% veteran's surviving spouse carries forward is not capped by that ceiling at all. A surviving spouse told they are limited to the small figure should ask which subsection the assessor is applying.

Worth knowingThe section defines veteran by discharge characterisation — discharged, separated or released under honorable conditions — which is the gate the surviving spouse inherits along with the exemption.

Known gapWhether the continued full exemption survives a move to a different home was not established. The text conditions it on the surviving spouse using "the property" as their primary residence, which reads as the same property, but the section does not say so outright.

Sources

authority · statuteA.R.S. §42-11111 — Exemption for property of widows, widowers and persons with disabilities
operating · published policyDepartment of Revenue

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.