Clause 22 — Eight Tiers, From $400 to a Full Exemption
$400 off the bill, or $2,000 of valuation, whichever abates more — and it opens at 10%, the lowest entry in this corpus. That is the base tier of eight. Loss of a hand, foot or eye is $750; both hands or feet, or both eyes, $1,250; permanent total disability with specially adapted housing $1,500; a 100% rating $1,000; and paraplegia or 100% service-connected blindness is a full exemption, as is the position of a non-remarried surviving spouse of someone who died of a combat-zone injury or disease. The base clause also reaches Purple Heart awardees and Gold Star parents, spouses and surviving spouses.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
$400 off the bill, or $2,000 of valuation, whichever abates more — and it opens at 10%, the lowest entry in this corpus. That is the base tier of eight. Loss of a hand, foot or eye is $750; both hands or feet, or both eyes, $1,250; permanent total disability with specially adapted housing $1,500; a 100% rating $1,000; and paraplegia or 100% service-connected blindness is a full exemption, as is the position of a non-remarried surviving spouse of someone who died of a combat-zone injury or disease. The base clause also reaches Purple Heart awardees and Gold Star parents, spouses and surviving spouses.
What it's worth: $400 at the base tier, rising through $750, $1,000, $1,250 and $1,500 to a full exemption
- We do not hold Massachusetts county tax rates, so we cannot convert this into a dollar figure for your county.
- The base Clause 22 also covers Purple Heart awardees, and Gold Star parents, spouses and surviving spouses.
- Clause 22A: $750, for loss of one hand, one foot or one eye, and for recipients of the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross.
- Clause 22B: $1,250, for loss of both hands or both feet, or one of each, or both eyes.
- Clause 22C: $1,500, for permanent total disability with specially adapted housing.
- Clause 22D: a FULL exemption for non-remarried surviving spouses of those who died of a combat-zone injury or disease, or who are missing in action and presumed dead.
- Clause 22E: $1,000 at a 100% VA rating.
- A full exemption applies for paraplegics and for 100% service-connected blindness.
- Clause 22H covers surviving parents and guardians, for tax years from 1 January 2019.
- There is an alternative residency route: five consecutive years in Massachusetts before filing.
- The 2024 HERO Act added LOCAL options — a municipality may double the exemption amounts and may tie them to CPI. Those are adoptions, not statewide entitlements, so ask your assessor whether your town has taken them up.
Who is entitled to it
- You served in the U.S. armed forces.
- Your rating meets the threshold this relief uses.
- You own and occupy the home as your principal residence.
- Your home is in Massachusetts.
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: April 1- 1Get a VA letter showing the finding this relief turns on, and file it with your board of assessors.
- 2Ask what happens if your rating or occupancy changes — that is what ends most granted reliefs.
- Form
- State Tax Form 96
- File with
- Your board of assessors
- Documents you will need
- va benefit summary letter · dd214
- Re-file every year
- Entitlement is retested annually. Missing a year costs that year.
Sources
- authority · statuteM.G.L. c.59 §5, Clause 22
- operating · published policyMass.gov — Local Property Tax Exemptions for Veterans
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