Veteran benefits in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
- Benefits you can claim here
- 35
- Property tax rate
- 1.38
- effective rate, ACS 2023 five-year
- $400, or $2,000 of assessed valuation — whichever abates more, typical home
- $0
- a year at this county rate
- Veterans in this county
- 7,066
- US Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop2023 county model, as of 9/30/2025
What to do, in Hampshire County
The process is the same across Massachusetts for the statewide records. Only the office and the tax rate change.
Find what applies to you
35 benefits reach Hampshire County. Browse them below.
Check whether you qualify
Open any benefit and answer a few questions about that one specifically.
Get your proof
A VA Benefit Summary Letter from VA.gov covers most of them, in about two minutes.
File with Hampshire County
Form DR-501 to the Property Appraiser before March 1. File even without your letter.
How much is a property tax exemption worth in Hampshire County?
The rate shown is the county's effective property tax rate - aggregate taxes actually paid divided by aggregate home value, from the Census ACS 2023 five-year file. Every overlapping levy, credit and cap is already inside it, which makes it the honest basis for sizing an exemption's dollar value.
These are example savings for a typical home in this county, not an estimate of your own bill. Your actual saving depends on your assessed value, your taxing districts, and how this exemption interacts with any others you hold.
| Effective rate | what homeowners here actually paid |
|---|---|
| Basis | ACS 2023 five-year aggregates |
| $400, or $2,000 of assessed valuation — whichever abates more (M.G.L. c.59 §5, Clause 22) | about $0 a year against the county rate |
| Total exemption (M.G.L. c.59 §5, Clause 22) | the entire bill — about $3,450 a year against the county rate on a typical $250,000 value, and more once your other taxing units are added |
| Where to file | Hampshire County board of assessors |
| Deadline | April 1, every year |
Which document does the Hampshire County board of assessors accept?
Statute sets the floor; the office picks the paperwork.
Easiest · VA Benefit Summary Letter
Sign in at VA.gov, choose Download VA Letters, then Benefit Summary — Veteran Benefits.
All 35 benefits you can claim in Hampshire County
All 14 Massachusetts counties get the same statewide law.
employment(5)
Public Works Construction — Veterans Hired First, and the Contractor Is Bound Too
On public works construction for the Commonwealth, a county, a town, an authority or a district, veterans are to be employed in preference to other applicants, with service-connected disabled veterans preferred first. The reach is what makes this useful: it binds the CONTRACTORS AND SUBCONTRACTORS doing the work, not only the public body letting it. A veteran applying to a private construction firm on a state or municipal job is inside this rule, and most site foremen have never heard of it.
Hiring preference on public works construction, binding on contractors as well as public bodies
Buy Back Four Years of Military Service — and the Window Is Now Ten Years, Not 180 Days
A veteran working for Massachusetts state government or certain other governmental units can purchase up to four years of creditable service toward the public pension: one year of credit for each year of active duty, or one year for each four years of Guard or Reserve service. The change worth knowing is that the 2024 HERO Act extended the application window from 180 DAYS to TEN YEARS after entering the retirement system. Anyone who missed the old deadline in the last decade, and was told they were too late, should ask again.
Up to four years of pension credit, purchasable
Veterans' Tenure — After Three Years You Are the Last One Laid Off
A veteran who has held a state non-civil-service job for more than three years may not be involuntarily separated for lack of work or lack of money while similar positions still exist. Where more than one veteran must go, the separations run in reverse order of appointment. This is the protection nobody knows about, because the well-known one — civil service preference — helps you get hired and stops there. Tenure is what happens afterwards, and it applies precisely to the non-civil-service jobs that people assume have no protection at all.
Protection from layoff for lack of work or money, after three years in the post
Absolute Civil Service Preference
Pass the open competitive examination and you rank above every non-veteran on the eligible list, whatever their score — except on Firefighter and Police Officer lists, where residency preference comes first. A disabled veteran is also the last let go when jobs are cut.
Above every non-veteran on the eligible list — disabled veterans first — plus retention preference for disabled veterans
Leave to Observe Veterans Day, and to March on Memorial Day
Since 7 November 2018 all private employers in Massachusetts must grant leave to a veteran employee to observe Veterans Day, and must grant a veteran employee sufficient time to take part in a Memorial Day exercise, parade or service in their community of residence. Whether the leave is paid is the employer’s decision.
Leave on Veterans Day, and sufficient time for a Memorial Day event — paid or unpaid at the employer’s discretion
other(10)
The Welcome Home Bonus — Paid Again for Every New Deployment
Massachusetts pays a cash bonus for service on or after 11 September 2001: $1,000 for a first deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan or another DoD imminent-danger location, or $500 for a first six months of continuous active service elsewhere. The part most people miss is that it is NOT once in a lifetime — a subsequent deployment pays $500 again if it was to an imminent-danger area, or $250 for six months in direct support of the Global War on Terrorism. The test is residency BEFORE service: you must have lived in Massachusetts for the six months immediately before you entered. Guard and Reserve service counts. If a member died on active service the family may claim $1,000.
$500–$1,000 for a first bonus, and $250–$500 again for each later qualifying deployment
Wartime Bonuses for WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf — Still Payable, Decades On
The Treasurer still pays bonuses for service in the earlier statutory windows: WWII 16 Sept 1940 – 25 July 1947, Korea 25 June 1950 – 31 Jan 1955, Vietnam 1 July 1958 – 17 May 1975, and the Persian Gulf 2 Aug 1990 – 10 April 1991. Amounts run $100–$300 for the first three depending on where and how long you served, and $500 for in-theatre Gulf service with the Southwest Asia Service Medal or $300 for Guard and Reserve members activated elsewhere. There is no published cut-off date, so a bonus from a war fifty years ago can still be claimed — and where the veteran has died, the family may claim in their place.
$100–$300 for WWII, Korea or Vietnam; $300–$500 for the 1990–91 Gulf
Massachusetts Does Not Tax Military Pensions
Federal military retirement is excluded from Massachusetts taxable income.
The whole of your military pension, untaxed
Chapter 115 Benefits — Monthly Cash and Medical Costs, Paid by Your City or Town
A means-tested, open-ended entitlement paid monthly by the municipality where you live: money for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and support of dependants, plus payment of medical and dental costs. The Commonwealth reimburses the town 75% of what it pays you.
A monthly payment set against a budget, plus payment of medical and dental costs
Veteran Annuity — $2,500 a Year, Paid Once Annually
An annuity for veterans compensated at 100% by the VA, and for certain survivors, who live in Massachusetts. Since August 2025 it is paid as one cheque a year of $2,500. Applications and changes must be approved by 30 June.
$2,500 a year, in one payment
SAVE — a Peer Outreach Team Whose Job Is Preventing Veteran Suicide
Statewide Advocacy for Veterans Empowerment is a peer-to-peer mobile outreach team in the Executive Office of Veterans Services, specialising in suicide prevention, mental health and other urgent needs. It comes to the veteran, works with the National Guard, and reaches people with less-than-honorable discharges.
Peer outreach, advocacy and connection to mental health care — no cost stated
The Servicemembers Case — a Court Step Massachusetts Puts in Front of a Foreclosure
Massachusetts built its own court procedure so that, before a mortgage foreclosure, a judge decides whether the owner has federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protections. A servicemember named as a defendant gets a Military Attorney appointed by the court, and a judge may stay the case or adjust the mortgage terms.
A court determination before any foreclosure, a court-appointed Military Attorney, and the chance to ask a judge for a stay or adjusted mortgage terms
Veterans Treatment Courts — Seven of Them, and You May Be Able to Move Your Case to One
The Trial Court’s Specialty Courts Department runs seven Veterans Treatment Courts, at Boston, Lawrence, Framingham, Dedham, Brockton, Holyoke and Gardner. Its own page states that where your case is in a court without one, transferring the case to a location that has one may be an option.
A court-supervised treatment session in place of the ordinary path through the case, at one of seven locations
Rides to VA Care — Named Regional Services, Not One Statewide Number
MassMobility publishes the Commonwealth’s list of transport services for veterans. The named ones include Soldier On with the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority in Berkshire County, VetRides for Hudson, Maynard and Stow, a Nathan Hale service from the Plymouth area, and a Norfolk County volunteer driver programme — alongside Ride Match, the searchable statewide database.
Regional rides to VA medical care, free in the services that publish a price
Women Veterans Network — Community and Advocacy, Routed Back to Chapter 115
The Women Veterans Network sits inside the Executive Office of Veterans Services. It runs an annual conference, monthly wellness sessions, a newsletter and the Deborah Sampson Award, and takes membership applications. Its own benefits page routes women veterans to the federal VA and to the two Massachusetts routes open to every veteran — the town Veterans’ Service Officer and the Chapter 115 benefit estimator.
Membership, an annual conference, monthly wellness sessions and a newsletter — no separate cash benefit
housing(3)
MassHousing — a $2,500 Closing Credit, and Cover If You Lose Your Job
MassHousing lends to veterans, active-duty members, Guard and Reserve members and Gold Star families buying in Massachusetts, through its lender partners. A $2,500 closing-cost credit applies, down payment assistance runs up to $30,000, and MIPlus pays part of the mortgage for a period if the borrower loses their job. That last piece is the one that has no equivalent in a VA loan, so this is worth pricing alongside a VA loan rather than instead of it — and the two can sometimes be combined, since the down payment assistance is a second mortgage.
$2,500 closing-cost credit, with down payment help up to $30,000
State-Aided Public Housing — Ranked First, With Disability Pay Left Out of Income
In state-aided public housing veterans are placed ahead of other applicants, in a fixed order: families of service-connected disabled veterans first, then families of veterans who died of service-connected causes, then other veterans' families. Two quieter provisions matter as much as the preference. VA disability compensation above $1,800 paid to a veteran rated totally unemployable is EXCLUDED from the income used to test eligibility and set rent, as are funds spent on tuition, fees and books. And continued occupancy in a two-bedroom-or-smaller unit cannot be denied to a veteran's family.
First place in the waiting list order, plus income exclusions that can decide eligibility
Veterans’ Homes — Charges Capped at $30 a Day
Long-term care at Chelsea or Holyoke is charged on income above an exemption and capped at $30 a day, or $930 in a 31-day month. A domiciliary bed is $10 a day. Below the exemption — $300 a month unmarried, $1,500 married — there is no charge.
Long-term care charged at no more than $30 a day, or $930 in a 31-day month
licenses & fees(3)
A Free Statewide Trading Licence — the $62 Fee Waived for Disabled Veterans
A disabled veteran can hold a hawker and peddler licence for free. The ordinary licence costs $62 a year and lets the holder sell goods outdoors anywhere in the Commonwealth rather than town by town. No minimum disability percentage is set — proof of a disability is enough, shown by a VA benefits summary letter or a VA-completed form. The one requirement people trip on is a Certificate of Character signed by the local police chief, which takes time to arrange, so start it before you need the licence.
$62 annual licence fee waived
Licence Fee Waived, Military Training Credited, and 90 Days After Active Duty
The Commonwealth’s portion of the initial application and licence fee is waived; military education, training and service count toward the qualifications; and a licence held by someone on active duty stays valid until release and for at least 90 days afterwards.
The Commonwealth’s portion of the initial application and licence fee, plus a decision inside 30 days for spouses
The Veteran Indicator — Free Duplicate If Your Licence Is Not Due
A resident veteran can have the word "Veteran" printed on a driver’s licence or ID card. There is no added fee for the indicator itself, and if the credential is not up for renewal the duplicate carrying it is issued at no fee. Only the long-form DD-214, a DD-215 or an Honorable Discharge form are accepted as proof.
No added fee for the indicator, and no fee for the duplicate if the credential is not up for renewal
business(2)
You Are Worth $2,500 to a Small Employer — Say So
A Massachusetts employer with 100 or fewer full-time staff can take a $2,500 credit against income tax or corporate excise for hiring a qualified veteran, once that veteran has been employed six continuous months. The credit was raised from $2,000 to $2,500. Four routes make a veteran qualified, and only two involve a disability: a family that received SNAP for three or more months in the past year; unemployment of four weeks or more in the past year; a service-connected disability with hire within a year of leaving the military; or a service-connected disability with the unemployment history. This is a line to use in an interview, because most small employers do not know it exists.
$2,500 to the employer for each qualified veteran hired
Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business — a 3% State Spending Benchmark
The Commonwealth sets a 3% participation benchmark for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses on commodities and services contracts and on each design services contract. Status runs off federal VA verification rather than a state ownership test.
A 3% participation benchmark on state commodities and services contracts and on each design services contract
education(3)
Categorical Tuition Waiver for Veterans
A waiver of tuition at Massachusetts public colleges — but on a space-available basis, which is the whole story.
Full or partial tuition waived at a Massachusetts public institution
National Guard Tuition and Fee Waiver — and 130 Hours a Member Can Pass to Dependants
An active member of the Massachusetts National Guard gets a waiver of both tuition and fees at state colleges, universities and community colleges. The family education programme lets specified dependants draw on the same allowance — capped at 130 semester hours per member, transfers included.
Tuition and fees waived at public institutions, up to 130 semester hours per member
Public Service Scholarship — for Children of the Killed, the Missing and the Captured
Undergraduate scholarships for children of prisoners of war or service members missing in action in Southeast Asia between 1 February 1955 and the end of the Vietnam campaign, and for children of veterans whose service was credited to the Commonwealth and who were killed in action or otherwise died as a result of that service.
A scholarship for undergraduate study at an institution of higher education in the Commonwealth
recreation(2)
Free Licence for Residents with Disabilities
Massachusetts has no veteran-specific licence — but a paraplegic resident pays nothing for a sporting, hunting or fishing licence, and a blind resident pays nothing to fish.
No licence fee — which licence depends on which condition you meet
State Park Parking — Daily Fees Waived on Three Plates, and Veterans-Only Spaces
The Department of Conservation and Recreation waives daily parking fees at all its facilities for vehicles carrying disability plates or placards, Purple Heart Recipient plates, or disabled veteran plates. Separately, designated veterans-only spaces are set aside at around thirty DCR facilities for any Massachusetts veterans plate — and for out-of-state veteran plates too.
Daily parking fees waived at all DCR facilities on three plate types, plus reserved spaces at around thirty facilities
vehicles(2)
Disabled Veteran Plates — 60%, and the 60% Has to Be About Walking
Disabled veteran plates go to a resident veteran who is the primary owner of a registered passenger vehicle and meets three conditions together: eligibility for permanent disabled parking privileges, a minimum 60% service-connected rating on the disability breakdown letter, and disabilities making up that 60% that affect ambulation.
DV plates on one registered passenger vehicle the veteran is primary owner of
The HERO Act Stops the Registry Charging You — Registrations, Licence Fees, Excise and Sales Tax
At a 100% rating, or unemployability from a service-connected disability, the Registry waives registration fees on any and all vehicle registrations where the veteran is an owner, and driver’s licence transaction fees for every licence class. Excise tax and sales tax are waived on one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck. Special plate fees, reinstatement fees, permit and road test fees, Mass ID and professional credential fees are all still charged.
No registration fee on any vehicle you own, no driver’s licence transaction fee, no excise or sales tax on one vehicle
burial(3)
Veterans Memorial Cemeteries — No Charge for the Veteran, $300 or $150 for Family
Two Commonwealth-operated cemeteries, at Agawam and Winchendon. There is no charge to bury an eligible veteran. A spouse or dependant costs $300 for a full casket burial or $150 for a cremation interment, payable only at the time of interment.
No charge for the veteran; $300 full casket or $150 cremation for a spouse or dependant
Veterans’ Burial Allowance — Up to $4,000, Paid by Your City or Town
Where the estate cannot pay for the funeral and burial, the burial agent of the city or town expends not more than $4,000 towards it, provided the whole cost of the funeral and burial is not more than $5,000. The Commonwealth reimburses the municipality part of what it pays out.
Not more than $4,000 towards the funeral and burial, where the whole cost is not more than $5,000
Every Veteran’s Grave, Kept by the Town — and a Flag on It Every Memorial Day
M.G.L. c.115 §9 puts a veterans’ graves officer in every city and town and makes that officer responsible for the care of every veteran’s grave inside it. Where private money does not cover the work, the municipality pays. A United States flag goes on those graves every Memorial Day.
Grave care at municipal expense where private funds do not cover it, and a United States flag every Memorial Day
Filing in Hampshire County
- Office
- Hampshire County Property Appraiser
- Form
- DR-501 for most exemptions; DR-501DV for the combat-related discount; DR-501M for a deployment exemption.
- Deadline
- March 1, every year. Missing it costs the whole tax year — there is no late route back in.
Free help in Hampshire County
Hampshire County has a County Veteran Service Officer, and their help is free. Go to them for anything touching a federal VA disability claim.
Nobody should charge you to claim the benefits on this page. Unaccredited operators charging fees for VA claims are a real and growing problem.
Common questions about Hampshire County veteran benefits
- What can I claim here?
- The Massachusetts statewide records apply in every county. We have not researched county-level programmes here, so this page shows state law and complete geography rather than a local layer.
- What is it worth in this county?
- Dollar figures use the county's EFFECTIVE property tax rate - what homeowners there actually paid per dollar of home value, from the Census ACS 2023 five-year file. It is an estimate for sizing a saving; the levy table on your own bill governs.
- Where do I file for a veteran property tax exemption in Hampshire County?
- File with your board of assessors. The form and deadline are on each benefit record.
- What document does the Hampshire County board of assessors accept as proof?
- The statute sets what must be proved. An office may tell you which document it prefers, but it may not add a requirement the statute does not contain. We have not researched per-county document quirks in Massachusetts.
Other counties
This is an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. Veterans Alliance is privately owned and is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Geography from the US Census; veteran population from the VA VetPop2023 county model.