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Total Real Estate Tax Exemption — For Disabled Veterans and Their Surviving Spouses

The whole property tax bill — but Pennsylvania asks for wartime service and financial need as well as the disability, and a state commission decides both. An unremarried surviving spouse may receive or continue the exemption, subject to the same financial-need determination. If you were refused once on need, the department encourages surviving spouses to reapply.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

The whole property tax bill — but Pennsylvania asks for wartime service and financial need as well as the disability, and a state commission decides both. An unremarried surviving spouse may receive or continue the exemption, subject to the same financial-need determination. If you were refused once on need, the department encourages surviving spouses to reapply.

What it's worth: 100% of your real estate tax bill

  • The exemption removes the real estate tax on the principal dwelling entirely.
  • We do not hold Pennsylvania county millage rates, so we cannot convert this to a dollar figure for your county.
  • An unremarried surviving spouse may receive or continue the exemption, subject to the financial-need determination.
  • The department encourages surviving spouses who were previously denied on financial need to reapply. A past refusal is not the end of it.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served in the U.S. armed forces.
  • You were discharged honorably or under honorable conditions.
  • You served during a period of war or armed conflict.
  • The VA has declared your service-connected disability total or 100% permanent.
  • You are paid at the 100% rate through individual unemployability, which Pennsylvania accepts in terms.
  • You are blind, paraplegic, or have lost two or more limbs as a result of service.
  • You own the dwelling solely or as an estate by the entirety.
  • Your home is in Pennsylvania.

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

  1. 1Do not self-select out on income. At $114,637 or less you are PRESUMED to need the exemption, which is a far higher figure than "means tested" suggests.
  2. 2If you are above that figure, apply anyway and document your monthly expenses — the Commission counts the property tax itself as an expense when comparing expenses against income.
  3. 3File through your County Director of Veterans Affairs rather than the county assessor. Pennsylvania grants this at state level, not county level.
Form
MA-VA 40
File with
Your County Director of Veterans Affairs, who forwards it to the State Veterans’ Commission
Documents you will need
dd214 · va benefit summary letter · proof of income and expenses · proof of ownership
Confirm with the office
We have not verified the renewal behaviour.
CorrectionThe financial need test is not the barrier it is described as. An annual income of $114,637 or less carries a presumption of need. Above that, need is still found where allowable monthly expenses exceed monthly household income — and the potential real estate tax liability is itself counted as an expense in that comparison.
Worth knowingPennsylvania requires WARTIME service, which most states do not. Peacetime service with a 100% rating does not qualify. An Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal or Navy Expeditionary Medal establishes wartime service where the dates alone do not.
Worth knowingAn unmarried surviving spouse can qualify in their own right if the veteran met the criteria in life, they occupy the dwelling as their principal residence, and the Commission finds financial need.
Known gapWe have not verified the renewal behaviour. Whether the Commission re-tests financial need annually, periodically or not at all is not stated in the material we read.

Sources

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