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State Floors, Town Money — and Wartime Service Is Enough for the Base Tier

RIGL 44-3-4 sets three tiers and the towns set the money. The base exemption of $1,000 goes to any veteran who served during a period of war with an other-than-dishonorable discharge — no disability required, and an unmarried widow or widower qualifies in their own right. A further $10,000 goes to a veteran the VA rates totally disabled from a service-connected cause, and another $10,000 where the VA has given specially adapted housing assistance on the domicile. These are state floors: municipalities vote their own amounts on top, and some run well above $40,000.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

RIGL 44-3-4 sets three tiers and the towns set the money. The base exemption of $1,000 goes to any veteran who served during a period of war with an other-than-dishonorable discharge — no disability required, and an unmarried widow or widower qualifies in their own right. A further $10,000 goes to a veteran the VA rates totally disabled from a service-connected cause, and another $10,000 where the VA has given specially adapted housing assistance on the domicile. These are state floors: municipalities vote their own amounts on top, and some run well above $40,000.

What it's worth: $10,000 state floor at total disability; municipal ordinances raise it town by town

  • The base tier is $1,000 for wartime service with an other-than-dishonorable discharge. There is no disability test on it — this is the tier most Rhode Island veterans are entitled to and the one this record used to hide behind a permanent-and-total gate.
  • An unmarried widow or widower of a qualifying veteran is eligible for the base exemption in their own right.
  • A further $10,000 applies where the VA rates the veteran totally disabled from a service-connected cause.
  • Another $10,000 applies where the VA has provided specially adapted housing assistance on the domicile.
  • The statutory figures are floors. Municipalities adopt their own amounts by ordinance and several run far above them — Narragansett's adapted-housing tier reaches $50,000, and municipal amounts of $40,500 and more appear elsewhere.
  • Because the money is local, the figure that applies to you is your own town's, not the statute's.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served during a period of war.
  • Your discharge was other than dishonorable.
  • You own and occupy the home.
  • 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

  1. 1Apply with the city or town assessor — the municipal ordinance, not the statute, sets your actual figure.
  2. 2Take a DD-214. That is the document the state veterans office names for this exemption.
  3. 3Ask the assessor for the town’s current veteran amounts, and check them against the state list of exemptions by city and town before you accept a figure.
  4. 4Do not rule yourself out on discharge. The state veterans office states the test as a discharge other than dishonorable, which is wider than the honorable standard most reliefs use.
  5. 5Check the back of your tax bill for the qualifying conflicts. The veterans office says most of them are printed there, with the complete list in the statute.
  6. 6If you are a bereaved parent, ask about §44-3-5 instead — Gold Star parents are covered by their own section, not by this one.
Form
Municipal exemption application
File with
Your city or town assessor
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis record used to require a 100% permanent and total rating. RIGL 44-3-4 requires no disability at all for its base tier — wartime service and an other-than-dishonorable discharge are the whole test. The disability amounts sit on top of that tier rather than gating it.

Sources

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