Property Tax · State Comparison
The veteran property tax exemption is not one program: in Florida, Ohio, Maryland and Tennessee it is four different state programs, with different deadlines, different proof, and different rules when a disability rating changes. Those differences, not the headline benefit, are where veterans lose money.
Each row below reflects what the state statute, the state revenue or assessment agency, or a county office in that state publishes. Eligibility details for each state are on its own guide; this table is for putting the four side by side.
Verified September 2026, sourced from state revenue departments and county property appraisers.
| State | Who qualifies | What it is worth | Filing deadline | Where you file | Proof required | Renews automatically? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | An honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected total and permanent disability who owns the home and is a Florida permanent resident on January 1. A separate exemption covers a disability of 10 percent or more. An unremarried surviving spouse keeps the total and permanent exemption while holding title and living in the home. | Total and permanent disability: the homestead is exempt from taxation. Disability of 10 percent or more: $5,000 of property value is exempt. Age 65 or older with a combat-related disability: a discount equal to the VA disability percentage. | March 1 of the tax year. A late application can be filed within 25 days after the county mails its annual assessment (TRIM) notice. | The county property appraiser. | A letter from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Government certifying the disability. The combat-related discount also needs evidence the disability is combat-related, the discharge, and proof of age. | No new application each year: the property appraiser mails a renewal by February 1, or the county waives annual filing. Changes that affect eligibility must be reported. |
| Ohio | An honorably discharged veteran with a total disability rating, or a total disability rating for compensation based on individual unemployability, for a service-connected disability, who owns and lives in the home as an Ohio resident. A surviving spouse who lived in the home when the veteran died and takes ownership also qualifies. | A reduction equal to the taxes on $50,000 of the home's market value, adjusted annually for inflation. It replaces the other homestead reductions and applies to one home. | December 31 of the year the reduction is for. A late application for the one prior year can be filed together with a current application. | The county auditor (the fiscal officer in Cuyahoga County). | A letter or other written confirmation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The state form DTE 105I also asks for the DD-214. | Yes. An approved application continues for each year the home is your homestead. You must notify the county auditor if you stop qualifying. |
| Maryland | An honorably discharged veteran whom the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has declared to have a permanent 100 percent service-connected disability, in a home that is the veteran's legal residence. A surviving spouse who has not remarried can also qualify. | The dwelling house is exempt from property tax, including the lot and the structures needed to use it as a residence. | No annual deadline, but the exemption is prorated from the date you apply. After buying a home, apply within 30 days of settlement to be exempt from the settlement date. | The State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT), through its local assessment office for the county where the home is. | A discharge certificate or DD-214, the most recent VA rating packet showing a final 100 percent permanent and total rating with its effective and decision dates, and proof of Maryland residency. SDAT does not accept the VA Summary of Benefits letter. | Neither the statute nor SDAT states an annual renewal for veterans. SDAT checks a surviving spouse's marital status once in each three-year reassessment. |
| Tennessee | A veteran with a service-connected permanent and total disability as determined by the VA, a specific service-connected disability such as paraplegia, legal blindness, or loss or loss of use of two or more limbs, or a 100 percent permanent total disability from serving as a prisoner of war, who owns and lives in the home. An unremarried surviving spouse qualifies if the veteran was eligible at death. | A state reimbursement of property taxes paid on the first $175,000 of the home's market value. It is relief, not an exemption: you still receive and pay the tax bill. | 35 days after the March 1 delinquency date, which is April 5 in practice. The Comptroller says taxes must also be paid by that date. | The county trustee, or the city collecting official for city taxes. The Comptroller's office decides eligibility. | The state application and form F-16, which authorizes the VA to release your disability information to the program. A surviving spouse files form F-16S with the death certificate. | No. Approved owners receive a relief voucher with each tax bill and must present it, with payment, by the deadline every year. |
Dollar figures, forms and deadlines are set by each state and can change. The official sources listed at the end of this page are the authority.
These are the points where the four programs behave differently from what most veterans expect. Each one was checked against the statute or the agency that runs the program.
Ohio does not make a disabled veteran re-apply every year. An approved application is a continuing application for each year the home is your homestead (R.C. 323.153(A)). Each January the county auditor mails a continuing application, form DTE 105B, which you return by December 31 only if something changed.
The trap is the other direction. If you stop qualifying, for example because your rating is no longer a total rating or an unemployability determination ends, you must notify the auditor (R.C. 323.153(C)(1)). A reduction kept after that is charged back against the property for each year, with interest (R.C. 323.153(C)(3)). Knowingly failing to notify is a fourth-degree misdemeanor, and a conviction bars the reduction for three years (R.C. 323.99, 323.152(E)).
Also check your county's receipt rule: Hamilton County requires the application to be received by the last business day of the year and does not treat a postmark as timely.
Florida lets you apply before the VA paperwork arrives. When it arrives, the exemption is granted as of the date of your original application, and the excess taxes are refunded, limited to the 4-year refund period in s. 197.182(1)(e) (s. 196.081(5)). The same rule applies to the $5,000 exemption, the combat-related discount and the wheelchair exemption.
Florida law does not tie the refund to the VA's retroactive effective date. A year before your first Florida application is not covered, so waiting for the VA letter before filing can cost those years.
Two related rules: if you missed March 1, you have 25 days after the TRIM notice is mailed to file late, then a petition to the value adjustment board with a $15 fee if the appraiser does not grant it (s. 196.011(9)). And if you bought the home between January 1 and November 1 while already certified totally and permanently disabled, you can receive a prorated refund of that year's taxes once the exemption is granted the following year (s. 196.081(1)(b)).
Maryland's refunds are mandatory, but only if you apply for the exemption during the 3-year period beginning with the calendar year you first became eligible (Tax-Property §7-208(g)). SDAT treats a veteran as first eligible on the date of the VA rating decision, and a timely applicant can be refunded back toward the rating's effective date, which can be earlier.
Two limits apply. SDAT says no refunds are paid for tax years before 2018-2019. And the refund is not automatic: it is a separate box on the application. If the refund is not paid within 60 days of applying, interest is owed (§7-208(h)).
The exemption itself is prorated from the date you apply (§7-208(f)(1)), so every month of delay after qualifying is a month not exempted. Maryland also lets you apply before you buy a specific home; SDAT must answer within 15 business days (§7-208(d)(5)).
Tennessee's benefit is a state payment toward taxes you have paid, not an exemption. Approved owners must present a relief voucher with payment by the deadline each year, 35 days after the delinquency date. A taxpayer who misses that window is ineligible for that tax year (T.C.A. §67-5-701(d)), and Knox County's application states that relief cannot be applied for retroactively. The division director may waive a missed deadline for good cause, but not past December 31 of the year after the tax year (§67-5-701(k)).
If the state appropriation falls short, the Comptroller reduces individual payments by a uniform factor (§67-5-701(e)(3)).
All four programs are for the home you live in, and two of them look across state lines. Florida bars its homestead exemption for anyone receiving or claiming a residency-based exemption in another state (s. 196.031(6)). Tennessee's application makes you ineligible if you received a property tax exemption in another state in the same tax year. Ohio's reduction applies to one homestead, and Hamilton County asks owners of other property to show no residency-based credits are claimed on it.
No. An approved application continues for each year the home stays your homestead, and the county auditor mails a continuing application each January that you return only if something changed. If you stop qualifying, you must tell the auditor, or the reduction is charged back against the property with interest.
Only back to the date you first applied. Florida lets you apply before the VA documentation arrives, and once it arrives the exemption is granted as of that original application date, with refunds limited to the 4-year refund period in Florida law. Years before you applied are not covered, so filing early matters.
Maryland pays refunds for years the exemption was available only if you apply within the 3-year period beginning with the calendar year you first became eligible, which SDAT treats as the date of the VA rating decision. SDAT says no refunds are paid for tax years before 2018-2019, and you must check the refund box on the application.
No. It is a state reimbursement of property taxes paid on the first $175,000 of the home's market value. You still receive and pay the tax bill, and you must present your relief voucher with payment by the deadline, 35 days after the delinquency date, every year.
It depends on the state. Ohio requires you to notify the county auditor and charges back reductions you were not entitled to, with interest. Florida requires prompt notice of changes that affect eligibility where annual filing is waived, with back taxes, interest and a penalty for up to 10 years if you do not. Tennessee does not require repayment when the VA first found you eligible and later found you ineligible. Maryland's statute and SDAT guidance do not address a later reduction.
Not automatically. Florida's exemption is not transferable, so a new application is needed at the new home. Ohio's approved application covers only the home it was filed for. In Maryland, apply within 30 days after settlement to be exempt from the settlement date. Tennessee allows relief on only one residence per taxpayer per tax year.
The programs are built for one residence. Florida bars its homestead exemption for anyone receiving or claiming a residency-based exemption in another state, and Tennessee's application makes you ineligible if you received a property tax exemption in another state in the same tax year. Ohio's reduction applies to one homestead.
It depends on the state and the form of ownership. Ohio counts the settlor of a revocable or irrevocable trust who lives in the home as an owner but excludes property owned by a limited liability company or corporation. Tennessee's Comptroller says a home in an irrevocable trust does not qualify. Florida treats a beneficial interest for life as equitable title. Maryland requires the veteran to own the dwelling.
For eligibility and how to apply in one state, go to that state's guide: the Florida disabled veteran property tax exemption, the Ohio enhanced homestead exemption for disabled veterans, the Maryland disabled veteran exemption and its refund rules, and Tennessee property tax relief for disabled veterans. For the overview of how these benefits work, start with the disabled veteran property tax exemption guide.
Next Duty Vet is not affiliated with the VA or any government agency, and this page does not give tax or legal advice. Confirm your situation with your county property appraiser, county auditor, SDAT assessment office or county trustee before relying on it.
The Duty Station Brief tracks veteran property tax and benefit changes in Florida, Ohio, Maryland and Tennessee.
Get the Duty Station Brief →Primary sources, read September 15, 2026.
