Injured veterans who meet an expanded definition of "100 percent disabled" are eligible under a new law for a tax exemption for their homes, according to a legal opinion issued by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
The opinion addresses the refusal by some localities to offer the tax break to veterans who are not initially rated 100 percent disabled by the Veterans Administration's "service-connected" rating schedule but are later judged to be fully disabled by the VA because their ailments prevent them from maintaining gainful employment.
Virginia voters last November approved an amendment to the state constitution, effective Jan. 1, 2011, that provided the real estate tax exemption to disabled veterans or a surviving spouse.
Cuccinelli determined that the exemption applies to veterans rated as 100 percent disabled, regardless of how the VA arrived at that rating.
The attorney general also determined that a spouse of a veteran who died before the law took effect Jan. 1 would not qualify under the law, nor would property held in a public trust on behalf of a veteran.
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