Disabled veterans who own a home in Franklin County, Ohio, have until December 31 to file with the county auditor for an exemption that removes the taxes on up to $58,000 of the home’s market value. It is the first of four local deadlines that run into spring: February 15 in Ventura County, California, March 15 in New York City, and before May 1 in Texas.
Each place asks for the same core proof, a Department of Veterans Affairs finding of 100% disability, and each one punishes a late filing in a different way. Ventura County cuts a late claim to a partial exemption, New York City pushes the start of benefits to the next July 1, and Franklin County accepts a late application only for the prior year on the same property.
Franklin County takes filings until December 31
The Franklin County Auditor’s homestead exemption for disabled veterans applies to a veteran who was 100% disabled by, or receiving 100% compensation for, service-connected injuries on January 1 of the year the exemption is sought. The veteran must also have been discharged or released under honorable conditions. The reduction equals the taxes that would otherwise be charged on up to $58,000 of the home’s market value.
The home has to be owned and lived in as the principal residence on January 1 of the filing year, and property held by a corporation, partnership or LLC does not qualify. Disability and discharge paperwork must come from the Department of Veterans Affairs or its predecessor or successor. Applicants can file online through the auditor’s eFile link, mail the form to the Homestead Section at 373 S. High St., 19th Floor, Columbus, or send questions to homestead@franklincountyohio.gov.
For a veteran with a 100% rating, the question is where the home sits and which date comes first. A veteran in Franklin County has the nearest deadline, December 31, and one who missed an earlier year can file a late application for the prior year on the same property. The application is signed under penalty of perjury, and the supporting documents must be mailed to the auditor before the application can be processed.
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A surviving spouse can keep the Franklin County exemption if the veteran received it in the year of death, the spouse lived in the home at the time, and the spouse takes ownership. The exemption stays in place until the year after the spouse remarries. That rule matters for widows and widowers who assume the break ended with the veteran.
Ventura County and New York City set February and March dates
In California, the Ventura County Assessor handles a disabled veterans’ exemption for a veteran with a 100% service-connected disability, or the veteran’s unmarried surviving spouse, who owns the principal residence. A properly completed claim form must be filed with the Assessor by February 15. Claims filed after that date receive a partial exemption for the year, not the full amount.
Ventura County asks for a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs stating that the disability or unemployability is 100% service related, plus the veteran’s DD214 discharge paper. Only households receiving the larger $150,000-plus exemption must file again each year, according to the Assessor. Everyone else on the basic exemption does not refile annually.
New York City runs a broader veterans property tax exemption through the Department of Finance, with a window that opens September 28 and closes March 15. The 311 page says an approved veteran pays only the public school tax, and that New York State sets the rates by period of service, combat-zone service and disability. An application filed by March 15 starts benefits on July 1, and the exemption does not have to be renewed.
New York City requires the property to be the applicant’s primary residence, and it accepts qualified veterans, their spouses, unremarried surviving spouses and Gold Star parents. Proof includes the DD214 or equivalent, and the VA award letter or rating if disability applies. Online filings go through the Department of Finance e-file site, and mailed applications go to P.O. Box 311, Maplewood, N.J. 07040-0311. The department says it responds within 90 days.
Texas wipes out the homestead tax for 100% ratings
Texas has the longest runway. The state Comptroller says the general deadline for filing an exemption application is before May 1, which in practice means April 30. A veteran with a 100% disability rating, or individual unemployability, as determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs, can receive a total exemption on the residence homestead under Tax Code Section 11.131.
A surviving spouse can qualify in Texas if the spouse has not remarried and the property remains the homestead. Separate sections cover spouses of service members killed in the line of duty and spouses of veterans who died from a qualifying condition. All of these use Form 50-114, filed with the appraisal district in the county where the home sits.
Veterans rated below 100% fall under Section 11.22, a partial exemption on any one property that rises with the disability rating. That exemption uses Form 50-135 and is open to unmarried surviving spouses and surviving children. The Comptroller’s page lists no dollar tiers for it, so the appraisal district is the place to ask what a given rating is worth.
The comparison across the four places comes down to paper and timing. Every application leans on a VA letter that states the rating, and every deadline is tied to the property’s tax year rather than to the date the veteran was rated. A veteran whose rating changed in 2026 is working from the new letter in Franklin County by December 31, in Ventura County by February 15, in New York City by March 15 and in Texas before May 1.
The costs of missing a date are concrete. In Texas the entire homestead tax is at stake, and in Franklin County it is the tax on $58,000 of value. In Ventura County a late filing drops the claim to a partial exemption, and in New York City it pushes the first benefit to the following July 1.
Which deadline comes first for the veteran’s home?
A late property-tax filing costs a disabled veteran real money: the partial exemption in Ventura County, the July 1 start date pushed back in New York City, the tax on $58,000 of value in Franklin County. The VA letter that backs each application is the same paper that opens the other VA benefits a veteran may have left unfiled.
The Veterans Benefits Action Kit covers the three VA pension levels including Aid & Attendance, and how to file for free (VA Form 21P-527EZ), so a wartime veteran or widow does not pay a helper to file what the VA takes for nothing. It also lists the pension-poacher warning signs.
Part 8 is a deadline calendar and worksheets, and the kit includes a claim tracker for keeping each filing date in one place.
Get the veterans benefits guide with the claim tracker and deadline calendar →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
