TDIU and Taxes
Question:
Hello, I'm a Navy veteran who lives in New Jersey with a 70% service connected disability. According to my VA letter that states my benefit information it says that I 1) have a disability evaluation of 70%, 2) I am being paid at the 100% rate because of being unemployable due to me service connected disability and 3) that I am also considered to be totally and permanently disabled due to me service connected disability. I also have no further evaluations in the future. I was told that I should qualify for a 100% property tax exemption.
When I filed my paper work and sent it to the tax assessor it was denied. The tax assessors returned a form stating it was denied because my application failed to satisfy the requirements because of, "Certification of 100% P&T from the US VA and because my VA letter benefit stated I was 70% according to my combined service connected evaluation. According to my ratings decision letter from the VA I am pretty much entitled to the same benefits as someone having a 100% evaluation. Including be eligibility to Chapter 35 from my children. So my question is... am I not entitled to a property tax exemption in NJ or am I entitled and there an error on the tax assessors past in denying my application? Thank you!
Jim's Reply:
This is a very common occurrence. The trick to getting past this is to print your own letter in eBenefits. If you don't have an eBenefits account you'll need to take the time to establish one and then give it time to update your data.
Once you've done that you can explore and find the section that allows you to print your own benefits letter. When you do you simply leave out the 70% part and keep the 100%...easily done since the letter was designed for this. Once you get into your account you'll get the idea of how to do this.
It works, I've used this myself and each state has accepted the letter, no problems. Good luck!