A disabled veteran's property tax break in Massachusetts is a fixed dollar credit set by the disability, from $400 to a full exemption, and some towns raise it.
The tables and calculator ahead cover each Clause 22 exemption, the HERO Act options towns can vote on, and what each is worth on a real tax bill.
Check Your Massachusetts VA Loan Eligibility
Veterans and surviving spouses can find the clause that fits, estimate savings in their town, and file with the assessors on time.
Which Clause 22 Exemption Fits You
Each Clause 22 exemption is a flat dollar credit off the tax bill on the home you live in, based on your disability rather than your home's value. If you fit more than one category, you receive one exemption: the one worth the most.
| Clause | Who qualifies | Statewide yearly amount |
|---|---|---|
| Clause 22 | Service-connected disability of 10% or more, Purple Heart recipients, Gold Star parents, and spouses or unremarried surviving spouses of eligible veterans | $400 |
| Clause 22A | Loss or permanent loss of use of one hand or one foot, loss of sight in one eye, former prisoners of war, or Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross recipients | $750 |
| Clause 22B | Loss or permanent loss of use of both hands, both feet, or one hand and one foot, or loss of sight in both eyes | $1,250 |
| Clause 22C | Permanent and total service-connected disability and VA help buying specially adapted housing | $1,500 |
| Clause 22E | 100% service-connected disability rating from the VA | $1,000 |
| Clause 22F | Paraplegic from a line-of-duty injury, or rated 100% for service-connected blindness | Full exemption |
| Clause 22D | Surviving spouses of service members whose active-duty injury or illness caused their death, or who are missing in action and presumed dead | Full exemption |
| Clause 22H | Gold Star parents or guardians (only in towns that adopt it) | Full exemption |
State law also lists an assessed-value figure for each clause, but at Massachusetts tax rates the flat dollar credit is always larger and is what applies in practice. A 100% rating alone gets $1,000 under Clause 22E, not a full exemption; full exemptions apply only under Clauses 22D, 22F, and 22H.
If you live in a multi-family home and qualify under Clauses 22A, 22B, 22C, 22E, or 22F, the credit applies only to the share you occupy. When two veterans are married to each other and both qualify under Clause 22, each receives the $400 credit.
How the HERO Act Lets Towns Raise Your Exemption
The HERO Act, signed in August 2024, added two local options that cities and towns can adopt by vote starting with fiscal year 2026. A municipality can adopt one or both to raise the statewide credits above.
- Clause 22I: An annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Clauses 22, 22A, 22B, 22C, 22E, and 22F, set by the Commissioner of Revenue from the Consumer Price Index. The increase is 2.9% for fiscal 2026 and 2.7% for fiscal 2027, and each year's increase builds on the prior year's adjusted amount.
- Clause 22J: An extra exemption of up to 100% of your clause amount, at one uniform percentage the town votes on before the fiscal year begins. After all exemptions, your taxable valuation cannot drop below 10% of your home's full and fair cash value.
When a town adopts both options, the cost-of-living increase is applied first and the Clause 22J match is calculated on top of that higher amount.
Only towns certified by the Department of Revenue as assessing at full and fair cash value can adopt them, and there is no statewide list, so ask your board of assessors which options are in effect.
Published town figures show the difference: Hingham's assessors list $823 for Clause 22 and $3,087 for Clause 22C, while Sutton lists $800 for Clause 22 and $2,000 for Clause 22E. Those are amounts the towns publish, so confirm the current year with them.
If you are comparing towns with a Massachusetts VA loan, asking each assessor's office about Clauses 22I and 22J before you choose a town can be worth hundreds of dollars a year or more.
Check Your Massachusetts VA Loan Eligibility
What Is Your Exemption Worth?
Pick your town, enter your home's assessed value, and choose your situation below; the calculator uses each town's fiscal 2026 residential tax rate from the Department of Revenue.
Massachusetts Disabled Veteran Property Tax Savings Calculator
Clause 22: Service-connected rating of 10% or more, Purple Heart recipients, Gold Star parents, and spouses or unremarried surviving spouses of eligible veterans.
Has Worcester voted to raise veteran exemptions? Ask the assessors' office; there is no statewide list.
Estimates only. Uses Worcester's FY2026 residential tax rate from the Department of Revenue and the statewide exemption amounts. The residential exemption, CPA surcharges and multi-unit rules are not included. Your assessors confirm eligibility and the final amount.
Estimated yearly savings
$400
About $33 a month
Clause 22
$400 statewide amount. If Worcester adopted both local options at 100%, about $823.
You get one Clause 22 exemption, the one worth the most. A veteran who qualifies for more than one can't combine them.
A Worked Example
A home assessed at $500,000 in Worcester, where the fiscal 2026 residential tax rate is $13.28 per $1,000 of value, owes $6,640 a year in property tax before exemptions. Under the statewide Clause 22 credit for a veteran rated 10% or higher, that $400 exemption cuts the bill to $6,240.
In a hypothetical town with the same bill that adopted both HERO Act options at 100% for fiscal 2026 (the 2.9% COLA plus a 100% match), the $400 credit rises to about $412 and doubles to about $823, dropping the bill to about $5,817. We do not know whether Worcester adopted Clause 22I or 22J.
Under Clause 22F, for a paraplegic veteran or a veteran rated 100% for service-connected blindness, the whole $6,640 is exempt and the bill is $0 on the home they live in. Because fiscal 2026 residential rates range from $2.18 per $1,000 in Hancock to $20.50 in Wendell, a full exemption is worth very different amounts by town.
Who Qualifies
To receive any Clause 22 exemption, you must meet the state's service, ownership, domicile, and residency rules on the qualifying date for that fiscal year. There's no income or asset limit.
- Veteran status: You must be a veteran with a last discharge or release other than dishonorable.
- You own the home: You can hold title solely, jointly, or as a tenant in common, and a life estate counts; a trust counts only if you are both a trustee and a beneficiary, unless your town adopted Clause 22G.
- You live there: The property must be your domicile (your permanent home), and if the veteran's spouse is the applicant, the veteran must live there too.
- July 1: Ownership, domicile, and every other requirement are judged as of July 1 of the fiscal year.
- Residency: You must have lived in Massachusetts for 2 consecutive years before filing, or have been domiciled here for at least 6 months before entering service; towns can vote to lower the 2-year rule to 1 year.
- One exemption: You cannot also take a Massachusetts senior property tax exemption such as Clause 17 or Clause 41 on the same home. You get whichever exemption pays the most, though Clause 22J, hardship Clause 18, and solar Clause 45 can still stack.
Some older town webpages still state a 5-year residency requirement; state law reduced that to 2 years in 2018.
100% Ratings and Individual Unemployability
Clause 22E ($1,000 base credit) requires a 100% VA disability rating, not a permanent one, and each year you certify that the rating has not dropped below 100%. Only Clause 22C ($1,500 base credit) requires a permanent and total rating along with VA help buying specially adapted housing.
If you are paid at the 100% rate through Total Disability Individual Unemployability (TDIU), the state's highest court held in 1976 that a 100% rating based on unemployability counts for Clause 22E. Because there is no current state guidance on TDIU, bring your VA benefit summary letter and confirm with your assessors.
Some town pages still say you must be unable to work, a requirement that is no longer in the law.
Surviving Spouses and Gold Star Families
Surviving spouses of veterans and Gold Star parents can qualify for their own exemptions or keep the veteran's credit, depending on the clause and whether death was connected to active service.
| Who | Exemption | When it ends |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse of a veteran who had Clause 22 | $400 (Clause 22) | If the spouse remarries |
| Surviving spouse of a veteran who had Clause 22A, 22B, 22C, 22E, or 22F | Same amount continues | Continues while the spouse owns and lives in the home |
| Surviving spouse under Clause 22D | Full exemption | When the spouse dies or remarries |
| Gold Star parents | $400 (Clause 22), or a full exemption under Clause 22H in towns that adopt it | Clause 22H lasts while the parents or guardians are living |
Clause 22D covers surviving spouses of service members, National Guard members, and veterans whose active-duty injury or illness caused their death, or who are missing in action and presumed dead. For Clause 22D, the spouse must have lived in Massachusetts for 2 consecutive years before filing, or the service member must have lived here at least 6 months before service.
For Clause 22H, Gold Star parents or guardians must have lived in Massachusetts for 5 consecutive years before filing, or the service member must have lived here at least 6 months before service.
Full exemptions under Clauses 22D and 22F cover the whole real estate tax on the home, including any Community Preservation Act (CPA) surcharge. State guidance and the statute word remarriage differently ("never remarried" versus "remain unmarried" or "until the surviving spouse dies or remarries"), so a spouse who remarried and was later widowed should ask the assessors.
Buying a Home: When Your Exemption Starts
Eligibility is set on July 1 each year, so you must own and live in the home on July 1 to get the exemption for that fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). If you close on July 2 or later, your first exemption on that home starts the following July 1.
Once you meet the July 1 test, you file your application for that fiscal year by the deadline in How to Apply. Filing does not pause your tax bill: pay each bill as it comes, and any overpayment is refunded or credited once your exemption is approved.
If you are selling a home that already has a veteran exemption, make sure the seller's exemption is credited at closing, because the town does not divide the benefit between buyer and seller. When budgeting for a purchase before your exemption starts, check Massachusetts property tax rates by town to estimate your full first-year bill.
Check Your Massachusetts VA Loan Eligibility
How to Apply
You apply through your city or town board of assessors each fiscal year:
- Get the form: Request State Tax Form 96-4 from your local board of assessors.
- Gather documents: For your first year, attach your DD-214 and your VA or branch certificate of disability; surviving spouses and Gold Star parents need a death certificate plus VA or branch casualty documentation, and trust owners must attach the trust document.
- File by the deadline: File on or before April 1 of the fiscal year, or within 3 months after the actual tax bill is mailed, whichever is later; assessors cannot waive a late filing.
- Refile every year: You must file an application each fiscal year, though after the first year you only need a new disability certificate if your rating is 100% or has changed.
- If you're denied: You can appeal to the Appellate Tax Board within 3 months of the assessors' decision, or within 3 months of the date your application is deemed denied if the assessors do not act within 3 months of filing.
Older town handouts sometimes list a December 15 deadline, which is outdated; the deadline has been April 1 since fiscal year 2017.
Other Local Tax Breaks for Veterans
Two other Massachusetts tax breaks can lower your annual costs alongside Clause 22:
- Tax work-off: In towns that adopt it, a veteran (or the spouse of a deceased or service-connected disabled veteran) can volunteer for the town for a property tax reduction of up to $1,500 a year, or up to 125 hours, at no more than minimum wage per hour.
- Motor vehicle excise: Since calendar year 2024, veterans rated 100% disabled or found individually unemployable by the VA due to a service-connected disability are exempt from the motor vehicle excise tax.
If you are getting ready to buy, see our guide to Massachusetts veterans homebuyer benefits for how VA loans, the VA funding fee exemption, and MassHousing's $2,500 military credit work together.
Next Steps
- Find the Clause 22 category in the first table that gives you the largest base credit.
- Ask your local board of assessors whether your town has adopted Clause 22I, Clause 22J, Clause 22G, or Clause 22H for the current fiscal year.
- Run your town and home value in the calculator above to see your estimated annual tax savings.
- Once you own and live in your home on July 1, file Form 96-4 with your assessors before the annual deadline.
Ready to Get Started?
Check your eligibility in under 2 minutes. No credit pull, no obligation.
Get our Massachusetts updates in your Google feed
Add Make Massachusetts Your Home as a preferred source to see our rate, grant, and program updates more often in Google Search.