State benefits
Massachusetts veteran benefits, and the clause you fall under
Massachusetts does not scale one exemption to a rating. It runs a lettered clause schedule where each clause keys to a specific event, a decoration, a loss, an adapted housing award, and carries its own flat dollar figure. The application has to be filed again every fiscal year.
Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/local-property-tax-exemptions-for-veterans
Published 2026-08-21. Massachusetts rules last checked against that state's own government sources on 2026-08-21. Every line below carries the page it came from and the date it was read.
What is different about Massachusetts
Massachusetts does not scale one exemption to a rating. General Laws chapter 59 section 5 asks a different question for each lettered clause, and most of them are not about a percentage: clause 22A turns on the loss of one foot at or above the ankle or one hand at or above the wrist, or the award of the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross, or prisoner of war status. The consequence is that a veteran rated 30 percent who lost a hand receives more than a veteran rated 40 percent who did not. Two further features have no parallel in this set: the exemption has to be applied for every fiscal year rather than granted once, and since 2024 a city or town may vote to index every clause to the price index and to double it, with no state reimbursement, so the same veteran is worth $400 in one town and $840 in the next. Underneath sits Chapter 115, a locally paid, means tested cash benefit run by a municipal veterans service officer with the state reimbursing 75 percent.
A schedule of events rather than a scale of percentages
Nearly every state on this list asks one question, what is the rating, and answers it with one number. General Laws chapter 59 section 5 asks a different question for each of its lettered clauses, and most of them are not about a percentage at all.
Clause Twenty-second is the rating clause, at a disability rating of ten per cent or more as determined by VA or by any branch of the armed forces, or alternatively the award of a Purple Heart, and it abates the greater of $2,000 of assessed taxable valuation or $400. Clause Twenty-second A turns on the loss or permanent loss of use of one foot at or above the ankle or one hand at or above the wrist, or a statutory award for loss of sight in one eye, or the award of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross, or prisoner of war status, and abates the greater of $4,000 of valuation or $750. Clause Twenty-second B is the loss of both feet, both hands, or one foot and one hand, or blindness, at the greater of $8,000 or $1,250. Clause Twenty-second C requires a permanent and total rating together with receipt of VA specially adapted housing assistance, at the greater of $10,000 or $1,500. Clause Twenty-second E is the second rating clause, at 100 percent contracted in service and in the line of duty, at the greater of $6,000 or $1,000. Clause Twenty-second F covers a veteran who by reason of injury received in service and in the line of duty is paraplegic or holds a disability rating of 100 per cent for service connected blindness, which the state veterans agency treats as a full exemption.
The consequence is that a veteran rated 40 percent with no decoration and no qualifying loss lands on clause Twenty-second, at $400, alongside a veteran rated 10 percent. A veteran rated 30 percent who lost a hand lands on clause Twenty-second A, at $750, which is a better answer than the 40 percent veteran gets. Ranking Massachusetts veterans by their percentages does not rank them by what they receive here, and that is the thing to understand before reading any dollar figure on this page.
Two clauses run to survivors and both are full exemptions. Clause Twenty-second D covers a surviving spouse of a servicemember, National Guard member or veteran who during active duty service suffered an injury or illness documented by VA or a branch which was a proximate cause of death, or who is missing in action with a presumptive finding of death, and it continues until the surviving spouse dies or remarries. Clause Twenty-second H covers surviving parents or guardians on the same footing. The residency conditions differ between them: two consecutive years of domicile before filing for the spouse, five consecutive years for the parents.
The residency requirement for the veteran clauses is where two Massachusetts sources disagree and no page should print a single number. The statute reads domiciled in Massachusetts for at least six months prior to entering such service, or resident in the commonwealth for 2 consecutive years next prior to date of filing. The veterans services page reads six months prior to entering the service, or five consecutive years immediately prior to filing. Two years is what the current General Laws text says. Five years is what the state's own veteran facing page says. A veteran between those two figures is the person this discrepancy actually costs, and the board of assessors is the office that decides it.
The filing burden is the highest in this whole set and it is annual. An application has to be filed for each fiscal year with the assessors, due on April 1 or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, which the abatement statute independently states as on or before April 1 of the year to which the tax relates or within 3 months after the bill or notice of assessment was sent, whichever is later. Clause Twenty-second E filers additionally have to submit a current VA certification with each year's application. Qualification is fixed to a single date, July 1 of each year, and the property has to be occupied as the applicant's domicile on that date.
Since the 2024 act the amounts are no longer the same in every town, which means the correct answer to what is the Massachusetts veteran exemption is now a question about a municipality. Clause Twenty-second I, where a city or town accepts it, increases the abatement annually by the increase in the Consumer Price Index. Clause Twenty-second J, where accepted, provides an additional exemption of up to 100 percent of the amount granted under the veteran clauses, which is to say it can double them. The Division of Local Services works the example: a $400 clause Twenty-second exemption becomes $420 with a 5 percent index adjustment, and $840 where the community also accepts the doubling. Neither is reimbursed by the Commonwealth, and acceptance requires a vote of the town meeting, town council or city council. The doubling cannot reduce the tax owed below what would be owed on 10 percent of the current assessed valuation of the domicile.
One framing on the state veterans page should not be carried forward. That page presents the base clauses as themselves optional, saying eligible veterans are entitled to an exemption if their municipality has voted to accept the exemptions. Neither the statute nor the Division of Local Services describes clauses Twenty-second through Twenty-second F that way. They are the standing statewide schedule. Only the index clause, the doubling clause and a shortened one year residency variant are local options.
Underneath the exemptions sits something almost no other state runs. Chapter 115 is a means tested cash benefit for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and medical care, paid by the city or town where the veteran resides through a municipal veterans service officer, with the Commonwealth reimbursing 75 percent of what the municipality pays, and 100 percent for recipients in permanent federal or transitional housing for up to 48 months. The statute's test is need rather than rating: only such amount shall be paid as may be necessary to afford sufficient relief or support, and benefits shall not be paid to any person who is able to support themselves or who is in receipt of income from any source sufficient for their support. Nothing in it conditions eligibility on a disability percentage. The route in is the local veterans service officer rather than the state.
Three vehicle thresholds, a license that is not a veteran benefit, and a $2,500 annuity
The property amounts are flat and modest, from $400 to $1,500, with full exemptions on the paraplegia and blindness clause and on the two survivor clauses. What decides their real size is the town. In a municipality that has accepted both local options a $400 exemption is $840; in the town next door it is $400. Any single figure quoted for the Massachusetts veteran exemption is wrong by up to 100 percent somewhere in the state, and no state source lists which municipalities have accepted them.
The motor vehicle side runs on three different tests and merging them is the most common error made about this state. The excise exemption covers one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck owned by the veteran and used non commercially, and the registry states that a veteran qualifies if VA determines a 100 percent disability rating or deems them unemployable due to their service connected disability. That standard is new: the Division of Local Services records the 2024 act moving eligibility from a registry medical advisory board determination to a VA determination, effective for calendar year 2024 excises. Unemployability is named here in terms, which is unusual and worth noticing.
The disabled veteran plate is a different test again, at a minimum of a 60 percent service connected disability rating listed on the VA disability breakdown letter, where one or a combination of the listed conditions totaling 60 percent affect ambulation and would qualify for disabled parking privileges. Conditions that do not affect ambulation are not counted toward it. And the sales tax exemption on a vehicle is a third thing, available on one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck but conditioned on the veteran obtaining the disabled veteran plate for that vehicle, which chains the 60 percent ambulation test onto it.
The Division of Local Services states the relationship between the property and vehicle tests more plainly than any other state agency does, and it is worth quoting the sense of it: these standards are narrower than those required for property tax exemptions, and a veteran qualifying for a property tax exemption does not necessarily qualify for a motor vehicle excise exemption. The excise exemption also has no fixed qualification date; a veteran may apply to the assessors within three years of the due date of the excise on that vehicle, or one year of the date it was paid, whichever is later, which is a meaningfully longer window than the April 1 property deadline.
The same 2024 act added two fee exemptions on the same VA test of 100 percent or unemployable: registration fees for any and all vehicle registrations, and driver license transaction fees for all license classes. Those are not limited to one vehicle the way the excise exemption is.
Hunting and fishing is where Massachusetts does not do what its neighbors do, and a page that assumes otherwise sends somebody to a license vendor to be charged. The free license categories on the state fee schedule are resident fishing at age 70 or over, and paraplegic, blind or intellectually disabled residents, for fishing, hunting and sporting licenses. There is no veteran category and no disability rating category anywhere on that schedule. A paraplegic veteran does qualify, as a paraplegic. A veteran rated 100 percent who is not in one of those categories pays the ordinary price, which is $40.00 for resident fishing, $40.00 for resident hunting and $75.00 for the resident sporting license, plus a $5 wildlands conservation stamp added to the first resident license bought each year.
State parks are free to enter in Massachusetts, so the benefit is a parking one rather than an admission one. Daily parking fees are waived at all conservation and recreation facilities for vehicles displaying disability plates or placards, Purple Heart recipient plates, or disabled veteran plates. Against published rates that is between $5 and $15 a day depending on the park, or $60 for the annual parking pass, and it inherits the 60 percent ambulation test through the plate. Designated veterans only parking spaces are separately available to any holder of a registry issued veteran plate, including out of state ones.
The annuity is the item most likely to be missed because it is not a tax break and does not appear on any bill. The state veterans agency pays an annuity to certain disabled veterans, parents of deceased veterans and unmarried spouses of deceased veterans living in Massachusetts, raised by the 2024 act from $2,000 to $2,500 and paid as one payment on August 1. The statute's eligibility list is specific rather than percentage based: central visual acuity of 5/200 or less with correcting glasses, paraplegia from traumatic spinal cord or brain injury in service, permanent service connected paralysis, loss of both legs, or a VA determination of 100 percent disability, together with the parents of servicemembers who died from a service injury or disease and unmarried surviving spouses.
State income tax removes military pensions entirely. The revenue department states that United States military pensions, which are included in federal gross income, are excluded from Massachusetts gross income for both residents and non-residents, and lists army, navy, marine corps, air force and coast guard non-contributory pensions and survivorship benefits among income included federally and excluded here. Compensation for active service in a combat zone is excluded on the same page. One caution for anyone searching the revenue department's own archive: a 1992 ruling stating that military retirement benefits remain subject to income tax is still hosted there and has been superseded by the current pages.
Massachusetts education benefits are absent from this page rather than omitted by accident. The tuition waiver programs are published by the state's higher education department on a domain that is not a government one, so nothing about their terms could be cited here under the sourcing rule this program runs on.
Every Massachusetts entitlement checked so far
Each entry states the rule as the statute or the administering agency states it, with the rating threshold that rule uses. Whether any particular file meets a threshold is a question for the office that grants it.
The state's own page
Everything below is a reading of published Massachusetts rules. Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services is the office that administers them, and its own page is the place to check anything here.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/local-property-tax-exemptions-for-veterans
The ones with a filing window
- Clause Twenty-second, the rating clauseApril 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Clauses Twenty-second A and Twenty-second B, decorations and specific lossesApril 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Clause Twenty-second E, the 100 percent clauseApril 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Clauses Twenty-second C and Twenty-second F, adapted housing and paraplegiaApril 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Clauses Twenty-second D and Twenty-second H, surviving spouses and parentsApril 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
Filing windows are set by the office that administers each one, and several of them run on the county assessment calendar rather than the tax year.
Property tax
Clause Twenty-second, the rating clause
Has to be claimed again each yearMassachusetts abates the greater of $2,000 of assessed taxable valuation or $400 for a veteran with a disability rating of ten per cent or more as determined by VA or by any branch of the armed forces, or who was awarded a Purple Heart.
- The abatement is the greater of the valuation figure or the flat dollar figure, so it is not simply $400 in every town.
- The exemption extends to spouses and unmarried surviving spouses under the same clause.
- The statute apportions the cost: the first $2,000 of exemption or up to $175 is borne by the city or town and the balance up to $225 by the Commonwealth.
- What it is worth
- $400 a year, or $840 in a town that has doubled it The flat figure is $400 unless the valuation route abates more. Where a municipality has accepted the local index and doubling options the same clause is worth up to $840, and no state source lists which municipalities have adopted them.
- Filing window
- April 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Administered by
- The local board of assessors
- How it is claimed
- The state prescribed application for a statutory exemption, filed with the board of assessors for each fiscal year.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 59 section 5, clause Twenty-second
General Laws chapter 59 section 5, property exempt from taxation (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Clauses Twenty-second A and Twenty-second B, decorations and specific losses
Has to be claimed again each yearMassachusetts abates the greater of $4,000 of valuation or $750 for the loss or permanent loss of use of one foot at or above the ankle or one hand at or above the wrist, or a statutory award for loss of sight in one eye, or the award of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross, or prisoner of war status, and the greater of $8,000 or $1,250 for the loss of both feet, both hands, or one foot and one hand, or blindness.
- Neither clause has a rating percentage in it. This is why a Massachusetts veteran cannot be placed on this schedule by percentage alone.
- Both carry surviving spouse continuation.
- What it is worth
- $750 or $1,250 a year, doubled in a town that has accepted the local option Each clause abates the greater of its valuation figure or its flat dollar figure, and both are eligible for the local index and doubling options.
- Filing window
- April 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Administered by
- The local board of assessors
- How it is claimed
- The state prescribed application for a statutory exemption, filed with the board of assessors for each fiscal year.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 59 section 5, clauses Twenty-second A and Twenty-second B
General Laws chapter 59 section 5, property exempt from taxation (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Clause Twenty-second E, the 100 percent clause
Has to be claimed again each yearMassachusetts abates the greater of $6,000 of valuation or $1,000 for a veteran with a disability rating of 100 percent, contracted in service and in the line of duty.
- A current VA certification has to be submitted with each year's application under this clause, which is a heavier annual burden than the other clauses carry.
- It carries surviving spouse continuation.
- What it is worth
- $1,000 a year, or $2,000 in a town that has doubled it The greater of $6,000 of valuation or $1,000, and eligible for the local index and doubling options like the other veteran clauses.
- Filing window
- April 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Administered by
- The local board of assessors
- How it is claimed
- The state prescribed application, with a current VA certification, filed with the board of assessors each fiscal year.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 59 section 5, clause Twenty-second E
General Laws chapter 59 section 5, property exempt from taxation (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Clauses Twenty-second C and Twenty-second F, adapted housing and paraplegia
Has to be claimed again each yearMassachusetts abates the greater of $10,000 of valuation or $1,500 for a veteran with a permanent and total rating who received VA specially adapted housing assistance, and exempts the real estate of a veteran who by reason of injury received in service and in the line of duty is paraplegic or holds a disability rating of 100 per cent for service connected blindness.
- The state veterans agency treats the paraplegia and blindness clause as a full exemption. The statutory text read in this check carries no dollar cap for it, and the word full is the agency's rather than a phrase quoted from that clause.
- The adapted housing clause requires the housing assistance as well as the rating, so the rating alone does not reach it.
- Both carry surviving spouse continuation.
- What it is worth
- $1,500 a year on the adapted housing clause, and the whole bill on the other The adapted housing clause abates the greater of $10,000 of valuation or $1,500. The paraplegia and blindness clause is recorded by the state agency as removing the real estate from taxation, so its worth is the bill that would otherwise be issued.
- Filing window
- April 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Administered by
- The local board of assessors
- How it is claimed
- The state prescribed application, filed with the board of assessors for each fiscal year.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 59 section 5, clauses Twenty-second C and Twenty-second F
Local property tax exemptions for veterans (Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services). Checked 2026-08-21.
Clauses Twenty-second D and Twenty-second H, surviving spouses and parents
Has to be claimed again each yearMassachusetts exempts real estate to the full amount of the taxable valuation for the surviving spouse, and separately for the surviving parents or guardians, of a servicemember, National Guard member or veteran who during active duty service suffered an injury or illness documented by VA or a branch which was a proximate cause of death, or who is missing in action with a presumptive finding of death.
- The spouse's exemption continues until the surviving spouse dies or remarries.
- The residency conditions differ between the two: two consecutive years of domicile before filing for the spouse, and five consecutive years for the parents or guardians.
- The Commonwealth reimburses the full amount of the surviving spouse exemption, where most of the veteran clauses are only partly reimbursed.
- What it is worth
- The whole real estate tax bill These two clauses exempt to the full amount of the taxable valuation rather than to a stated figure, so the worth is the entire bill on the property.
- Filing window
- April 1, or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later, filed for each fiscal year
- Administered by
- The local board of assessors
- How it is claimed
- The state prescribed application, filed with the board of assessors for each fiscal year.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 59 section 5, clauses Twenty-second D and Twenty-second H
General Laws chapter 59 section 5, property exempt from taxation (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Vehicles and plates
Motor vehicle excise exemption and fee waivers
Has to be applied for onceMassachusetts exempts one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck owned by the veteran and used non-commercially from motor vehicle excise where VA determines a 100 percent disability rating or deems the veteran unemployable due to a service connected disability, and separately waives vehicle registration fees and driver license transaction fees on the same test.
- Unemployability is named in the operating agency's own wording rather than left to be argued.
- The excise standard moved from a registry medical advisory board determination to a VA determination for calendar year 2024 excises.
- The Division of Local Services states that the vehicle standards are narrower than the property tax ones, and that qualifying for a property tax exemption does not necessarily mean qualifying for the excise exemption.
- There is no fixed qualification date. A veteran may apply to the assessors within three years of the due date of the excise on the vehicle, or one year of the date it was paid, whichever is later.
- The registration and license fee waivers are not limited to one vehicle the way the excise exemption is.
- What it is worth
- The excise on one vehicle, plus registration and license transaction fees Motor vehicle excise in Massachusetts is assessed on the vehicle's value, so what is waived scales with the car. The registration and license fee waivers are on top and are not limited to one vehicle.
- Administered by
- The local board of assessors for the excise, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles for the fee waivers
- How it is claimed
- Application to the local board of assessors for the excise, and through the Registry of Motor Vehicles for the fee waivers.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 60A section 1
Disabled veteran fee and tax exemptions (Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles). Checked 2026-08-21.
Disabled veteran plates and park parking
Has to be applied for onceMassachusetts issues disabled veteran plates to a veteran who qualifies for permanent disabled parking privileges and holds a service connected disability rating of at least 60 percent where the qualifying conditions affect ambulation, and waives daily parking fees at state conservation and recreation facilities for vehicles displaying them.
- The published threshold is 60 percent, which the 70 to 90 band reaches. A veteran rated exactly 60 percent also meets it, provided the qualifying conditions affect ambulation.
- Conditions that do not affect ambulation are not counted toward the 60 percent.
- The sales tax exemption on a vehicle is conditioned on obtaining these plates for it, so the ambulation test carries across to that benefit.
- Designated veterans only parking spaces are separately available to any holder of a registry issued veteran plate, including out of state ones.
- What it is worth
- $60 a year on parking alone Massachusetts state parks are free to enter and charge for parking, at $5 to $15 a day depending on the park, with an annual parking pass published at $60. The plate waives the daily fee at all such facilities.
- Administered by
- The Registry of Motor Vehicles for the plate, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation for the parking
- How it is claimed
- Through the Registry of Motor Vehicles with the VA disability breakdown letter.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 90 section 2
Parking at Massachusetts state parks (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation). Checked 2026-08-21.
State income tax
Military pension exclusion
Applies without a filingMassachusetts excludes United States military pensions, which are included in federal gross income, from Massachusetts gross income for both residents and non-residents, and excludes compensation received for active service in a combat zone.
- The exclusion covers army, navy, marine corps, air force and coast guard non-contributory pensions and survivorship benefits.
- A 1992 revenue ruling stating that military retirement benefits remain subject to income tax is still hosted in the department's archive and has been superseded by its current pages.
- Massachusetts treatment of VA disability compensation was not confirmed in terms on any state page in this check and nothing is stated about it here.
- Administered by
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
- How it is claimed
- Applied on the Massachusetts return.
Tax information for military personnel and their spouses (Massachusetts Department of Revenue). Checked 2026-08-21.
Other
State annuity
Has to be applied for onceMassachusetts pays an annuity of $2,500 a year in one payment on August 1 to certain disabled veterans, to parents of deceased veterans, and to unmarried spouses of deceased veterans living in the state.
- The statutory eligibility list is specific rather than percentage based: central visual acuity of 5/200 or less with correcting glasses, paraplegia from traumatic spinal cord or brain injury in service, permanent service connected paralysis, loss of both legs, or a VA determination of 100 percent disability.
- It was raised from $2,000 to $2,500 by the 2024 act.
- It is a cash payment rather than a tax reduction, so it appears on no bill and is the item most often missed entirely.
- What it is worth
- $2,500 a year Paid as a single annual payment on August 1 rather than monthly, so it is a fixed annual figure and not a rate.
- Administered by
- Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services
- How it is claimed
- Through the state veterans services office, usually with the municipal veterans service officer.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 115 section 6B
General Laws chapter 115 section 6B, annuities (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Chapter 115 veterans benefits
Has to be applied for onceMassachusetts pays a means tested benefit for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and medical care to eligible veterans and their families, paid by the city or town where the veteran resides through a municipal veterans service officer, with the Commonwealth reimbursing the municipality.
- The test is need rather than rating. The statute provides that only such amount shall be paid as may be necessary to afford sufficient relief or support, and that benefits shall not be paid to any person who is able to support themselves or who is in receipt of income from any source sufficient for their support.
- The Commonwealth reimburses 75 percent of what a municipality pays, and 100 percent for recipients in permanent federal or transitional housing for up to 48 months.
- The 2024 act added outpatient behavioral health services, including outpatient psychiatric and substance use disorder care and prescriptions. Inpatient hospital stays are not covered.
- A cost of living increase in a federal or state benefit that pushes a recipient over the income threshold does not cost them access for that year.
- Administered by
- The municipal veterans service officer, reimbursed by the Commonwealth
- How it is claimed
- Through the veterans service officer in the veteran's own town or city, who is the route in rather than the state.
- Rule
- General Laws chapter 115 sections 5 and 6
Chapter 115 benefits, safety net program (Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services). Checked 2026-08-21.
Filter this by rating band
The finder takes a rating band and lists only the Massachusetts entitlements whose published threshold that band reaches, with a version laid out for printing and carrying to a county office.
Questions
How much is the Massachusetts veteran property tax exemption?
It depends on the clause, not on the rating alone: $400 at 10 percent or a Purple Heart, $750 for certain decorations or the loss of one foot, hand or eye, $1,000 at 100 percent, $1,250 for the loss of both, $1,500 with specially adapted housing, and a full exemption for paraplegia or 100 percent for service connected blindness. A municipality may vote to double any of them.
Does the Massachusetts exemption have to be refiled?
Yes, for each fiscal year, with the local board of assessors, due April 1 or three months after the actual tax bills are mailed, whichever is later. A clause 22E filer must also submit a current VA certification with each year's application.
How long must a veteran have lived in Massachusetts?
Two Massachusetts sources disagree. The statute says six months of domicile before entering service, or two consecutive years of residence before filing. The state veterans services page says five consecutive years. A city or town may also accept a one year variant. The board of assessors applies the statute.
Do disabled veterans get free hunting and fishing licenses in Massachusetts?
There is no veteran category and no rating category on the state fee schedule. Free licenses go to residents aged 70 or over for fishing, and to paraplegic, blind or intellectually disabled residents. A paraplegic veteran qualifies as a paraplegic rather than as a veteran.
Is the Massachusetts vehicle excise exemption the same test as the property exemption?
No, and the Division of Local Services says so directly: the vehicle standards are narrower, and qualifying for a property tax exemption does not necessarily mean qualifying for the excise exemption. The excise test is a VA determination of 100 percent or unemployability; the disabled veteran plate is a separate 60 percent ambulation test.
Sources
- General Laws chapter 59 section 5, property exempt from taxation, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- General Laws chapter 59 section 59, abatement applications, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- General Laws chapter 60A section 1, motor vehicle excise, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- General Laws chapter 90 section 2, registration and disabled veteran plates, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- General Laws chapter 115 section 5, payment of veterans benefits, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- General Laws chapter 115 section 6, state reimbursement, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- General Laws chapter 115 section 6B, annuities, retrieved 2026-08-21 (General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
- Local property tax exemptions for veterans, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services)
- Ask DLS, the HERO Act, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Division of Local Services)
- Ask DLS, motor vehicle excise exemptions for veterans and military personnel, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Division of Local Services)
- Reviewing changes in Massachusetts veteran property tax exemptions, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Division of Local Services)
- Disabled veteran fee and tax exemptions, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles)
- License types and fees, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife)
- Parking at Massachusetts state parks, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation)
- MASSVETS veteran financial benefits, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services)
- Chapter 115 benefits, safety net program, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services)
- Tax information for military personnel and their spouses, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Department of Revenue)
- Property tax forms and guides, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Massachusetts Department of Revenue)
Accuracy owner Brayden Marley. State entitlement thresholds move on state fiscal calendars, so this page is re-read against its sources every quarter and the date beside each line is the date that line was last read.