Subject: Alert: Homestead Exemption of 100 Percent Disabled Veterans
Importance: High
Alert to Appraisal Districts andCountyTaxAssessors
Total Exemption of Homesteads of 100 Percent Disabled Veterans
House Bill 3613, which contains a provision requiring an exemption of the total appraised value of homesteads ofTexasveterans receiving 100 percent disability compensation from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, is now state law. This new exemption is effective for the 2009 tax year, and you should ensure that it is reflected on the 2009 appraisal roll. Eligible veterans with mortgages may need your immediate confirmation that their homesteads are totally exempt so they can notify their mortgage companies and reduce their escrow payments. Appraisal districts should already have a record of the disability rating of each veteran who owns a homestead if they qualify for the partial exemption allowed by law. Attached please find a temporary model form for use in 2009 for the disabled veteran's homestead exemption. This form is located on our web site at http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxforms/vetexempt.pdf.
The total homestead exemption for 100 percent disabled veterans is codified as the new Property Tax Code Section 11.131. House Bill 3613 also includes provisions that conform the Tax Code bracket points for the disabled veterans' partial exemption to the bracket points in the Texas Constitution and prohibit consideration of highest and best use in appraising homesteads. Please call (800) 252-9121 if you have questions about any of these new provisions.
These decisions have made a big impact on how VA disability claims are handled, giving veterans more chances to get benefits and clearing up important issues.
Service Connection
Frost v. Shulkin (2017)
This case established that for secondary service connection claims, the primary service-connected disability does not need to be service-connected or diagnosed at the time the secondary condition is incurred 1. This allows veterans to potentially receive secondary service connection for conditions that developed before their primary condition was officially service-connected.
Saunders v. Wilkie (2018)
The Federal Circuit ruled that pain alone, without an accompanying diagnosed condition, can constitute a disability for VA compensation purposes if it results in functional impairment 1. This overturned previous precedent that required an underlying pathology for pain to be considered a disability.
Effective Dates
Martinez v. McDonough (2023)
This case dealt with the denial of an earlier effective date for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) 2. It addressed issues around the validity of appeal withdrawals and the consideration of cognitive impairment in such decisions.
I met with a VSO today at my VA Hospital who was very knowledgeable and very helpful. We decided I should submit a few new claims which we did. He told me that he didn't need copies of my military records that showed my sick call notations related to any of the claims. He said that the VA now has entire military medical record on file and would find the record(s) in their own file. It seemed odd to me as my service dates back to 1981 and spans 34 years through my retirement in 2015. It sure seemed to make more sense for me to give him copies of my military medical record pages that document the injuries as I'd already had them with me. He didn't want my copies. Anyone have any information on this. Much thanks in advance.
Caluza Triangle – Caluza vs Brown defined what is necessary for service connection. See COVA– CALUZA V. BROWN–TOTAL RECALL
This has to be MEDICALLY Documented in your records:
Current Diagnosis. (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.)
In-Service Event or Aggravation.
Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service”
VA has gotten away with (mis) interpreting their ambigious, , vague regulations, then enforcing them willy nilly never in Veterans favor.
They justify all this to congress by calling themselves a "pro claimant Veteran friendly organization" who grants the benefit of the doubt to Veterans.
This is not true,
Proof:
About 80-90 percent of Veterans are initially denied by VA, pushing us into a massive backlog of appeals, or worse, sending impoverished Veterans "to the homeless streets" because when they cant work, they can not keep their home. I was one of those Veterans who they denied for a bogus reason: "Its been too long since military service". This is bogus because its not one of the criteria for service connection, but simply made up by VA. And, I was a homeless Vet, albeit a short time, mostly due to the kindness of strangers and friends.
Hadit would not be necessary if, indeed, VA gave Veterans the benefit of the doubt, and processed our claims efficiently and paid us promptly. The VA is broken.
A huge percentage (nearly 100 percent) of Veterans who do get 100 percent, do so only after lengthy appeals. I have answered questions for thousands of Veterans, and can only name ONE person who got their benefits correct on the first Regional Office decision. All of the rest of us pretty much had lengthy frustrating appeals, mostly having to appeal multiple multiple times like I did.
I wish I know how VA gets away with lying to congress about how "VA is a claimant friendly system, where the Veteran is given the benefit of the doubt". Then how come so many Veterans are homeless, and how come 22 Veterans take their life each day? Va likes to blame the Veterans, not their system.
Question
Teac
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 11:50 AM
Cc:
Subject: Alert: Homestead Exemption of 100 Percent Disabled Veterans
Importance: High
Alert to Appraisal Districts and County Tax Assessors
Total Exemption of Homesteads of 100 Percent Disabled Veterans
House Bill 3613, which contains a provision requiring an exemption of the total appraised value of homesteads of Texas veterans receiving 100 percent disability compensation from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, is now state law. This new exemption is effective for the 2009 tax year, and you should ensure that it is reflected on the 2009 appraisal roll. Eligible veterans with mortgages may need your immediate confirmation that their homesteads are totally exempt so they can notify their mortgage companies and reduce their escrow payments. Appraisal districts should already have a record of the disability rating of each veteran who owns a homestead if they qualify for the partial exemption allowed by law. Attached please find a temporary model form for use in 2009 for the disabled veteran's homestead exemption. This form is located on our web site at http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxforms/vetexempt.pdf.
The total homestead exemption for 100 percent disabled veterans is codified as the new Property Tax Code Section 11.131. House Bill 3613 also includes provisions that conform the Tax Code bracket points for the disabled veterans' partial exemption to the bracket points in the Texas Constitution and prohibit consideration of highest and best use in appraising homesteads. Please call (800) 252-9121 if you have questions about any of these new provisions.
Property Tax Assistance Division
Attachment
Totally Disabled Veteran Homestead Property Tax Exemption
Originally filed as SB 469 (Sen. John Carona)/HB 742 (Rep. Kino Flores)
Passed as part of HB 3613
• This exemption applies to a veteran:
o with a service-connected disability,
o who receives compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs at the 100% level due
to either:
§ a 100% disability rating OR
§ individual unemployability.
• The TOTAL VALUE of an applicable disabled veteran's residence homestead (principal
residence) is EXEMPT from any calculation of property taxation.
o Regardless of the number of taxing units (school districts, utility districts, hospital districts) in
which a veteran's homestead may be, the property's value is virtually worth $0 for the
calculation of a property tax bill.
§ EXAMPLE: If a school district charges $1.00 per $100 of a home's value, your home
costs $100,000, AND you are a totally disabled veteran, then the appraisal district
reports your home's value as $0. One dollar and fifty cents times zero is zero. You
would owe $0 in property taxes to your school district, and this holds true for every other
taxing district your property is in.
• The effective tax year for this exemption is 2009.
o Despite the bill being originally filed with an effective tax year that was essentially 2010, the bill
was amended to apply this exemption to taxes calculated in "the tax year beginning on or after
January 1st, 2009."
o The effective tax year should not be confused with the effective date of the bill.
§ As amended into HB 3613, the language of SB 469 says that it takes effect either
September 1st or immediately if it gets 2/3 vote from both Houses.
• HB 3613 received more than the necessary amount of votes in the House and
Senate, so it takes effect immediately upon the Governor's signature.
• However, even if it had gone into effect on September 1st, the language still
specifies that it applies to the 2009 tax year.
• Applying for the totally disabled veteran property tax should be much easier with a new
certification letter created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in anticipation of this bill
passing the State Legislature.
o The new certification letter should now address
§ the specific percentage rating of a veteran's disability,
§ the veteran's individually unemployable status, and
§ whether the disability was service-connected.
o Veterans should contact their County Appraisal District to:
§ obtain an application for applying for a disabled veteran property tax exemption (also
available online through the Comptroller's website) AND
§ ensure that a copy of his new letter of certification from the VA was received with that
application.
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