Received P&T Unemployability. Should I appeal 70% Rating?

[aggravating_coyote]

Hi,

Last week, I was awarded P&T TDIU for a claim that was previously awarded 70% mental health disability rating.  Should I now appeal the 70% mental health rating?  The word "total" is difference between a 70% and 100% mental health rating, as I read the information. Is P&T unemployable possibly considered as a 100% disability rating?

Thanks

[MKAH]

On 6/3/2021 at 10:48 AM, aggravating_coyote said:

My concerns relate to benefits, such as SSDI, county property taxes and disabled veteran license plate.  The applications state that the veteran must be 100% permanently and totally disabled.  I'm worried that even though my TDIU is P&T, and I am paid at the 100% level, my actual service-connected rating is not 100%.

I'm worried that the agencies will not see me as 100% rated...

This is what the property tax exemption rules are for the county I live in.  Shasta county, California.

....The property must be the veterans’ principal place of residence.
and
The veteran, veteran’s spouse, or both the veteran and veteran’s spouse must be on title 
to the property (including ownership in a corporation). 
and
The veteran, due to a service connected condition, is rated by the Veterans 
Administration as 100% disabled, is compensated as 100% disabled, is blind in both 
eyes, or has lost the use of two or more limbs....

I hope this helps..

 

 

[asdf]

Colorado specifically states you cannot be TDIU for property tax exemption.

[pwrslm]

36 minutes ago, asdf said:

Colorado specifically states you cannot be TDIU for property tax exemption.

That stinks. I would look long and hard to see the exact code this is spelled out in. Many times County Clerks get uppity and want to be the power player, in error...

Read this. Colorado actually uses the VA's determination, and not the TDIU designation, for this purpose. This passed into law in 2016 so I suspect you would not have any trouble.

Move to Florida. 100% P&T are given a 100% exemption from property taxes.

Edited January 13, 2022 by pwrslm

[john999]

I live in Florida.  When I got TDIU P&T I went to the property office and I got the 100% exemption.  It was good 20 years ago, but today it is great since property values have increased 300% since then.  Property values have just gone insane in my part of Tampa, Florida.  Florida has a few things going for it and that is warm winters and provisions for retirees.  The state depends on retired people moving to Florida and tourism.  We have massive retirement housing tracts and they are catered too in this state.

[pacmanx1]

Each state is different but if the OP (ORIGINAL POSTER) wants the property tax exemption, he would have to be rated 100% scheduler and not TDIU. It is a state thing and unfortunately, it is up to the state and not the VA. 

Colorado Veteran Financial Benefits

Property Tax Exemption

There is a Property Tax Exemption for 50% of the first $200,000 of a home's value for 100% permanently and totally disabled service-connected veterans. If you are receiving 100% disability solely as a result of an individual unemployability rating you do not qualify.

Colorado State Veteran Benefits | Military.com

 

[pwrslm]

4 hours ago, pacmanx1 said:

Each state is different but if the OP (ORIGINAL POSTER) wants the property tax exemption, he would have to be rated 100% scheduler and not TDIU. It is a state thing and unfortunately, it is up to the state and not the VA. 

Colorado Statute 39-3-202 reads:
 

"(3.5) “Qualifying disabled veteran” means an individual who has served on active duty in the United States armed forces, including a member of the Colorado National Guard who has been ordered into the active military service of the United States, has been separated therefrom under honorable conditions, and has established a service-connected disability that has been rated by the federal department of veterans affairs as a one hundred percent permanent disability through disability retirement benefits pursuant to a law or regulation administered by the department, the United States department of homeland security, or the department of the Army, Navy, or Air Force."

Colorado Statute 39-3-203 reads:

"(1.5)(a) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2007, fifty percent of the first two hundred thousand dollars of actual value of residential real property that as of the assessment date is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of an owner-occupier who is a qualifying disabled veteran shall be exempt from taxation if:

(I) The owner-occupier has completed and filed an exemption application in the manner required by section 39-3-205 ;  and

(II) The circumstances that qualify the property for the exemption have not changed since the filing of the application.

(a.5) For property tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2015, fifty percent of the first two hundred thousand dollars of actual value of residential real property that as of the assessment date is owner-occupied and is used as the primary residence of an owner-occupier who is the surviving spouse of a qualifying disabled veteran who previously received an exemption under paragraph (a) of this subsection (1.5) is exempt from taxation."

 

 

The VA rating that provided TDIU pursuant to USC/CFR is 100%. The VA is the only authority according to Colorado Statutes to determine this issue, and if it is attached to the P&T designation, it will be noted as such in the letter of veterans benefits that the veteran can provide to the Tax Authority.

An exclusion for TDIU is not made in the states statutes. Where is it? The VA is the only authority cited in the statutes, and is exclusive in this statute. For an exclusion to this rule, it would need to be written somewhere.  I would demand the local clerk produce this info because only the VA can designate the 100% P&T for eligibility under the statute (Definitions).

Edited January 15, 2022 by pwrslm