Tax Reduction programs

All Honorably Discharged Veterans or Surviving Spouses

$250 may be deducted each year from taxes due on the real or personal property of veterans or their unmarried surviving spouses. In 1999, a constitutional amendment increased the deduction from $50 to $100 for 2000; it increased to $150 in 2001, $200 in 2002, and $250 per year thereafter.

Qualifications
You must be an honorably discharged U.S. Armed Forces war veteran or the unmarried surviving spouse of a service person. You must be a property owner and a legal resident of New Jersey and, where applicable, prove that the deceased veteran or service person was a legal resident of New Jersey.

Claim form V.S.S. must be filed with your municipal tax assessor or collector.

Disabled Veterans or Surviving Spouses 
100% permanently and totally disabled war veterans or the unmarried surviving spouses of such disabled war veterans and service persons are granted a full property tax exemption on the dwelling house and the lot on which it is situated.

Qualifications
You must be an honorably discharged disabled veteran who had active service in a time of war in the U.S. Armed Forces, or the unmarried surviving spouse of such a disabled veteran. Wartime service-connected disability must be certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Unmarried surviving spouses of service persons who died in active service in time of war also qualify.

You must be the owner and a permanent resident in the dwelling and a legal resident of New Jersey. In the case of surviving spouses, the deceased spouse must also have been a legal resident of New Jersey.

Claim Form D.V.S.S.E. must be filed with your municipal tax assessor.

Senior Citizen, Disabled Persons or Surviving Spouses
An annual $250 deduction from real property taxes is provided for the dwelling of a qualified senior citizen, disabled person or their surviving spouse.

Qualifications
You must be 65 years or older, or a permanently and totally disabled individual or the unmarried surviving spouse of such person.

You must be a legal resident of New Jersey for one year immediately prior to October 1 of the year before the year for which the deduction is requested.

You must be an owner of and a permanent resident in the dwelling on October 1 of the year before the year for which the deduction is requested.

Income may be no more than $10,000 during the year for which the deduction is claimed, excluding restrictions, monies received from social security, Federal and State pension, disability, and retirement programs.

Claim Form PTD must be filed with your municipal tax assessor or collector. Additionally, Form PD5, Annual Post-Tax Year Income Statement, must be filed with your tax collector each year after the initial qualification.

Reduced Assessment for Farmland

Land devoted to agricultural or horticultural use may be assessed for property tax purposes or its value. It can also be assessed for its productivity rather than on the market value of the land for any other use.

Qualifications
The land must be a minimum of five acres devoted to agriculture or horticulture for at least two consecutive years prior to the tax year and must continue so until the end of the tax year from which the claim is made.

The land usage must result in product sales or anticipated sales totaling at is $1,000 for the first 5 acres. It is $500 for the first 5 acres of properties under a Woodland Management Plan. 

Deadline
The reduced assessment must be applied for on Form FA-1 annually on or before August 1 of the year prior to the tax year. Applications are available at your local tax assessor's office.

For questions on the Homestead Rebate call 888-238-1233.
Also, if you have questions on the Property Tax Reimbursement Program, call 877-223-1312.