Arizona Property Tax Exemption Form: Limits, Filing, and Deadline

An Arizona property tax exemption lowers the taxable assessed value of your primary residence, and in one case removes it from the tax rolls entirely. Three groups of Arizona residents qualify under A.R.S. § 42-11111: widows and widowers, people with a total and permanent disability, and veterans with a VA disability rating.¹ For the 2026 tax year, the standard exemption is $4,873, and veterans rated 100% service-connected receive a full exemption on their primary residence.² To claim it, file an affidavit and supporting documents with your County Assessor between the first Monday in January and March 1.

Who Qualifies

You must be a legal Arizona resident, and the exemption applies only to your primary residence. You can have just one primary residence regardless of how many properties you own in or outside the state, and if you’ve claimed a homestead exemption or similar property tax benefit in another state for the same year, you’re disqualified here.³

Within those baseline rules, the three qualifying categories are:

Widows and widowers whose spouse has died and who have not remarried. A death certificate is required at first application.
Persons with a total and permanent disability, where a licensed medical authority certifies that a physical or mental impairment prevents any substantial gainful activity and is expected to last at least twelve continuous months or result in death within twelve months.¹
Honorably discharged veterans with a VA disability rating. The exemption amount is the maximum exemption multiplied by the disability percentage, so a veteran rated at 50% receives roughly half the full amount.

Income and Assessed Value Limits

Qualifying under a category isn’t enough on its own. Your household income from the prior year and, in some cases, your property’s assessed value must fall under annually adjusted caps.

Household Income

For 2026, total household income cannot exceed:

$39,865 with no children under 18 in the home
$47,826 with one or more children under 18 or a child with a total and permanent disability in the home²

Household income combines what you, your spouse, and any children living with you bring in, but the statute excludes several common sources from the calculation:¹

Social Security payments
Railroad retirement benefits
Veterans pensions
Workers’ compensation payments
Unemployment insurance payments
Cash public assistance and relief

Those exclusions change the picture for many applicants. Do the math with Social Security and VA pension payments stripped out before assuming your income is too high.

Assessed Value

For widows, widowers, and persons with a total and permanent disability, the property’s total assessed value must fall under an annually adjusted cap. Exceeding it disqualifies you entirely. The base statutory cap is $28,459, and the Arizona Department of Revenue raises the figure each December, so confirm the current number with your County Assessor.¹

Starting with the 2026 tax year, the assessed value cap no longer applies to veterans in any disability category. Veterans previously disqualified because their property’s assessed value was too high should reapply.⁴

The Full Exemption for 100% Service-Connected Veterans

Veterans with a 100% service-connected disability rating receive a full exemption, meaning the primary residence is removed from the property tax rolls rather than reduced by $4,873.¹ The income limit still applies.⁴ If the veteran dies, the surviving spouse can continue claiming the full exemption as long as the spouse does not remarry and keeps the property as a primary residence.²

What to File and Where

Start with the correct affidavit from your County Assessor. The Arizona Department of Revenue prescribes two:

ADOR Form 82514, the standard Affidavit of Individual Tax Exemption, used by widows, widowers, and disabled applicants.
ADOR Form 82514V, the Affidavit of Veterans’ Individual Tax Exemption, used by disabled veterans.⁵

The exact supporting document list varies slightly by county, but plan on gathering:⁶

A valid Arizona driver’s license or state ID as proof of residency.
Your Arizona income tax return (Form 140) for the prior year, for income verification.
A prior year’s tax bill or Notice of Valuation card showing the assessed value of all Arizona property you own, plus license plate numbers for any motor vehicles.
A certified or original death certificate, for widows and widowers applying for the first time.
ADOR Form 82514B, the Certification of Disability, completed, signed, and stamped by a licensed medical authority, for disabled applicants.⁷
A VA Benefit Summary Letter verifying the disability rating, for veterans.⁵

Submit everything to the County Assessor in the county where the property sits. First-time applicants should expect to file in person so the assessor can verify identity and review original documents. The affidavit is signed under penalty of perjury.

The filing window opens on the first Monday in January and closes March 1. Missing that date waives the exemption for the tax year.⁸

If You Miss the March 1 Deadline

Widows, widowers, and persons with a disability can petition the county Board of Supervisors to redeem the waiver at any regular board meeting. One catch: property taxes already due and payable before you submit the petition cannot be refunded or reduced.⁸ Some counties require a separate Redemption Waiver form alongside the application and supporting documents.⁹ Contact your County Assessor early; the sooner you petition, the more of the current tax year you may be able to recover.

After Your Exemption Is Approved

Arizona law does not require you to re-file the affidavit every year after your initial approval.¹⁰ Individual counties can set their own renewal practices, though. Pinal County, for example, requires widows and widowers to reapply every three years and disabled persons to reapply annually.⁶ Confirm the cycle your county uses.

You must also notify the County Assessor in writing if any of the following changes:¹⁰

You remarry (widows and widowers).
Your household income exceeds the annual limit.
You sell or transfer the property.
The property is no longer your primary residence.

Concealing a disqualifying change carries risk beyond having to repay the tax savings, because the affidavit is a sworn statement.

Tell Your Mortgage Servicer

If your property taxes are paid through a mortgage escrow account, exemption approval doesn’t automatically lower your monthly payment. The servicer bases escrow deposits on the tax figure they have on file. Once you receive confirmation of approval, contact your mortgage servicer and request an escrow reanalysis, sending a copy of the updated tax bill or the assessor’s notice showing the reduced assessed value. Without that step, you’ll keep overpaying into escrow until the next scheduled annual analysis, and the surplus comes back as a check or future credit rather than an immediate payment adjustment.

If You Fit More Than One Category

You can only claim one exemption even if you qualify under more than one category. Arizona law caps the total benefit at the maximum for a single category.⁵ Pick the one with the largest benefit. A veteran with a 100% service-connected disability rating should always claim the veteran exemption, since it removes the primary residence from the tax rolls entirely rather than just applying the $4,873 reduction.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 42-11111 – Exemption for Property; Widows and Widowers; Persons With a Total and Permanent Disability; Veterans With a Disability
2
Maricopa County Assessor’s Office. Personal Exemptions
3
Arizona Department of Revenue. Determination of Primary Residence Interim Guidelines
4
Arizona Department of Revenue. Property Tax FAQs
5
Arizona Department of Revenue. Arizona Property Tax Exemptions
6
Pinal County, AZ. Exemptions
7
Arizona Department of Revenue. Certification of Disability for Property Tax Exemption
8
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 42-11153 – Deadline for Filing Affidavit
9
Pima County Assessor. Valuation Relief
10
Arizona Department of Revenue. Arizona Property Tax Exemptions