What Taxpayers Need To Know About NJ 2017 Veteran Exemption

With the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Creation Act dominating the news you may have missed some of the changes for New Jersey State tax in 2017. One significant item is the Veteran’s Exemption.

New Jersey is allowing a generous exemption to veterans in 2017. Veterans, honorably discharged from military service will be allowed a $3,000 exemption against income on their 2017 tax return. To take the exemption a taxpayer will be required to become “qualified”.

How To Qualify

To qualify to the veteran exemption the taxpayer must submit proof of an honorable discharge. The state is accepting any of the following; Form DD-214, Form-DD-256, driver license with veteran status or any documentation showing character of service, i.e. general discharge under honorable circumstances. The State is being very flexible with accepting different forms of documentation as proof.

Qualifying taxpayers can get prequalified by the state prior to preparing and remitting their tax returns. This can be done by electronically submitting the proof of honorable discharge at the states web-site set-up for this purpose.

Waiting until a tax return is filed could result in a notice to the taxpayer requesting supporting documentation. The web-site document upload feature can be used to submit the required documentation after a notice is received. However, it may delay any refunds by up to 45 days.

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