Commissioner of Revenue
Tax Relief for
the Elderly & Disabled
Pittsylvania County offers tax relief to homeowners who qualify and file an annual application with the Commissioner of the Revenue. The tax relief reduces the "real estate tax" on a home plus up to one acre of land. Any land, which the homeowner owns, that exceeds one acre is not subject to relief. If a taxpayer owns more than one home, the relief will be applied to the primary residence only. Pittsylvania County's tax relief program does not include a reduction in "personal property" tax. It only pertains to real estate tax. The applicant and/or the applicant's spouse must be the homeowner. The homeowner must have owned the house as of January 1 of the tax relief year. The amount of tax relief to which you may be eligible will be dependent upon your income for the past tax year. The maximum amount of the tax relief currently allowed by the Pittsylvania County ordinance is $300. The application deadline is February 15th of each year.
How to Qualify
In general, a homeowner must meet an age qualification, an income test, and a net worth test. In order to qualify, a homeowner must:
be at least 65 years old by January 1st of the tax relief year, and
have an annual "household" income of $18,000 or less, and
have a net worth that does not exceed $60,000 (home excluded)
The income test includes "all income" from all people who live in the home. The applicant may exclude the first $4,000 of income of each relative other than your spouse who also lives in the home. When considering the income test, you should include earned wages, pension payments, social security, interest, dividends, etc.
The net worth test includes the value of your assets such as stocks, bonds, savings & checking accounts, rental properties, land value in excess of one acre, vehicles, farm equipment, etc. It does not include the value of your home and up to one acre of land that it sits on.
In order to qualify you must meet each of these three test described above. One exception is that if you are not 65 years old, but you are permanently or totally disabled, you may still qualify as long as you can provide our office with a letter from the Social Security Office, other government office, or two doctors, indicating that you are permanently and totally disabled and unable to engage in any substantial gainful employment because of your disability. You must still meet the income and net worth tests.
To request an application contact Terri Calloway at
(434) 432-7946 or terri.calloway@pittgov.org, or Latausha Fitzgerald at (434) 432-7946 or latausha.fitzgerald@pittgov.org.Or to view and print the Application form click here.
You will need Acrobat Reader to view and print the application.
