54:4-8.12 Application for tax deduction.

3. No veteran's deduction from taxes assessed against real and personal property, as provided herein, shall be allowed except upon written application therefor, which application shall be on a form prescribed by the Director of the Division of Taxation, in the Department of the Treasury, and provided for the use of claimants hereunder by the governing body of the municipality constituting the taxing district in which such claim is to be filed and the application has been approved as provided in this act. An assessor shall not require the filing of an application for a veteran's deduction under this act of any person who has filed, or shall file, a claim for an exemption from taxation under chapter 184 of the laws of 1951, on or before December 31, 1963, but shall approve a veteran's deduction for such person, if it appears from such claim for exemption that such person meets all the other prerequisites required by law for the approval of a claim for a veteran's deduction. Each assessor may at any time inquire into the right of a claimant to the continuance of a veteran's deduction hereunder and for that purpose he may require the filing of a new application or the submission of such proof as he shall deem necessary to determine the right of the claimant to continuance of such deduction. No application for a veteran's deduction based upon service in the Armed Forces of the United States shall be allowed unless there is annexed thereto a copy, which may be photostatic, of claimant's certificate of honorable discharge or of his certificate of release under honorable circumstances from active service in a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States. In the case of an application by a surviving spouse said application shall not be allowed unless it clearly establishes that:

(a) Claimant's spouse died while on active duty in a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, having had active service in a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or in the case of a surviving spouse of a veteran, claimant shall establish that the veteran was honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, (b) claimant's spouse was a citizen and resident of this State at the time of death, (c) claimant was the spouse of the veteran at the time of the veteran's death, and (d) claimant is a resident of this State and has not remarried.

L.1963, c.171, s.3; amended 1985, c.515, s.8; 1995, c.259, s.1; 1997, c.30, s.1; 2019, c.413, s.5.