Many Verona residents have served in the U.S. armed forces over the years, and one of them is raising awareness of a new New Jersey tax benefit for veterans.
Master Sergeant Sidney Lichter, U.S. Air Force, retired, has let us know about New Jersey’s Income Tax Exemption for Veterans, which is new for 2017. It is open to veterans who received an honorable discharge or who were released under honorable conditions, as well as their veteran spouses or civil union partners who were similarly discharged if they are filing a joint return. The exemption, which is $3,000, is in addition to any other exemptions that a veteran might be entitled to, the state says.
An exemption is not a tax credit, which is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in a tax obligation. Rather it is a deduction from your taxable income, just like the personal exemption you get for dependents on your federal tax return.
The New Jersey State Department of the Treasury lays out the steps to claiming the exemption on its website. Veterans will need their DD Form 214, the certificate of release or discharge from active duty that is issued to veterans by the U.S. Department of Defense. You can upload the documentation needed to support the exemption directly to the state website, or mail or fax it in, according to the instructions on the site.
And if you are a veteran who owns property in Verona, you might want to know that Verona’s municipal government has just decided to allow property owners here to prepay their 2018 property taxes. That could be important for taxpayers because, last week, Congress approved changes to federal taxes that cap the state and local tax deduction at $10,000, which is well below what has been taken in Verona. In 2015, Verona residents took an average SALT deduction of $24,480. But hurry: Your payment has to be in to Town Hall by this Friday.
