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A4172
ASSEMBLY, No. 4172
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman� CAROL A. MURPHY
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
���� Provides gross income tax credit to certain totally
and permanently disabled veterans for rent constituting property taxes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
providing a gross income tax credit to certain totally
and permanently disabled veterans for rent constituting property taxes,
supplementing Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� a.�� A disabled veteran
shall be allowed a credit against the tax otherwise due under the �New Jersey
Gross Income Tax Act,� N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq., in an amount equal to rent
constituting property taxes, as defined in section 2 of P.L.1996, c.60
(C.54A:3A-16), paid by the disabled veteran for occupancy during the taxable
year of a unit of residential rental property, as defined in section 2 of
P.L.1996, c.60 (C.54A:3A-16), which the disabled veteran occupies as a
principal residence.
���� b.��� The amount of the credit
allowed pursuant to this section shall be applied against the tax otherwise due
under N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq., after all other credits and payments.� If the
credit exceeds the amount of tax otherwise due, that amount of excess shall be
an overpayment for the purposes of N.J.S.54A:9-7; provided however, that
subsection (f) of N.J.S.54A:9-7 shall not apply.�
���� c.���� The credit for a
disabled veteran under subsection a. of this section who, pursuant to
N.J.S.54A:2-4, is not subject to tax, shall be applied for annually on an
application as shall be made available by the director, to be filed with the
director on or before the date for filing annual gross income tax returns.� The
director shall determine the form and manner by which a qualified applicant
shall apply for a refund of an overpayment pursuant to this section, and the
time of the refund of the overpayment.
���� d.��� As used in this section,
�disabled veteran� means any resident of the State who has been honorably
discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any
branch of the Armed Forces of the United States and who has been or shall be
declared by the United States Veterans Administration, or its successor, to
have a service-connected disability from paraplegia, sarcoidosis,
osteochondritis resulting in permanent loss of the use of both legs, or
permanent paralysis of both legs and lower parts of the body, or from
hemiplegia and has permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm or either side of
the body, resulting from injury to the spinal cord, skeletal structure, or
brain or from disease of the spinal cord not resulting from any form of
syphilis; or from total blindness; or from amputation of both arms or both
legs, or both hands or both feet, or the combination of a hand and a foot; or
from other service-connected disability declared by the United States Veterans
Administration or its successor to be a total or 100% permanent disability, and
not so evaluated solely because of hospitalization or surgery and recuperation,
sustained through enemy action, or accident, or resulting from disease
contracted while in such active service.
���� e.���� Nothing in subsection
d. of this section shall be intended to include paraplegia or hemiplegia
resulting from locomotor ataxia or other forms of syphilis of the central
nervous system, or from chronic alcoholism, or to include other forms of
disease resulting from the veteran's own misconduct which may produce signs and
symptoms similar to those resulting from paraplegia, osteochondritis, or
hemiplegia.
���� 2.��� a.�� (1)���� The
surviving spouse of any resident of this State, who at the time of death was
entitled to the credit provided pursuant to this act, shall be entitled, on
proper claim made therefor, to the same credit as the deceased had, during the
surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a
resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the tenant or
lessee thereof and actually occupies the unit of residential rental property or
any other unit of residential rental property thereafter rented or leased.
���� (2)�� The surviving spouse of
any resident of this State who was honorably discharged and, after the citizen
and resident's death, is declared to have suffered a service-connected
disability as provided in section 1 of this act, shall be entitled, on proper
claim made therefor, to the same credit the deceased would have become eligible
for.� The surviving spouse shall be permitted to claim the credit during the
surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a
resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the tenant or
lessee thereof and actually occupies the unit of residential rental property or
any other unit of residential rental property thereafter rented or leased.
���� b.��� The surviving spouse of
any resident of this State, who died in active service in time of war in any
branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, shall be entitled, on proper
claim made therefor, to the credit provided pursuant to this act, during the
surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a
resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the tenant or
lessee thereof and actually occupies the unit of residential rental property or
any other unit of residential rental property thereafter rented or leased.
���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately and apply to taxable years beginning on or after the January
1 next following enactment.
STATEMENT
���� This bill provides a gross
income tax credit to certain totally and permanently disabled veterans for rent
constituting property taxes.
���� Pursuant to N.J.S.A.54:4-3.30,
a citizen and resident, as well as a surviving spouse in certain circumstances,
of this State who has been honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances, from active service, in any branch of the Armed Forces of the
United States, who has been declared by the United States Veterans
Administration to have certain service-connected disabilities is eligible for a
property tax exemption on the person�s principal residence and the lot on which
that residence is situated.� However, a similar exemption does not exist for
persons who occupy a unit of a residential rental property and pay rent.
���� In order to create parity
between disabled veterans who own their principal residence and those disabled
veterans who occupy a unit of a residential rental property, the bill provides
a refundable gross income tax credit in an amount equal to rent constituting
property taxes, as defined in section 2 of P.L.1996, c.60 (C.54A:3A-16), for
those disabled veterans, or their spouses in certain circumstances, who rent or
lease a unit of a residential property, as also defined in section 2 of
P.L.1996, c.60 (C.54A:3A-16).� For the purposes of this bill, rent constituting
property taxes is considered to be 18 percent of the rent paid by the taxpayer
for occupancy during the taxable year of a unit of residential rental property
which the taxpayer occupies as a principal residence.
���� Lastly, the bill requires the
Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury to make
a separate application available for those disabled veterans who, pursuant to
N.J.S.A.54A:2-4, are not subject to the gross income tax.