---
title: O.C.G.A. § 48-5-478. Constitutional exemption from ad valorem taxation for disabled veterans.
collection: code
id: 48-5-478
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 48-5-478 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-478
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-478.md
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source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t48-ch1-6-(v36)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=2edc88a7_0#page=843
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
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publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: REVENUE AND TAXATION / AD VALOREM TAXATION OF PROPERTY / AD VALOREM TAXATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES, MOBILE HOMES, CERTAIN EQUIPMENT, AND CERTAIN INVENTORY / MOTOR VEHICLES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 48-5-478. Constitutional exemption from ad valorem taxation for disabled veterans.

(a) A motor vehicle owned by or leased to a disabled veteran who is a citizen and resident of this state is hereby exempted from all ad valorem taxes for state, county, municipal, and school purposes, including any alternative title ad valorem tax assessed pursuant to Code Section 48-5C-1. Such exemption shall be applicable to a single motor vehicle owned by or leased to a disabled veteran. As used in this Code section, the term “disabled veteran” shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code Section 48-5-48. The department may issue such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement this subsection.

(b) Once a disabled veteran has established his or her eligibility for such ad valorem tax exemption by being 100 percent totally disabled, he or she shall be entitled to receive such ad valorem tax exemption in succeeding years thereafter. A disabled veteran who claims 100 percent total disability shall furnish proof of such disability through a letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

(c) Once a disabled veteran has established his or her eligibility for such ad valorem tax exemption but his or her disability has not been adjudicated a 100 percent total disability, he or she shall be entitled to such ad valorem tax exemption in succeeding years upon furnishing, on an annual basis, proof of his or her status as a disabled veteran through a letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

(d) In the event of the death of the disabled veteran who received such ad valorem tax exemption pursuant to this Code section, upon complying with the motor vehicle laws relating to registration and licensing of motor vehicles, his or her unmarried surviving spouse or minor child may continue to receive the exemption.

## History

Code 1981, § 48-5-478, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1058, § 8; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 48; Ga. L. 1990, p. 45, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 259, § 2; Ga. L. 1999, p. 81, § 48; Ga. L. 2015, p. 816, § 7/HB 48; Ga. L. 2016, p. 166, § 6/SB 258; Ga. L. 2016, p. 770, § 3/HB 862; Ga. L. 2023, p. 61, § 5/HB 175, effective January 1, 2024.

## Code Commission Notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1990, “United States Department of Veterans Affairs” was substituted for “Veterans Administration” in the second sentence (now the second sentence of subsection (b)).

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 1984, p. 1058, § 9, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “In the event of any conflict between this act and any other Act of the 1984 General Assembly the provisions of such other Act shall control over the provisions of this Act.”

The state-wide referendum proposed by Ga. L. 1998, p. 259, which broadened the ad valorem tax exemption for motor vehicles owned by disabled veterans to include motor vehicles leased to disabled veterans, was approved by a majority of the voters voting at the general election held in November 1998.

## Amendments

The 2023 amendment, effective January 1, 2024, in subsection (a), rewrote the first sentence of subsection (a), which read: “A motor vehicle owned by or leased to a disabled veteran who is a citizen and resident of this state and on which such disabled veteran actually places the free disabled veteran motor vehicle license plate he or she receives pursuant to Code Section 40-2-69 is hereby exempted from all ad valorem taxes for state, county, municipal, and school purposes.”, and added the second and last sentences.