This year, RSA 72:28-c allows municipalities to adopt an Optional Tax Credit for Combat Service for qualifying residents that are members of the New Hampshire National Guard or a reserve component of the United States armed forces, called to active duty, to receive a tax credit “in lieu of, and not in addition to, the optional veteran’s tax credit under RSA 72:28 or the all veterans’ tax credit under RSA 72:28-b.”.  As some of your communities may have recently adopted the Combat Service Tax Credit, we want to recommend a method by which you can add the new credit within Avitar Assessing in a manner (similar to the All Veterans’ Tax Credit from a few years ago) in which we’ll be able to properly report the new credits on the 2019 MS-1 Report.

We presume that the DRA will want you to separately report the number and value of the Combat Service Tax Credits on the MS-1 Report, which won’t be revised/released until June/July.  In order to do so, you’ll want to add the new Combat Service Tax Credit with a consistent and standardized code. We suggest that you do the following:

• Select the Utilities | System Options… menu item and click on the Exemption Parameters tab.
• Press Add to add a new credit type.
• In the Code text box enter “VET91“.  (This is the important part — use VET91 so we’ll be able to identify/list them separately on the MS-1.)
• In the Description text box enter a useful description (e.g. “VET – COMBAT SERVICE” or something consistent with your other veteran credit descriptions).
• In the Amount text box enter the appropriate dollar amount.
• Use the new VET91 code on parcels to classify any tax credits granted under the new Combat Service Tax Credit.

A couple of other important items worth noting:

• If you have already begun adding Combat Service Tax Credits using a new or previously existing war service tax credit, you should probably circle back and create the new Combat Service Tax Credit code/description and assign it to the appropriate parcels.
• While unlikely, it’s conceivable that the code VET91 was already added and assigned to parcels in your system to indicate some other type of credit. If so, contact us and we can evaluate trying to script a solution.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.