State by state
Which states give disabled veterans a property tax break?
Most do, and almost none of them do it the same way. Some remove the tax entirely at a qualifying rating. Some exempt a slice of value. One refunds tax instead of exempting it. One requires prisoner-of-war status on top of a disability rating.
I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996 and licensed in 14 states, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation. I built this page while writing VA loan pages for every state I lend in, because the published answers kept disagreeing with the states themselves.
Why a mortgage broker cares about your property tax
Because the payment a lender measures includes property taxes, and your debt ratio is calculated against that payment. Relief that cuts the tax cuts the payment being measured — so this is a qualifying question, not a tax tip. The catch is timing: relief you cannot document yet is a plan rather than a fact, and only facts go in a file. What a real pre-approval involves is the wider picture.
Why the guides you have already read disagree
This is the part worth knowing before you trust any table, including this one.
A great many published answers describe bills rather than laws. Tiered exemptions by disability rating get proposed in state legislatures over and over, and the summaries of those proposals read exactly like descriptions of benefits that already exist. Nothing marks them as unpassed once they are quoted second-hand.
Missouri is the clearest case. Several widely repeated sources describe a tiered Missouri exemption. The Missouri State Tax Commission requires an applicant to be both a former prisoner of war and one hundred percent disabled from military service. Both, not either. A veteran who budgets for the version they read about is qualifying on a payment that is too low.
What each state actually does
14 of 50 states answered so far. Every answer below rests on a named primary source — a statute, a bar opinion, a regulator publication or a statewide form. Where none exists, the row says so instead of guessing, and research on the remaining states is ongoing.
| State | Answer | What the authority actually says |
|---|---|---|
| Alabamalicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A resident who is permanently and totally disabled may claim a homestead exemption from the state portion of property tax through the county tax assessing official; beginning October 1, 2026, a veteran with a 100% permanent and total service-connected rating may obtain a tentative certificate before purchasing the home. |
| Alaskalicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A resident veteran with at least a 50% service-connected disability may exempt part of an owned and occupied primary residence; the veteran applies to the local municipal assessor by the deadline that municipality establishes. |
| Arkansaslicensed here | Exempts the tax entirely | An Arkansas resident veteran with a 100% total and permanent service-connected disability, or specified qualifying loss or blindness compensation, is exempt from property tax on the homestead and qualifying personal property; eligibility is established with the county collector using a VA letter that need not be resubmitted annually unless eligibility, ownership, use, or occupancy changes. |
| Californialicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A veteran rated 100% disabled from service-connected causes, or compensated at the 100% rate because of unemployability, may claim a principal-residence exemption through the county assessor; the initial full claim is due by the later of January 1 after eligibility or 90 days after the qualifying event, and the low-income level renews annually by February 15. |
| Georgialicensed here | Exempts part of the value | An honorably discharged Georgia veteran who is rated 100% totally disabled, compensated at the 100% rate for individual unemployability, or receives a qualifying statutory loss award may exempt part of an owned and occupied primary residence by applying through county tax officials. |
| Illinoislicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A veteran with at least a 30% service-connected disability may receive a tiered reduction on the primary residence, with the broadest relief beginning at 70%; the veteran or eligible surviving spouse files annually with the chief county assessment office. |
| Kansaslicensed here | Refund or credit, not an exemption | An honorably or generally discharged Kansas veteran with at least a 50% service-connected evaluation may claim the increase over base-year homestead tax, subject to full-year residency, ownership, occupancy, income, and base-year home-value limits, by filing Form K-40SVR with the Department of Revenue by April 15. |
| Louisianalicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A Louisiana veteran with a service-connected disability rating of at least 50% may receive tiered relief beyond the ordinary homestead exemption on an owned and occupied primary residence, with the remaining assessed value exempt at 100% unemployability or total disability; parish assessors administer the exemption. |
| Mainelicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A Maine resident veteran who served during a qualifying period and is at least 62 or receives total-disability compensation may exempt part of property in the municipality of residence, while a qualifying specially adapted housing grant supports a larger partial exemption; the veteran files proof with the municipal assessor before April 1. |
| Minnesotalicensed here | Exempts part of the value | An honorably discharged Minnesota veteran with at least a 70% service-connected disability may exclude part of an owned and occupied homestead's market value, with broader relief for a 100% permanent and total rating; applications go to the county assessor by December 31. |
| Missourilicensed here | Exists, but narrowly gated | A Missouri citizen who is both a former prisoner of war and totally disabled from military service may exempt an owned and occupied primary-residence homestead by providing proof of occupancy, total service-connected disability, and former-POW status to the assessor. |
| South Carolinalicensed here | Exempts the tax entirely | A veteran with a total and permanent service-connected disability may exempt an owned legal residence and its qualifying homesite after securing the county’s legal-residence classification and applying to the South Carolina Department of Revenue through MyDORWAY or Form PT-401I. |
| South Dakotalicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability, or a qualifying surviving spouse, may partially exempt an owner-occupied dwelling; the application goes to the county Director of Equalization by November 1. |
| Wyominglicensed here | Exempts part of the value | A qualifying wartime, campaign-medal, or compensably disabled veteran with at least three years of Wyoming residency, or a qualifying surviving spouse, may reduce the assessed value of a principal residence by filing with the county assessor by the fourth Monday in May. |
| Arizona | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Colorado | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Connecticut | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Delaware | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Florida | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Hawaii | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Idaho | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Indiana | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Iowa | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Kentucky | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Maryland | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Massachusetts | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Michigan | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Mississippi | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Montana | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Nebraska | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Nevada | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| New Hampshire | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| New Jersey | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| New Mexico | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| New York | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| North Carolina | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| North Dakota | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Ohio | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Oklahoma | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Oregon | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Pennsylvania | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Rhode Island | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Tennessee | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Texas | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Utah | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Vermont | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Virginia | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Washington | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| West Virginia | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
| Wisconsin | No statewide authority | Not researched in the veteran property-tax-relief pass. |
14 of 50 researched, and the rest say so
Research is ongoing and the states not yet reached are marked as unresearched rather than quietly rendered as “no relief.” Those are different facts and collapsing them would be the same error this page exists to correct. Every answer above rests on a named primary source — a state revenue department, a state veterans affairs department, or the statute.
Can I prove it before I buy?
Usually not, and that circularity is the real problem: the relief lowers the tax, the tax sits inside the payment, the payment is what gets measured — but you generally cannot document the relief until you already own the home.
Alabama legislated a fix. House Bill 77, signed April 17, 2026, allows a 100 percent disabled veteran to receive a tentative property exemption certificate at the beginning of the mortgage application process. The announcement gives no effective date, so confirm current status with the county before relying on it. The Alabama VA page has the detail, and Minnesota's December 31 filing deadline is the opposite problem — real relief, missed on a date.
Why this page covers states I cannot lend in
The question is national. Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, is licensed to originate in 14 states — marked in the table — and this page offers nothing anywhere else. It exists because getting this wrong changes a veteran's buying power, and because the published answers are unusually unreliable.
Common questions
Do disabled veterans pay property tax?
It depends entirely on the state, and the differences are larger than most summaries suggest. Some states remove the tax completely at a qualifying disability rating. Some exempt a fixed slice of assessed value. At least one refunds tax rather than exempting it, which behaves differently. And at least one gates relief so narrowly that a 100 percent disability rating alone does not qualify. The table on this page names the state, the mechanism and the source for each one researched so far.
Why do veteran property tax guides disagree with each other?
Frequently because they are describing bills rather than law. Tiered exemptions by disability rating get proposed in state legislatures repeatedly, and the published summaries of those proposals read exactly like descriptions of existing benefits. Missouri is the clearest example: several widely repeated sources describe a tiered Missouri exemption, while the Missouri State Tax Commission requires an applicant to be both a former prisoner of war and one hundred percent disabled from military service. A proposal is not a statute.
Does a veteran property tax exemption affect what I can qualify for on a mortgage?
Yes, and this is the part usually missed. The payment a lender measures includes property taxes, and a debt ratio is calculated against that payment. Relief that reduces the tax reduces the measured payment. The practical difficulty is timing: an exemption you cannot document yet is a plan rather than a fact, and only facts go into a file, so the file often gets measured against a tax bill you will not actually pay.
Can I prove a veteran exemption before I buy the house?
In most states, not easily, which is the circular problem. Alabama legislated a fix: House Bill 77, signed April 17, 2026, allows a 100 percent disabled veteran to receive a tentative property exemption certificate at the beginning of the mortgage application process. The announcement does not state an effective date, so confirming current status and procedure with the county is worth doing before relying on it.
Who administers veteran property tax relief?
Almost never the state directly. It is usually a county office and occasionally a municipal one, with names that differ by state — a county tax commissioner, a county assessor, a Director of Equalization, a parish assessor, or a town office. Deadlines are fixed and annual in several states and are not retroactive, so missing one generally costs a full tax year of the benefit rather than causing a delay.
Does veteran property tax relief pass to a surviving spouse?
In several states it does, under conditions that vary — often requiring that the spouse has not remarried and continues to occupy the property, and sometimes turning on the veteran having held a particular rating or on the spouse receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. It is not universal and it should not be assumed from another state. Where a source could not be found, this page says so rather than guessing.
Price it against the tax you will actually pay
The safest way to use any of this is to qualify on the real number and treat relief as an improvement that arrives later. Run your scenario — no credit pull, no account, nobody calls you.
Jeff Moran, mortgage broker, Bluffton, South Carolina. NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, NMLS #135622.
Reference material, not legal or tax advice, and not an offer to lend in any state. Exemption amounts, eligibility rules and filing procedures are set by statute and administered locally; several change annually. What applies to a specific property is worth confirming with the county or the state department that administers it. Equal Housing Opportunity.