Minnesota excludes $150,000 of a qualifying veteran's homestead market value from taxation, and $300,000 for a total and permanent service-connected disability. The state's disabled veteran property tax exemption is a market value exclusion rather than a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, which means the county subtracts value from the home before it calculates tax on it. A veteran who was honorably discharged and has a service-connected disability rating of 70 percent or more, as certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, qualifies at the $150,000 level. The property has to be owned by the veteran and serve as the veteran's homestead.

The program's formal name is the Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion. One thing to settle before you file: a property that qualifies for the Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion does not receive the regular residential homestead market value exclusion, so the net benefit is smaller than the headline $150,000 or $300,000 implies.

In This Guide

Do You Qualify for the Minnesota Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

Minnesota Statutes section 273.13, subdivision 34, attaches the exclusion to property owned by a veteran and serving as the veteran's homestead. The veteran must have been honorably discharged from the United States armed forces, as indicated by Form DD214 or other official military discharge papers, and the service-connected disability must be certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: 70 percent or more for the $150,000 level, total (100 percent) and permanent for the $300,000 level.

Ownership is a separate test from occupancy. The exclusion runs to property owned by the veteran and serving as the veteran's homestead. If the deed is in someone else's name, ask your county assessor how that affects your claim before you file.

The homestead classification is its own prerequisite. The property must already be receiving that classification for the exclusion to attach to it. A recent purchase, or a move into a property you already owned, can leave that step incomplete.

There is also a caregiver route. Primary family caregivers approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs may qualify as well.

Minnesota's Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion turns on a VA-certified service-connected disability rating and a qualifying homestead. A senior without a qualifying rating is looking at a different track: Minnesota's Senior Citizen Property Tax Deferral lets homeowners 65 or older whose total household income is $96,000 or less defer the property tax above 3 percent of their prior-year total household income, with the state paying the balance and recording it as a loan that accrues interest at up to 5 percent a year and is repaid when the home is sold or transferred. Our guide to senior property tax relief in Minnesota walks through that track, and the Minnesota Department of Revenue publishes the deferral's rules. Plenty of Minnesota households sit in both categories: the state had 286,597 veterans as of FY2024, and 52.8% of them, about 151,216 people, are age 65 and over, well above the national share of 45.6%.

How Much Is the Minnesota Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Worth?

An exclusion is not a credit. Minnesota doesn't subtract a fixed number of dollars from your tax bill. It subtracts value from the home before your county calculates tax on it. So a $300,000 exclusion does not mean $300,000 off your taxes; it means your county taxes your home as though $300,000 of its market value weren't there.

There are two levels, set by your rating.

VA disability status Market value excluded from taxation
Service-connected disability rated 70% or more $150,000
Total (100%) and permanent service-connected disability $300,000

Those are gross figures, and there is a subtraction on the other side. The Minnesota Department of Revenue is explicit that if a property qualifies for this market value exclusion, the property does not receive the regular residential homestead market value exclusion. Minnesota's veteran exclusion and the regular residential homestead exclusion do not stack, so the net benefit of filing is smaller than the headline $150,000 or $300,000 implies. Your county assessor can tell you which exclusion your property currently receives.

The Department of Revenue describes the effect as reducing the market value of the home for tax purposes, which may reduce your property tax, and notes that the program is administered by the counties. A number specific to your parcel therefore comes from your county, not from a statewide table.

The $300,000 level requires a total service-connected disability that is also permanent. If you're not certain how your rating decision is worded, settle that before you file, because it decides whether you're claiming $150,000 or $300,000.

What About a Surviving Spouse?

The exclusion can outlive the veteran. A surviving spouse may continue it on any of three paths, not only where the veteran was already receiving it:

Where all the conditions are met, the spouse may qualify for $300,000 of market value exclusion until they remarry, transfer or dispose of the property. The statute's carryover provision describes the situation where, on the veteran's death, the spouse holds the legal or beneficial title to the homestead and permanently resides there.

There is a conditional exception for a sale. The Minnesota Department of Revenue states that the spouse can have a one-time sale of the property and still retain the exclusion under certain circumstances, so a single sale does not automatically end it. The carryover is not automatic, though. The Department states that a surviving spouse can sell the homestead and keep the exclusion on a new property only if all of its listed conditions are met, including that the estimated market value of the new property is equal to or lower than the estimated market value of the original property at the date of its sale. If you're a surviving spouse weighing a move, take that question to your county assessor before you list the house, and don't assume the exclusion follows you to a more expensive home.

How to Apply

Minnesota's Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion is filed with your county assessor's office.

1
Step 1

Confirm the home carries a homestead classification

The exclusion attaches to a homestead, so the property must already be receiving that classification from your county.

2
Step 2

Gather your discharge papers and your VA rating certification

The statute requires an honorable discharge as indicated by Form DD214 or other official military discharge papers, and a service-connected disability certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

3
Step 3

Apply to your county assessor by December 31

The Minnesota Department of Revenue instructs applicants to apply to their county assessor's office by December 31 to qualify for taxes payable in the following year.

That December 31 date governs taxes payable the next year, and the homestead classification in step 1 has to already be in place. If your circumstances are unusual (a recent move, a deed change, a rating decision still in progress), your county assessor is the office that can tell you what your own filing window looks like.

If the paperwork is where you're stuck, Minnesota has a no-cost channel for it. Minnesota veterans and their dependents can get no-fee help pursuing federal VA benefits from their local County Veterans Service Officer, with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs as the statewide front door. Minnesota law directs the county board of any county, or the county boards of two or more counties acting jointly, to appoint a county veterans service officer, and makes it that officer's duty to aid residents in securing benefits provided by law on account of military service.

How It Works With Your VA Benefits

Minnesota's Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion is created and administered under state law by the counties and claimed on the veteran's homestead, and it is a separate program from the federal VA's disability compensation and pension benefits.

That separation matters most if you also receive, or are applying for, VA Aid and Attendance, the monthly add-on to the needs-based VA pension. In 2026, the maximum Aid and Attendance pension is $29,093 a year for a qualifying veteran and $34,488 a year for a veteran with one dependent, which the VA pays out in monthly twelfths.

Aid and Attendance eligibility rests on four conditions. Aid and Attendance requires qualifying wartime service and a discharge that was not dishonorable: at least 90 days of active duty with at least 1 day during a wartime period for those who started active duty before September 8, 1980; generally at least 24 months for those who started as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980; or, for an officer who started on active duty after October 16, 1981, not having previously served on active duty for at least 24 months. Aid and Attendance also requires that you meet at least one of four status tests: you are at least 65 years old, you have a permanent and total disability, you are a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability, or you are getting Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. Any one of those four is enough on its own, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI qualifies without a permanent and total rating. For 2026, Aid and Attendance requires net worth under $163,699. And the VA must find an established need for aid and attendance, judged on criteria that include an inability to dress or undress yourself, to keep yourself ordinarily clean and presentable, or to feed yourself, and that the VA also recognizes for a veteran who is bedridden, who is a patient in a nursing home due to the loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability, or whose eyesight is limited to 5/200 or less in both eyes. The VA's net worth calculation includes your and your dependent's assets and income for VA purposes, and assets don't include your primary residence.

Because the VA pension side is needs-based, and the exclusion is a state program administered by your county, the safest move is to have your own case looked at rather than reason from the general rule. A County Veterans Service Officer can do that at no cost.

For the federal side in full, our Minnesota Aid and Attendance guide covers eligibility, the rates, and how to file, and our overview of VA benefits for senior care in Minnesota shows how these pieces fit together with VA health care. If you're comparing what different states offer, the national disabled veteran property tax exemption by state directory lines them up side by side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to be 100% disabled to get anything?

No. Minnesota's lower tier starts at a service-connected rating of 70 percent or more and excludes $150,000 of your homestead's market value. The $300,000 level is reserved for a total (100 percent) and permanent disability. The levels track the rating, so a later VA decision that carries you across the 70 percent line, or to total and permanent, changes which level you can claim.

Does $300,000 come off my tax bill?

No. The $300,000 is market value removed from taxation, not dollars removed from what you owe. Your county calculates your tax as though your home's market value were $300,000 lower. What that is worth in dollars therefore depends on your own parcel and on your county, which administers the program.

Can I keep my regular homestead exclusion too?

No. The Department of Revenue states that if a property qualifies for this market value exclusion, the property does not receive the regular residential homestead market value exclusion. So the figure that decides whether filing is worth it is the gap between the two exclusions, not the veteran figure on its own.

Can my spouse keep the exclusion if I pass away?

Often, yes, at the $300,000 level, and on more than one path. A surviving spouse may qualify where the veteran had a 100% permanent and total rating (including where the veteran did not receive the exclusion before dying), where the spouse receives Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or where the veteran had a service-connected death while in active service. Where all the conditions are met, the exclusion runs until the spouse remarries, transfers or disposes of the property, though the Department of Revenue states the spouse can have a one-time sale of the property and still retain the exclusion under certain circumstances. That carryover is conditional rather than automatic: keeping the exclusion on a new property requires meeting all of the Department's listed conditions, including that the new property's estimated market value is equal to or lower than the original property's estimated market value at the date of its sale.

What is the deadline to apply?

December 31. The Minnesota Department of Revenue instructs applicants to apply to their county assessor's office by December 31 to qualify for taxes payable in the following year. The home also has to already be receiving a homestead classification, so confirm that well before the deadline.

Will this reduce my VA compensation or pension?

Minnesota's exclusion is a separate benefit created and administered under state law, distinct from the VA's disability-compensation and pension programs. It lowers the market value your county taxes. VA pension and Aid and Attendance, though, are needs-based, with a 2026 net worth limit of $163,699. The VA's net worth calculation includes your and your dependent's assets and income for VA purposes. Rather than assume how the two interact in your case, take it to a County Veterans Service Officer, whose help is free by law.

Learn More

VA BenefitsVA Aid and Attendance in MinnesotaMinnesota VA Aid and Attendance in 2026: who qualifies, monthly rates up to $2,874, how to apply, and free help from MDVA and county veterans service officers. VA BenefitsVA Benefits You Can Use for Senior Care in MinnesotaVA programs can pay for home care, nursing homes, and up to $2,874/month in Aid and Attendance for Minnesota veterans. See what each covers in 2026. FinancialMinnesota Senior Property Tax ReliefMinnesota seniors can defer property taxes down to 3% of income. Learn the deferral, homestead exclusion, and refund programs, plus how to apply. VA BenefitsDisabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption by StateMost states fully or partially exempt a service-connected disabled veteran's home from property tax. See how the three models work and find your state. VA BenefitsVA Benefits for Senior Care: A Complete GuideA complete guide to VA benefits for senior care: long-term care, Aid and Attendance, pensions, DIC, and home grants for older veterans and surviving spouses.

Find personalized help claiming the Minnesota disabled veteran market value exclusion at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.

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