Minnesota Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption (2026)

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.1

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.1

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• Do You Qualify for the Minnesota Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?
• How Much Is the Minnesota Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Worth?
• What About a Surviving Spouse?
• How to Apply
• How It Works With Your VA Benefits
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

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.1

Ownership has a narrow statutory definition, and it is the condition most often missed. Subdivision 34 defines "own" to mean "that the person's name is present as an owner on the property deed."1 A home the veteran lives in but is not named on the deed of does not meet that test. The Department of Revenue also requires the veteran to own and occupy a homesteaded property on December 31.1

The homestead classification is its own prerequisite. The property must already be receiving that classification for the exclusion to attach to it.1 A recent purchase, or a move into a property you already owned, can leave that step incomplete.

On a farm, the exclusion reaches only part of the parcel: for an agricultural homestead, only the house, the garage, and the immediately surrounding one acre of land qualify for the valuation exclusion.1

There is also a caregiver route, but it substitutes for the veteran's claim rather than adding to it. Paragraph (e) reaches a primary family caregiver's homestead only where the veteran meets the disability criteria but "does not own property classified as homestead in the state of Minnesota," and the Department states plainly that the veteran the caregiver cares for cannot also own homestead property by December 31.1 A qualifying caregiver claims the band the veteran would have claimed: $300,000 at total and permanent, $150,000 at 70 percent or more.1 "Primary family caregiver" means someone the VA has approved as the primary provider of personal care services for an eligible veteran under the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.1

Minnesota's Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion turns on a VA-certified service-connected disability rating and a qualifying homestead.1 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.2 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%.3

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.1 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.

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.1 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.1 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.1 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.1 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. Every one of the three carries the same two conditions, so read them first: the spouse must hold the legal or beneficial title to the homestead, and must permanently reside there.1 A widow who lives in the house but is not on the deed does not meet that test, and no path around it depends on which route she is claiming under.

On those conditions, the three paths are:

• The veteran qualified at the total and permanent band and predeceased the spouse. The exclusion carries over "until such time as the spouse remarries, or sells, transfers, or otherwise disposes of the property."1
• The service member died due to a service-connected cause while serving honorably in active service. This path has a hard deadline the others do not: a first-time application by a qualifying spouse under it "must be made any time within two years of the death of the service member."1
• The veteran never applied for or received the exclusion, or it did not exist when the veteran died. The spouse still qualifies on a first-time application if the veteran met the honorable-discharge requirement and the VA certifies either that the veteran met the total and permanent test, or that the spouse has been awarded Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.1 On the DIC route, the Department states the veteran's disability status is not a factor.1

All three sit at the $300,000 band.1 Qualifying requires an application, and a spouse already receiving the exclusion must notify the assessor of any change in marital status, in ownership of the property, or in its use as a permanent residence.1

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.1 The carryover is not automatic, though, and every condition on the Department's list has to be met: the spouse previously received the exclusion on the first property, qualifies for homestead on the new one, applies for the exclusion on the new property by December 31, owns and lives in it as a permanent residence, has not already used this benefit on some other property, and 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.1

Read that fifth condition carefully, because it is the one people misread: the statute allows this once, not once per move.1 If you're a surviving spouse weighing a move, take the 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

That December 31 date governs taxes payable the next year, and the homestead classification in step 1 has to already be in place.1 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.4 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.4

How It Works With Your VA Benefits

Minnesota's Disabled Veterans Homestead Market Value Exclusion is a state market value exclusion, administered by the counties and claimed on the veteran's homestead.1 It lowers the value your county taxes; it is not money the VA sends you, and the VA does not administer it.

The distinction 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.5

Those are ceilings, not payments. The VA sets the award on the difference between your income for VA purposes and that maximum rate, so a veteran with countable income receives the maximum less that income rather than the full figure.5 Income for VA purposes is not gross income: the VA may subtract deductible expenses, including medical expenses you are not reimbursed for, before it counts what you have.6 For a household paying out of pocket for care, that subtraction is often what brings the number low enough to qualify at all.

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.6 The VA's net worth calculation includes your and your dependent's assets and income for VA purposes, and it includes your spouse's net worth, but assets don't include the home you live in, your car, or basic home items, and what does count is your property minus any mortgage against it.5,6

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.4

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.

Learn More

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.