New York Disabled Veteran Benefits by VA Rating (2026)

In New York, a 10% VA rating doubles the veteran credit on a civil-service exam, a $5 hunting, fishing and trapping license starts at 40%, and the Lifetime Liberty Pass needs no rating at all.1,2,3

Some New York disabled veteran benefits don't depend on your VA rating at all; they key to a vehicle from the VA automobile program, or to a documented disability and household income.4,5 For how other states and the federal benefits change with your rating, see our guide to state benefits by VA rating.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• New York Disabled Veteran Benefits by VA Rating at a Glance
• At 10 Percent or More: Civil-Service Exam Credits
• At 40 Percent or More: Licenses and Your Child's Tuition Award
• What Changes at 50 Through 90 Percent?
• New York Disabled Veteran Benefits That Need No VA Rating
• Does TDIU or P&T Change What You Get in New York?
• What to Bring, and Where to Get Free Help
• Benefits for Spouses, Children and Survivors
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

New York Disabled Veteran Benefits by VA Rating at a Glance

Each row names the rating or condition that opens the benefit. The TDIU column records whether the rule addresses VA's Individual Unemployability (TDIU) benefit; where it doesn't, ask the agency before you assume either way. The federal side of your rating, the monthly VA disability compensation payment, is explained in our disability compensation guide.

Property tax gets one row here because it has its own guide: the caps, the local options and the filing steps are in our New York disabled veteran property tax exemption guide.

At 10 Percent or More: Civil-Service Exam Credits

Under Civil Service Law § 85, a disabled veteran gets 10 extra points on a competitive exam for original appointment and 5 extra points on a competitive exam for promotion. A veteran without a qualifying disability gets 5 and 2.5.1

Section 85 counts you as a disabled veteran when VA or a military department certifies you as entitled to disability payments for a disability incurred in service, rated at 10% or more. Three rules shape how you use the credit:1

• Pass first. Section 85 credit points are added only after you pass the exam.
• Generally once. As a general rule, after you take a permanent appointment or promotion from a list where the extra credit was allowed, you aren't entitled to more Section 85 credit.
• The 2014 amendment. The New York State Department of Veterans' Services (DVS) says a constitutional amendment effective January 1, 2014 helps veterans who already used non-disabled credits for a state or local job and were later found by VA to be qualified disabled veterans: they get 10 additional credits, minus the credits already used.1

Because the credit is usually a one-time use, decide which exam you want it to count on before you accept an appointment. DVS's civil-service credit page covers the amendment.

At 40 Percent or More: Licenses and Your Child's Tuition Award

Two New York benefits use 40% as their line. One is for you; the other is for your child.2,7

$5 hunting, fishing and trapping licenses

Environmental Conservation Law § 11-0715(4) gives a veteran certified with a 40% or greater service-connected disability all the hunting, fishing and trapping licenses, privileges, tags and permits they are eligible for, except turkey permits, for $5 a year.2 For the $5 license you also need:

• at least 30 days of New York residence immediately before you apply for the license;
• an honorable discharge, or a qualifying condition or discharged LGBT veteran status as the Veterans' Services Law defines them, with a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable.2

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which sells the licenses, says how the $5 works in practice:2

• Your first hunting, fishing or trapping license in a calendar year costs $5, and later purchases of those license types in the same calendar year are free.
• Bowhunting and muzzleloading privileges are free, but you need a base hunting license.
• You provide a VA letter with your case number stating a service-related disability of 40% or more. DEC says that once your eligibility is entered in your license file, you won't need to provide the letter again.2

DVS states the proof rule differently: it says annual proof from VA is required. DVS also says disabled veterans get preference for Deer Management Permits from DEC. Keep a current VA letter on hand in case you are asked for it again.2

The Regents Award for your child

The Regents Award for Children of Deceased and Disabled Veterans, run by the Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC), pays up to $450 a year toward undergraduate study at an approved New York college.7 The award goes to the veteran's child, or to a step-child who is the step-parent's dependent, not to the veteran.

The parent must have served on regular active duty during a wartime or national-emergency period New York lists (HESC's page has the list), or have received an expeditionary medal for Lebanon, Grenada or Panama. Under Education Law § 668, the parent then must meet one of these:7

• a living New York resident with "a current disability of forty percent or more" from an injury or illness incurred during that service, and honorably discharged (or with a qualifying condition, or a discharged LGBT veteran, with a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable);
• died while serving or from a service-incurred injury or illness, as a New York resident;
• died with a service-incurred disability of 40% or more, as a New York resident;
• classified by the Department of Defense as a former prisoner of war or missing in action.7

For the Regents Award, determinations about disability or death by VA or the armed forces are conclusive. The Regents Award pays for up to four academic years, or five for a program that normally takes five. HESC says the Regents Award has no income limits, requires the student to have lived in New York for 12 continuous months, and covers full-time or part-time study.7

Regents Award applications are open year-round. The student first establishes eligibility through HESC's Web Supplement, then signs and returns its confirmation with the required documents, and must complete the FAFSA and a TAP application (or the DREAM Act application) every year to be paid.7

What Changes at 50 Through 90 Percent?

None of the New York benefits we verified uses 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% or 90% as its own threshold. A rating in that band still clears the 10% and 40% tests above, so the civil-service credit, the $5 license and the Regents Award rows apply, along with every benefit that needs no rating.1,2,7

The 60% and 70% marks matter federally. Under 38 CFR 4.16(a), TDIU generally needs one service-connected disability rated 60% or more, or two or more disabilities with one at 40% or more and a combined rating of 70% or more.10 The TDIU section below covers what that means for New York.

If long-term care is on the table, our guide to New York's state veterans homes covers admission and cost.

New York Disabled Veteran Benefits That Need No VA Rating

These five benefits key to residence, blindness, a vehicle, a registration or a documented disability, not to a VA rating percentage.

Lifetime Liberty Pass and state parks

Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law § 13.19 lets a New York-resident veteran, or a member of a Gold Star family, use public campsites, parks and other places of recreation "without the payment of any fees or other charges for the use of such campsites, parks and other public places of recreation."3 The same section covers anyone who is blind, non-ambulatory or an amputee.

DVS describes the Lifetime Liberty Pass as giving free entry to state parks, DEC day-use areas, boat launch sites and historic sites, free golf at State Park golf courses, access to State Park pools, and discounts on camping and cabin rentals. Once issued, the Lifetime Liberty Pass never expires. Neither the statute nor DVS sets a VA rating threshold.3

Blind veteran annuity

Under Veterans' Services Law § 21, New York pays an annuity to a legally blind wartime veteran who lives in and is domiciled in New York: one thousand dollars a year, plus any applicable annual adjustment. The blindness need not be service-connected, so there is no VA rating test.8

The DVS Blind Annuity Program page says the veteran must have served on active duty during specific wartime periods or received an expeditionary medal for certain conflicts, generally for at least 90 days (fewer if discharged for a service-connected disability).8

• The yearly adjustment. Each year the annuity is the prior year's amount plus the previous year's percentage increase in VA compensation and pension benefits, rounded up to the next tenth of a percent, and never less than 1% or more than 4%. Ask DVS for this year's amount.
• When payments start. The award generally takes effect on the date the DVS commissioner receives your application.
• If you move. Your entitlement ends if you stop being a New York resident and domiciliary.
• How to apply. Mail a Blind Annuity Application, with your military discharge paperwork, and the Report of Legal Blindness form to DVS.8

Registration and plate fee exemption

Under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 401(6)(c), registration fees don't apply to a passenger vehicle (or a light truck under 6,500 pounds used only for passengers) owned by a disabled veteran who obtained it through the federal VA automobile program, or to a comparable replacement vehicle.4 DVS says the exemption, handled through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), covers registration and plate fees, and also applies to veterans who qualify for and apply for Congressional Medal of Honor or Former Prisoner of War custom plates.4

Thruway E-ZPass non-revenue program

The New York State Thruway Authority offers free, unlimited Thruway travel to qualifying disabled veterans. Its only criterion is a fee-exempt vehicle registration from DMV, and the Authority says "Eligibility is not determined by percent disabled designations, specialty license plates or other similar criteria."9

• For the Thruway program, the vehicle with the fee-exempt registration must be in your name.
• Apply on Form TA-W5175 with a copy of that registration; the Authority won't process the application without it.
• Send the Thruway Authority a renewal and an updated registration every two years.
• The non-revenue E-ZPass tag covers the Thruway only, not other E-ZPass toll facilities. You can use it in another passenger vehicle (2 axle, 4 tire) only if you're in that vehicle.9

DVS says a veteran who qualifies for VA's Automobile or Other Conveyance and Adaptive Equipment Grant "may be eligible."9

Access to Home for Heroes

Access to Home for Heroes, run by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), funds grants for accessibility modifications, emergency home repairs and code-violation repairs on a disabled veteran's primary residence. HCR's examples include wheelchair ramps and lifts, handrails, doorway widening and roll-in showers, and eligible veterans may be renters or homeowners.5

• Income. Access to Home for Heroes requires total household income at or below 120% of area median income.
• Disability. Access to Home for Heroes requires a professional evaluation that identifies the disability and recommends modifications. HCR's manual says the disability "does not need to have been incurred in time of war or service connected."
• Discharge. You must be a New York resident with a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable, under Private Housing Finance Law § 1271.
• How to apply. You can't apply to HCR directly. Municipalities and nonprofits apply for the funds and, once selected, serve as Local Program Administrators. HCR's March 2026 manual caps eligible work at $25,000 per building or property.5

Because the money flows through local administrators, ask HCR or your county veterans office whether one serves your area; a grant isn't guaranteed. For other help paying for an aging veteran's care at home, see our guide to VA benefits for senior care in New York.

Does TDIU or P&T Change What You Get in New York?

TDIU

Individual Unemployability (TDIU) pays you at the same level as a veteran rated 100%, but VA says your disability rating stays the same.10 None of the New York rules in this guide says whether TDIU counts as 100%. Silence isn't a yes or a no, so ask the agency that runs the benefit. Our TDIU guide explains how VA grants it.

Permanent and total

Under 38 CFR 3.340, a total disability is one that makes it impossible for the average person to follow a substantially gainful occupation, and it is permanent when the impairment is reasonably certain to continue throughout the person's life.11

In New York, P&T status is the trigger for the new local-option property-tax exemption under RPTL 458-a(11). It applies only if your municipality offers it, to assessment rolls with taxable status dates on or after October 1, 2026, so ask your assessor whether yours has adopted it. Where it is offered, it is a full exemption on your primary residence, not a percentage. You apply on Form RP-458-a, which the Department of Taxation and Finance has retitled to cover both the alternative veterans exemption and the P&T exemption, filed with your assessor, and once filed it continues in later years.6 How TDIU and P&T work for property tax across states is covered in our guide to property tax for TDIU and P&T veterans, and the national picture in our guide to state benefits by VA rating.

What to Bring, and Where to Get Free Help

VA says some benefits require a letter proving a veteran's status. VA's Benefit Summary Letter, which VA says is sometimes called an award letter, can be downloaded from VA.gov with an identity-verified account.12

• For the $5 license: a VA letter with your case number showing 40% or more. DEC says you provide it once; DVS says annual proof is required.2
• For the Thruway program: Form TA-W5175 and a copy of your fee-exempt registration.9
• For Access to Home for Heroes: a professional evaluation of the disability.5
• For the Regents Award: the Web Supplement confirmation with HESC's required documents.7

If your rating goes up, take the new letter to each office. Our guide to requesting a VA disability rating increase covers the federal side.

A DVS Veterans Benefits Advisor will help you gather documents and apply for state benefits such as the Lifetime Liberty Pass, at no charge.13 Call 1-888-838-7697 for an appointment, or find an office through the DVS directory, which lists county Veterans Service Agencies.14

Benefits for Spouses, Children and Survivors

• Gold Star families and the parks. Section 13.19 covers a member of a Gold Star family: a New York-resident Gold Star parent, or the spouse or domestic partner or minor child of a veteran whose death qualified the parent for an annuity. DVS lists Gold Star parents, spouses and children as Liberty Pass holders.3
• Children of deceased veterans. The Regents Award also covers a child whose parent died in service, died from a service-incurred injury or illness, or died with a 40% or greater service-incurred disability, as a New York resident.7
• Surviving spouses and property tax. An unremarried surviving spouse can be a qualified owner for the 458-a exemption while the home stays their primary residence (an absence for medical reasons or institutionalization doesn't end that). When a wartime veteran died in service of a service-connected disability, RPTL 458-a(2)(c) treats the veteran as rated 100%, so the disability part can apply without a rating letter.6
• Surviving spouses and the blind annuity. The unremarried spouse of a veteran who was receiving or eligible for New York's blind annuity is paid one thousand dollars a year, plus any applicable annual adjustment. Payments end on death, remarriage or leaving New York.8
• Helping a parent with the job search. If your father or mother is applying for a public job, remember the civil-service credit is generally used once.1

If a parent needs long-term care, federal Aid and Attendance is explained in our New York Aid and Attendance guide. Whether New York taxes a parent's retirement income is in our New York retirement income tax guide.

Learn More

Find personalized help matching your VA rating to New York benefits 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.