Utah Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption (2026)

You do not need a 100 percent rating to claim Utah's disabled veteran property tax exemption. A service-connected disability rating of just 10 percent qualifies, and the exempt amount rises with your rating up to a set limit on your home's taxable value.1

Utah is home to 127,944 veterans by the VA's 2024 count, and many who carry a service-connected disability rating are paying more property tax than the law requires.2 The Veteran with a Disability exemption is one of the most valuable state benefits a disabled veteran in Utah can claim, yet it goes unused every year simply because families don't know it exists or assume they have to be rated 100 percent to benefit. You don't.

One thing to settle up front: this is the exemption for veterans with a service-connected disability. It's a different program from the age-and-income property tax relief many Utah seniors use (the Circuit Breaker credit). If you're 66 or older and looking for relief based on age and income rather than a service-connected disability, see our guide to Utah senior property tax relief instead.

In This Guide

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

Do You Qualify for Utah's Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

The exemption is created and administered under Utah state law, claimed on the veteran's Utah residence, and run by the counties under the Utah State Tax Commission's Property Tax Division, whose property tax relief guide (Publication 36) lays out the veteran exemption.1 The governing statute is Utah Code 59-2a-501, effective January 1, 2026.

Here's the core rule. To claim the exemption, a veteran must have a service-connected disability rating of at least 10 percent.1 Utah allows no exemption for any disability below that 10 percent floor. That's the one hard cutoff, and it's lower than most families expect, so a veteran with even a modest rating should look at this.

Two things worth knowing about how the rating is read:

• If the VA certifies you in the classification of individual unemployability, your county treats you as 100 percent disabled for this exemption, regardless of the percentage listed on your statement of disability.1
• The exemption is claimed on the veteran's Utah residence. It can also be applied toward tangible personal property, such as a motor vehicle.1

Utah creates this exemption in its own code and the counties run it; the VA's disability compensation supplies only the rating it reads.1 It lowers what your county taxes your home on rather than paying you. If you receive, or are applying for, a needs-based VA Pension or Aid and Attendance, which the VA assesses on income and net worth, confirm your own situation with an accredited representative.

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

The exemption isn't a flat dollar amount for everyone. It's scaled to your disability rating. The taxable value that gets exempted equals your percentage of disability multiplied by the adjusted taxable value limit, which for 2026 is up to $535,459 of taxable value on a residence.1 A veteran certified as individually unemployable is treated as 100 percent, which reaches the full limit.

So a 50 percent rating exempts half of that limit; a 100 percent rating (or an individual-unemployability certification) exempts all of it. The table below shows how the math plays out at several ratings.

The figures above are hypothetical and shown only to illustrate how the percentage-times-limit calculation works. They are not a prediction of your own result.1

One important distinction: this figure is the taxable value the county subtracts before calculating your bill, not the dollars you save directly. Your actual tax savings depend on your local property tax rate, which varies by county and city. The exemption lowers the value your rate is applied to, and for a fully rated veteran it can remove the taxable value of a typical Utah home entirely.

What About a Surviving Spouse or Minor Orphan?

The exemption doesn't end when the veteran dies. An unmarried surviving spouse or a minor orphan of the veteran may also claim it.1

Utah Code 59-2a-501(3) names three groups of claimant who get the total taxable value of the eligible property rather than the rating-scaled share:1

• The unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran who was killed in action or died in the line of duty.
• A minor orphan of such a veteran.
• The unmarried surviving spouse or minor orphan of a deceased veteran with a disability who served in the military service of the United States or of the state before January 1, 1921, and whose rating is 10 percent or more.1

That third route is easy to miss and it is not a historical curiosity: it reaches the surviving family of a World War I era veteran, and it turns a 10 percent rating into a full exemption on the home. If the veteran in your family served before 1921, say so on the application.

One more thing Utah does only for this exemption. Publication 36 says that unless you're applying for the veterans with a disability exemption, you must be a U.S. citizen or legally present in the U.S. to receive tax relief, and 59-2a-501(4) presumes a veteran who received an honorable or general discharge to be a citizen and provides that they may not be required to provide additional proof of citizenship.1

To claim as a surviving spouse or orphan, the county needs proof of the veteran's military service and proof of the disability or death on file.1

How to Apply

You apply through the county where the eligible property is located, not through a statewide portal. The county needs an application with proof of military service and proof of disability (or, for a surviving spouse or orphan, proof of death) on file.1

How It Works With Your VA Benefits

This exemption uses your VA disability rating, but it lives entirely on the state side of the ledger. Utah grants it under Title 59, Chapter 2a, Part 5 of its code, and your county administers it against the taxable value of your property.1 What the VA weighs when it decides a needs-based benefit is your income and your net worth. A county exemption is neither: it lowers the value your tax rate is applied to, and no money changes hands.4

That matters most for veterans who also receive, or are considering, the federal Aid and Attendance allowance. Aid and Attendance is a separate pension benefit for wartime veterans who need help with daily activities, worth up to $29,093 a year for a veteran with no dependents in 2026. That figure is a maximum annual pension rate, not the amount that arrives: the VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and the limit Congress sets, and a monthly payment is one-twelfth of the award.5 A veteran with $12,000 of countable income after deductions is therefore looking at the gap, not the ceiling.

Aid and Attendance also carries a net worth limit of $163,699 and a 36-month look-back on asset transfers, and net worth there includes your spouse's.4 Before you rule yourself out on that number, know what sits outside it: VA's assets don't include the home you live in, your car, or basic home items like appliances you wouldn't take with you if you moved. Other real and personal property counts at fair market value minus any mortgages, and VA may subtract unreimbursed medical and educational expenses from your income when it works out your income for VA purposes and your net worth.4 The property tax exemption, by contrast, turns only on your disability rating.1

In practice, an eligible Utah veteran can hold both at once: the state property tax exemption on the home and the federal Aid and Attendance pension for care needs. For a full walkthrough of the federal side, see our guides to VA benefits for senior care in Utah and VA Aid and Attendance in Utah.

Learn More

Find personalized help claiming Utah's disabled veteran property tax exemption 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.