Disabled Veteran Benefits in Georgia

Georgia does not wipe out the whole bill the way some states do. It exempts a set amount of your homestead's value from all property tax: state, county, city and school. The amount follows an index rate set by the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. For 2025 it is $121,812. Value above the exemption remains taxable.

You qualify if you were honorably discharged and VA rates you 100% totally disabled, or rates you lower but pays you at the 100% rate because of unemployability (TDIU). Veterans entitled to a VA statutory award for the loss, or permanent loss of use, of a hand or foot, or for loss of sight, qualify as well. You must own the home and live in it. The exemption passes to an unremarried surviving spouse or minor children for as long as they keep living in the home.

You file an Application for Homestead Exemption with your county tax commissioner's office, not the state. The normal deadline is April 1. Some counties have raised their homestead exemptions above the state's, so ask what yours offers.

The Disabled Veteran plate carries no registration fee, no manufacturing fee and no annual fee, and you can have it on up to two vehicles or motorcycles. The test is the same list as for the homestead exemption: 100%, the 100% rate for unemployability, or a VA statutory award for loss of a hand, foot or sight. The plate also lets you park in spaces marked for people with disabilities with no separate permit.

The bigger saving is the tax. Georgia charges either a title tax or an annual property tax on vehicles, and the exemption covers whichever applies, on one vehicle only. The Department of Revenue lists disabled veterans compensated at 100% as exempt. The Department of Veterans Service words it as veterans VA verifies to be 100 percent totally and permanently service-connected disabled. Neither page spells out unemployability for the vehicle tax the way the plate page does, so if that is how you are paid, ask your county tax office.

You no longer have to take the DV plate to get the exemption. Purple Heart and Medal of Honor plate holders are exempt too. The Revenue form is the MV-30 veteran affidavit, and your county tax office answers questions about it.

The free veteran driver's license has no rating requirement. An honorable or medical discharge and current Georgia residency are what the state asks for.

The Georgia Department of Veterans Service's education page does not describe a general tuition waiver for the children of disabled veterans. What it describes is the Georgia HERO Scholarship, and it is narrow.

HERO is for members of the Georgia National Guard or U.S. Military Reserves who were Georgia residents and served at least 181 days in a combat zone on or after February 1, 2003. Their children qualify, and so do the children and spouse of a member who was killed there or became 100 percent disabled from injuries received there. The award is up to $2,000 per academic year, to a total of $8,000, first come, first served while the money lasts.

For everyone else the money is federal. The Georgia Department of Veterans Service points veterans to the GI Bill, and the University System of Georgia lists out-of-state tuition waivers for recently separated service members.

Georgia sells a disability sportsman's license to resident veterans with a permanent and total disability rating from VA. It covers hunting, big game, fresh and saltwater fishing and trout. The three-year version costs $15 plus a $3 transaction fee, and you can file the disability certification online at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.

Veterans honorably discharged on or after July 1, 2005, with 90 days or more of federal active duty, get a free one-year hunting and fishing license, once, whatever their rating. Honorably discharged residents aged 16 to 49 can also buy the adult lifetime sportsman's license at 20% off.

A veteran discharged under honorable conditions with any VA service-connected rating gets a 25 percent reduction of the entrance fee to state parks and historic sites. Apply through a Georgia Department of Veterans Service field office.

For a job with the State of Georgia, a rating of 10% or more earns the top preference: 10 points added to your passing score on any numerically scored written entrance exam.

Honorably discharged veterans who served during a time of armed conflict get 5 points. The preference applies to getting hired, not to promotions or transfers. It also protects you in a layoff: a wartime veteran with a successful performance rating is not let go before a non-veteran.

This one is easy to miss if you work for yourself. Georgia veterans discharged under honorable conditions with a service-connected rating of 10 percent or more can get a Business Certificate of Exemption. It frees you from any occupation tax, administrative fee or regulatory fee that a city or county charges for peddling, running a business or practicing a profession, for a period of ten years.

You apply with VS Form 40-025. Take it, an ID card, your DD-214 and your VA Summary of Benefits letter to your County Probate Court, whose clerk provides the notarized letter you use to register the business with the county tax commissioner.

The two Georgia War Veterans Homes are in Augusta and Milledgeville. Residents are charged a nominal daily fee, but if your service-connected rating is 70 percent or higher, or you are admitted because of a service-connected condition, VA pays that fee in full.

To be admitted you must be a current Georgia resident who has lived in the state for the two years before applying, or five of the past fifteen, have served on active duty during one of the listed wartime periods, and be approved by VA as eligible for skilled nursing care.