Disabled Veteran Benefits in Montana

The Montana Disabled Veteran (MDV) program is the state's main benefit for you. You qualify if the VA rates you 100% for a service-connected disability, you own your home (or are under contract to buy it), and you live there as your primary residence for at least seven months of the year. An unmarried surviving spouse can qualify too, if the veteran died on active duty, died from a service-related disability, or was rated 100% at death.

Income sets the size of the cut. For tax year 2027, a single veteran with 2025 federal adjusted gross income of $49,654 or less gets a 100% reduction; the reduction steps down to 50% at $64,551. Married veterans and heads of household get 100% up to $59,584 and 50% up to $74,482. Over those limits you do not qualify, and the program is only for a 100% rating.

Apply with the Department of Revenue by April 15, online or on the MDV form at your local field office. You need a VA letter showing your current disability status is 100%. Once approved, the application stays active as long as you own and live in the home, but you have to meet the income and occupancy requirements every year, and the state sends you a status letter each year. The income ranges are updated every year for inflation.

Montana law waives all motor vehicle registration fees for two vehicles that are not used for commercial purposes if the VA rates you 100% disabled or pays you at the 100% rate for a service-connected disability. A 50% rating plus a Purple Heart also qualifies, though that group still pays the veterans' cemetery fee on its plates. The veteran's surviving spouse gets the same waiver as long as the spouse has not remarried.

The "DV" license plate has the same cut-offs and entitles you to disabled parking privileges. The plate costs $12 to produce and has no renewal fee. DV plates cannot be transferred to a surviving spouse.

Take a VA letter stating that you are rated 100% disabled, or paid at the 100% rate, to your county treasurer's office. On the Purple Heart route you need a VA letter showing 50% or more and a DD-214 showing the Purple Heart. The veteran designation on a driver license is not accepted as proof for the plates or the fee waiver.

The veteran-specific license is the Combat Disabled license. FWP says a veteran with certain combat-connected injuries may be entitled to half-priced deer and antelope licenses, and up to 50 are issued each year. State law sets the test: you must meet the standard for a permit to hunt from a vehicle (nonambulatory, or substantially impaired mobility) as a result of a combat-connected injury. No VA rating is named. You apply at an FWP office; FWP takes questions at (406) 444-2950.

Separately, a Montana resident who is permanently and substantially disabled can get a Resident with a Disability Conservation License for $8, which allows the purchase of general deer, general elk, fishing and upland game bird licenses at half cost. That one is for any resident with a disability, not just veterans, and it is not available to nonresidents.

Residents who have been awarded a Purple Heart may fish and hunt upland game birds with a Conservation License, which they get at FWP offices with proof of the Purple Heart and a DD-214. Patients living at VA hospitals can get free fishing permits on site. Neither FWP's disabled license page nor the state's veteran benefits page lists a free fishing license based on a VA rating.

Montana residents who pay the $9 state parks fee with their annual vehicle registration already have no daily entrance fees, veteran or not. Residents who leave it off their registration pay the nonresident day-use fee, $8 with a vehicle. The veteran benefit is on camping: residents with veteran status get 50% off camping fees, not counting electrical fees. Proof can be your DD-214, a VA ID, or a driver license showing veteran status.

Residents with a disability get the same 50% discount. You qualify with a disability form signed by a physician, a Resident Disability Conservation License, or a disability permit or license plate from the Motor Vehicle Division.

A discount can only be applied to the site the qualifying person occupies.

The Working Military Retirement Exemption lets resident working military retirees exempt part of their military retirement income received from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. State law sets the amount at the lesser of your Montana source wage income or 50% of your military retirement income. Montana source wage income means wages, net business income and net farm income earned in the state, so the exemption can never be more than what you earn in Montana. Survivor Benefit Plan beneficiaries can exempt up to 50% of those benefits. You claim it by attaching Form WMRE to your Montana income tax return.

There are limits. You can claim it for five consecutive years only. A resident retiree counts from the year of retirement or from tax year 2024; someone who moved to Montana after June 30, 2023 counts from the year they established residency. If you become a nonresident after claiming it, you lose it, even if you move back later.

Montana law adds 5 percentage points to a veteran's score and 10 percentage points to a disabled veteran's score whenever a public employer uses a scored procedure for an initial hiring. You must be a U.S. citizen and meet the minimum qualifications for the job.

Montana defines "disabled veteran" broadly: someone separated under honorable conditions who has an established service-connected disability or receives VA compensation, or anyone who has received a Purple Heart. No minimum rating is stated. A disabled veteran who gets the 10 points cannot also take the 5.

If the employer does not score applicants, it must give preference to a disabled veteran first over any nonpreferred applicant holding substantially equal qualifications. Public employers here means state agencies, the university system, school districts, community colleges, counties, cities and towns.

The Honorably Discharged Veteran Waiver is for a Montana resident at a Montana University System campus. You need an honorable discharge (honorable under general conditions is not accepted) and VA education benefits that have expired or been exhausted. Apply by the third week of your first semester.

It is a last-dollar award: it covers only the in-state tuition left after grants and scholarships, so the amount varies. It is not available for flat-fee courses.

The state's survivor waiver, the War Orphans Waiver, is for children aged 25 or less of a parent who served in a listed war, was a Montana resident on entering service, and was killed in action or died of a combat-related injury, disease or disability. It covers undergraduate tuition only, not fees. The Montana University System lists no waiver for the children of a living disabled veteran.