Disabled Veteran Benefits in North Carolina

North Carolina does not wipe out the bill the way some states do. If you have a permanent and total service-connected disability of 100%, the first $45,000 of your permanent residence's appraised value is excluded from property tax. You pay tax on the rest. The state veterans department says it plainly: $45,000 is the maximum.

Two other groups get the same exclusion. A veteran who received a VA specially adapted housing grant qualifies on that alone. So does a surviving spouse who has not remarried, if the veteran was permanently and totally disabled, received that housing grant, or died of a service-connected condition. The law lists no other way to qualify, so a rating below 100% earns nothing here without the housing grant. You must be a North Carolina resident, and you cannot combine this exclusion with the state's other homestead relief.

To apply, fill in sections 1 and 2 of Form NCDVA-9, take it to a veterans service office to be certified, then hand it in with Form AV-9 at your county tax office. The deadline is June 1 of the tax year. The state veterans department recommends sending the NCDVA-9 for certification well before June 1.

The Disabled Veteran plate is reserved for a combined rating of 100%, or Individual Unemployability paid at the 100% rate. The state issues it free of charge each year, one for a car and one for a motorcycle. The free plate does not apply to a vehicle registered above 6,000 pounds.

Any rating under 100% qualifies for the Partially Disabled Veteran plate, which costs no more than a regular plate. Both plates are accepted in parking spaces marked for people with disabilities.

You apply on form MVR-33A with a copy of your DD-214 and a VA rating letter less than a year old, and a county or state veterans service office certifies it. Two smaller items: a vehicle altered with special equipment is excluded from property tax if you are entitled to VA special automotive equipment for a service-connected disability, and the "VETERAN" mark on a driver license or ID is free, though the normal renewal or duplicate fee still applies.

This is the North Carolina Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans, and the name matters: the veteran's disability must come from wartime service. The child must be under 25 when applying and a North Carolina resident, and either the veteran was a legal resident of the state on entering that service or the child was born here and has lived here ever since.

If the veteran is paid at 100% for a wartime service-connected disability, the child shall be awarded a scholarship. At this level it is a limited one: tuition and required fees at a state school, without the room and board allowances. Children of veterans who died of wartime service-connected causes get the full scholarship, room and board included.

From 20% to under 100%, or with a Purple Heart, the state may award it to no more than 100 children a year, and the deadline is February 14. A separate class, also capped at 100 a year, covers children of veterans who served in a combat zone, with no rating required. Every award runs four academic years, must be used within eight, and requires a 2.0 grade average. At a private college it becomes a monetary allowance. The law is written for children, so spouses are not covered.

The license is not free, and it does not take 100%. A resident rated 50% or more can buy a lifetime combination hunting and inland fishing license for $15. It stays valid for as long as you remain 50% or more disabled. The broader lifetime Sportsman license is $131, and the Unified license that adds coastal fishing is $144.

Disabled licenses cannot be bought online. You apply by mail or in person and send the VA's certification of your rating with the application.

State parks set no percentage at all. A veteran with an honorable or under-honorable-conditions discharge and VA certification of a service-connected disability gets a free Annual Pass, the one that otherwise costs $100 a year. Most North Carolina state parks are free to enter anyway; the pass covers entrance fees at Falls Lake, Jordan Lake and Kerr Lake plus boat rentals and swim passes at listed parks. Bring your VA Summary of Benefits letter to a park, or email it and have the pass mailed. You can ask for the Reservoirs pass or the four-wheel-drive beach pass instead.

VA disability compensation is not income for federal tax purposes, and North Carolina starts its own tax from your federal adjusted gross income. Money that never enters that figure is not taxed by the state either. That holds at every rating.

Military retirement pay is different, because it does count as federal income. Since tax year 2022 North Carolina lets you deduct it if you served at least 20 years or were medically retired under Chapter 61. Survivor Benefit Plan payments to the beneficiary of such a retiree are deductible too. Severance pay for a disability separation is not.

State law says veterans shall be granted preference in employment with every state department, agency and institution. It is not a points bonus. Your military training and experience are credited toward the job's minimum requirements where they relate to the work, and once you meet the minimum you get further experience credit for the rest of your service.

Who counts: a veteran who served during a period of war, a veteran with a service-connected disability from peacetime service, and the spouse of a disabled veteran. The preference covers initial employment and also later hirings, promotions, reassignments and transfers. A law signed in July 2026 extends it to the spouses of active-duty service members, effective October 1, 2026.