Disabled Veteran Benefits in South Carolina

This is the benefit that moves real money. A veteran with a total, permanent and service-connected disability pays no property tax on the home and up to five acres. You must live in the home, own it alone or jointly with your spouse, and have the county's 4% legal residence rate approved on it first.

The legislature widened it in 2024. The exemption now starts with the year the disability occurs, and a veteran who paid the tax on time can claim back the previous two years. A surviving spouse can claim it in the same way, even if the veteran never applied, as long as the spouse stays unmarried, lives in the home and owns it.

The state Department of Revenue decides the exemption, so you apply to it, online through MyDORWAY or on form PT-401I, with a statement from the VA or your county service officer certifying the disability is totally and permanently service connected. Processing currently runs 10-12 weeks. The exemption covers the tax only, so any fees on the bill are still yours. If you are totally and permanently disabled but not through service, the separate Homestead Exemption, handled by your county auditor, removes tax on the first $50,000 of your home's value.

South Carolina taxes cars every year, so this one repeats. A totally and permanently disabled veteran is exempt on two private passenger vehicles, owned or leased. A vehicle titled only in your spouse's name counts if your spouse lives with you and it is registered at the same address, but it uses one of your two.

After the veteran's death, the surviving spouse keeps the exemption on one vehicle for life or until remarriage. That includes a spouse who moves to South Carolina after the veteran has died.

Timing matters in the first year. To get the exemption for the year you were rated, the vehicle tax has to come due on or after the date of your rating.

The Disabled Veteran plate is for a veteran classified as totally and permanently disabled from service-connected disabilities. The DMV also issues it to a wartime disabled veteran compensated for the loss of use of an arm or leg, or with vision loss in both eyes that amounts to virtual blindness. There is no fee for the plate, state law exempts it from the regular registration fee, and you may be issued up to three. Apply by mail only, on Form MV-37, with a VA letter showing your rating.

One thing catches people out. The plate alone is not a handicap parking permit: for that you need the wheelchair version and Form RG-007A, on which a licensed physician certifies you as permanently handicapped.

If your disability is combat-related but you are not rated total and permanent, the Combat-Related Disabled Veteran plate asks only for a VA letter defining a combat-related disability. You pay the regular registration fee and no extra specialty plate fee. A veteran who served honorably can also add "Veteran" to a driver's license or ID, and there is no fee to add it.

The program is called Tuition Assistance for Certain War Veterans' Children. A qualifying child is admitted to any state-supported college, university or technical college free of tuition. It applies to children 26 or younger working toward any undergraduate degree.

The veteran must have served honorably during a war period and fit one of the listed cases. One of them: the veteran is permanently and totally disabled, as determined by the VA, from any cause. A Purple Heart for combat wounds is another, with no disability requirement attached.

Residency is strict. Both the student and the living veteran must have been South Carolina residents for the twelve months before applying, though a student who can show lifetime residency now qualifies regardless of where the veteran lives. It is not retroactive: the benefit starts on the date the state Department of Veterans' Affairs receives your application. The law covers children only. Separately, a veteran or family member enrolled at a public college on the GI Bill or VR&E pays in-state tuition however short a time they have lived here, as long as they live in South Carolina while enrolled.

Since tax year 2022 you can deduct all military retirement income from your South Carolina taxable income. The state veterans department describes it as exempt with no earned-income cap.

VA disability compensation and VA pension are not taxed either. Money that is federally tax-exempt from the VA, and disability pay from the armed forces, is left out of South Carolina tax.

A surviving spouse can take the same deduction on the veteran's military retirement income, and for a surviving spouse it also covers a retirement benefit plan and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation tied to the veteran's service.

The hunting and fishing benefit is wider than most veterans expect. If you have lived in South Carolina for at least 365 days, have been declared disabled and receive disability benefits from the VA, you are entitled to a free disability hunting and fishing license. Neither the agency's page nor the statute sets a minimum rating. The license lasts 3 years and covers freshwater and saltwater fishing, state hunting, big game, Wildlife Management Areas and the migratory waterfowl permit. Request the application by email from the Department of Natural Resources.

State parks are a different story. The parks agency gives South Carolina residents who are 100% disabled 35% off admission and camping, and lets them buy the All Park Passport, $99 for a year at full price, for 50% off. The half-price passport cannot be bought online: buy it at a state park office with proof of your disability.

An older state law still says a permanently and totally disabled veteran may enter any state park without charge, but a later section keeps the current fee structure in spite of it and guarantees a discount of at least thirty-five percent. The state veterans department describes the benefit as entry at a reduced rate, so expect the discount at the gate.