Disabled Veteran Benefits in Tennessee

Tennessee calls this property tax relief, and the Comptroller is blunt that it is not an exemption. The state reimburses all or part of the property tax you paid on your home. In the years after you are approved, a voucher comes with your tax bill and you present it to the collecting official with any balance due.

The relief is calculated on a maximum market value of $175,000. What it is worth in dollars depends on your assessment, your county and city tax rates and your county's appraisal ratio, so the state gives no single figure.

To qualify you need a service-connected permanent and total disability as determined by the VA, or a 100% total and permanent rating from being a prisoner of war, or a service-connected disability that resulted in paraplegia, the loss or loss of use of two or more limbs, or legal blindness. The home must be your primary residence. The relief carries over to a surviving spouse who does not remarry, still owns the property and uses it only as a home. Apply at your County Trustee's office.

The Disabled Veteran plate costs nothing for your first plate. The Department of Revenue asks for a VA letter showing you are rated permanent and totally disabled, which it treats as being paid at 100 percent. Only one plate is free: a second is $26.50 a year. Veterans grandfathered in with plates issued before May 19, 2014 get two free.

A veteran with a 100 percent permanent, total service-connected disability, or any former prisoner of war, is exempt from the county motor vehicle privilege tax, known as the wheel tax. You show proof to the county officer who collects it. Separately, a veteran who meets the state's definition of a disabled driver can add a free disabled driver decal to a specialty plate they already have.

Two sales tax breaks follow VA vehicle programs, not a rating percentage. If you buy with a VA Automobile Grant, the part of the price above the grant is exempt from sales tax; the part the grant pays is taxed. Adaptive equipment needed to operate the vehicle safely is exempt too. The driver license has no fee waiver: the Veteran designation is added at the standard state fees.

The Resident Disabled Veteran Hunting and Fishing license is a one-time $10 fee. It is open to resident veterans the VA certifies as 100% service-connected, or as 30% disabled by reason of war service. It covers the base hunting and fishing combination and the supplemental licenses. Wildlife management area permits, special permits and federal permits are extra.

State parks discount by residency first and rating second. Any Tennessee resident veteran gets 25% off cabins and camping year-round and 50% off in the off-season (December to February), plus 20% off golf green fees and cart rentals. With a 100% service-connected disability the 50% discount on cabins and campsites applies all year. Premium sites are excluded.

On Veterans Day, resident veterans get one free night of camping and complimentary 18-hole green fees; other fees still apply.

The Helping Heroes Grant pays $1,000 a semester to a veteran enrolled in 12 or more hours, or $500 for six to 11 hours. It is not tied to a rating. You must be a Tennessee resident without a bachelor's degree and hold the Iraq, Afghanistan, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary or Inherent Resolve campaign medal. It can be awarded for up to eight full semesters.

If you are using VA education benefits at a Tennessee public college and living in the state, you cannot be charged out-of-state tuition, whatever your formal state of residency.

People search for a Tennessee waiver for the dependents of a 100% disabled veteran. The state's Dependents Tuition Waiver is written for a different group. It gives free tuition and fees at state-owned colleges and universities to a spouse, or a child under 23, of a service member who was killed, died of injuries, or was reported a prisoner of war or missing in action in a qualifying period of armed conflict. For the family of a living veteran rated permanent and total, the benefit to look at is federal: the VA's Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance.

Tennessee has no veteran exemption here because it does not need one. The Department of Revenue says the state has no individual income tax on wages, employer-sponsored retirement income or most other forms of income, and that pension income is not subject to state tax.

The one income tax Tennessee did have, the Hall tax on interest and dividends, was repealed for tax years beginning January 1, 2021.

Tennessee draws its main line at permanent and total, not at a percentage. A 90% rating, or a 100% rating the VA has not made permanent, does not meet the property tax relief rule by itself, and the letter Revenue asks for to issue the Disabled Veteran plate is one showing a permanent and total rating. The property tax relief has one other route: a service-connected disability that resulted in paraplegia, loss of use of two or more limbs, or legal blindness.

What a lower rating does open is the one-time $10 hunting and fishing license at 30%, if the VA certifies the disability as from war service. The rest does not depend on a rating: 25% off state park cabins and camping for resident veterans, the Helping Heroes Grant for post-9/11 campaign veterans, in-state tuition when you use VA education benefits, and no state income tax.

State jobs are the other one. A veteran who meets the minimum qualifications for an open preferred service position is guaranteed an interview, and between two equally qualified candidates the hiring preference goes to the veteran. Burial in a state veterans cemetery is at no charge.