Disabled Veteran Benefits in Texas

This is where the money is. A veteran who receives 100% disability compensation and is rated 100% or individually unemployable is exempt from tax on the total appraised value of the home they own and live in. You need one or the other, not both, so TDIU counts. A surviving spouse who has not remarried keeps it for as long as the home stays their homestead.

Below 100% there is a smaller exemption on a sliding scale: $5,000 off the property's value at 10% to 29%, $7,500 at 30% to 49%, $10,000 at 50% to 69% and $12,000 at 70% and up. It applies to any one property you own, not only a homestead. At 65 or older with at least a 10% rating you get the full $12,000. A 100% veteran can hold both exemptions, the total one on the homestead and this one on another property.

File with your county appraisal district, not the state. The deadline is April 30, but both exemptions can be filed up to five years late, and if you reach 100% mid-year the exemption starts right away.

Disabled Veteran (DV) plates take a service-connected rating of at least 50%, or 40% from the amputation of a lower extremity, and you must be receiving compensation for it. With them you register one vehicle without paying any registration fee. You pay only $3 for the first set of plates. More vehicles can carry DV plates, but registration and local fees apply to those. Apply at your county tax assessor-collector's office with Form VTR-615.

The driver license has its own cut-off. With a rating of at least 60%, an honorable discharge and VA compensation, your Texas driver license or ID card is free. Commercial licenses are not covered. Any veteran with an honorable or general discharge can have VETERAN printed on it, and at 50%, or 40% with a lower-extremity amputation, it can read DISABLED VETERAN.

The plate does the work here, not the rating. Vehicles with Texas Disabled Veteran plates (the 50% plate), and Purple Heart, Medal of Honor and Legion of Valor plates, drive TxDOT toll roads free, with no sign-up. That includes SH 130 and SH 45 around Austin, the SH 99 Grand Parkway segments around Houston, and the TEXpress lanes TxDOT manages in Dallas-Fort Worth. Without one of those plates you pay the toll, at any rating.

Other agencies decide for themselves: state law says a toll agency may set up a discount program, and one that does must include DV-plated vehicles. In Austin, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority waives tolls on several of its roads, but you must register first, the vehicle needs an electronic tag account, and it covers one vehicle. Its MoPac and 183 express lanes are not included. In Dallas-Fort Worth, the LBJ and North Tarrant Express lanes give no veteran discount. Check with the road's operator before you count on it.

This changed on January 1, 2022. Since then, anyone using a disabled parking space needs a plate or placard showing the International Symbol of Access. Standard DV plates do not have it. You can ask for DV plates with the symbol, or up to two placards, on Form VTR-615, but a doctor or health care provider has to complete the disability statement or give you an original prescription, and not every disability that earns DV plates qualifies.

What plain DV plates still do: you park free at a meter run by any government body other than the federal government. Free airport parking is a city decision, not a state rule, so ask the airport first.

Hazlewood is not a disability benefit. It belongs to any veteran who entered service in Texas or listed Texas as home of record, served at least 181 days of active duty, left with an honorable or general discharge, and lives in Texas now. It exempts up to 150 hours of tuition and most fees at public colleges and universities. Books, supplies and living costs are not covered, and private schools are not eligible. If you have a federal benefit dedicated to tuition and fees, such as Chapter 33 or 31, Hazlewood applies only when that benefit does not cover the full cost of tuition.

Your rating matters for your family. If the VA rates you 100% total and permanent, or awards individual unemployability, your spouse and each dependent child can qualify for 150 credit hours of their own. Whatever your rating, the Legacy rule lets you hand your unused hours to a child who is 25 or younger, one child at a time.

The Disabled Veteran Super Combo is free if you have a rating of 50% or more, or the loss of the use of a foot or leg, and receive compensation for it. Non-residents qualify too. It bundles the hunting and fishing licenses with five state endorsements. The Federal Duck Stamp is not included. You can only get it in person at a license retailer, and every year you show VA proof of your rating or a Texas license with the Disabled Veteran designation.

State parks ask less. The Veterans passport gives free entry to any honorably discharged veteran, for the pass holder only. At 60% or more, or with the loss of a lower extremity, the Disabled Veterans passport lets a companion in free as well. Pick either one up at any state park.

The Veterans Land Board (VLB) is the state's land programme for veterans, and what its pages describe is loans and land sales, not grants. Its land loan lets a Texas veteran borrow up to $200,000 to buy a tract of an acre or more, with a minimum 5% down and a 30-year fixed rate. The VLB also puts its own tracts up for veterans to bid on four times a year, in January, April, July and October.

For a house, the VLB home loan goes up to $832,750 on fixed terms of 15 to 30 years, for a primary residence in Texas. This is where a rating pays: at 30% or greater you qualify for a discounted interest rate. The VLB does not refinance, and its rates change, so check the current one.