Knox County Wheel Tax: Disabled Veteran, Active-Duty and Low-Income Exemptions

The wheel tax is Knox County's motor vehicle privilege tax, $36.00 a year on every motor vehicle and motorcycle, collected by the County Clerk with the registration. It is set by Knox County Code 58-1; voters approved the increase from $6 to $36 in a November 2004 referendum. How to claim. Fill in the Clerk's Affidavit for Wheel Tax Exemption (the 2027 affidavit for current renewals) and bring it with the registration or renewal and the documents it lists. The Clerk's main office is in the Old Courthouse, 300 Main Street, (865) 215-2385, with satellite offices including West Knoxville and Farragut. The exemptions a veteran can use, as the affidavit lists them: One hundred percent permanent total disability from a service-connected cause, or a former prisoner of war, as VA determines it: the whole $36.00. This is the state exemption in 5-8-102; the affidavit asks for "DD214 Certificate or other appropriate VA related forms", but a DD-214 does not show a rating, so bring the VA letter. The affidavit does not list the third route in 5-8-102, a vehicle bought with a VA adapted-vehicle grant, which is exempt at any rating; see the Tennessee entry on the county motor vehicle privilege tax. Active duty: the whole $36.00 for a member of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force or Coast Guard on active duty, and for a reservist or Guard member called to full-time active duty in that year. Bring stationing orders showing full-time active duty. Unlike Montgomery County's, Knox County's exemption has no nonresident test and no once-a-year limit in the code. Totally disabled with a low income: $30.00 of the $36.00 for an owner certified as totally disabled by the Social Security Administration or VA whose combined income, counting every owner of the vehicle, is $21,210 or less (the 2027 affidavit; the limit moves each year with the Social Security cost of living adjustment). Bring an award letter showing the disability. This route reaches a veteran VA has found totally disabled who is not one hundred percent permanent and total, such as one paid at the total rate through unemployability. A gap in the code. Code 58-1 itself does not mention the disabled veteran exemption; it exempts what "general law" exempts, which is how 5-8-102 applies.