Maine Motor Vehicle Excise Tax Exemption for Disabled Veterans

Maine's motor vehicle excise tax is levied annually by the municipality and is a real recurring cost, so this exemption is worth more over time than its one-line description suggests. Title 36, section 1483(12) exempts automobiles owned by veterans who are granted free registration of those vehicles by the Secretary of State under Title 29-A, section 523, subsection 1 or 2, or who are disabled by injury or disease incurred or aggravated during active military service in the line of duty and are receiving any form of pension or compensation from the United States Government for total, service-connected disability. Two routes, and the first one is the one that gets missed. Free registration under 29-A section 523 covers the Medal of Honor, former prisoner of war and disabled veteran registration categories. A veteran holding one of those registrations reaches the excise exemption through that fact alone. The second route reads on its own terms: compensation for total, service-connected disability, arising from a line-of-duty injury or disease. The statute does not say one hundred per cent and does not say permanent and total. A veteran paid at the total rate through individual unemployability should put the question to the assessor on the statutory wording rather than on a summary. A maximum of three automobiles owned by a veteran are exempt. That is unusually generous; most states in this catalog stop at one or two. Two conditions were added by Public Law 2025, chapter 152, and they are administrative rather than substantive but they will decide applications. For an automobile to qualify, the name of the qualifying veteran must appear on the automobile's certificate of title. And where there are multiple owners, at least one owner whose name appears on the certificate of title must meet the requirements. A vehicle titled only in a spouse's name does not qualify, however the household treats it. Leased vehicles are covered from July 1, 2026. Public Law 2025, chapter 579, an emergency act of the 2026 session, added subsection 12-A: up to three automobiles leased by a veteran who is disabled by injury or disease incurred or aggravated in line of duty and receives compensation for total, service-connected disability are exempt, provided the veteran's name is on the lease agreement. The leased-vehicle route reaches only that second, total disability group; a veteran who qualifies through free registration under 29-A section 523 alone does not get the exemption on a leased car. The Revisor's online statute text, current through October 1, 2025, does not yet show subsection 12-A. The Bureau of Veterans' Services page on this exemption is worth reading and worth treating with care. It quotes section 1483(12) as amended by Public Law 2009, chapter 434, cites only subsection 1 of 29-A section 523 rather than subsections 1 or 2, and does not carry the 2025 certificate of title requirements. Both statements were true when written. The statute is the current text, and a veteran should bring the statute rather than the page to a municipal office that disagrees. The same page makes a point that is correct and useful: a veteran who is otherwise eligible is entitled to the exemption whether or not they hold a disabled veteran's plate, but a veteran who chooses a different registration plate must pay the regular registration fee associated with it. The excise exemption and the registration fee waiver are separate things. No combined-rating percentage appears anywhere in the section, so a rating filter never hides this entry.