Mississippi Disabled Veteran Homestead Exemption

Mississippi exempts the entire homestead from all ad valorem taxes for an honorably discharged American veteran classified as having a service-connected total disability, and for that veteran's unremarried surviving spouse. There is no dollar ceiling and no percentage reduction. The Department of Revenue calls this Tier 3, and it sits under Miss. Code Ann. Sections 27-33-67 and 27-33-75(2)(b). The size of the gap between this and the tiers below it is the thing to understand. A Mississippi homeowner under 65 with no disability gets a credit of up to $300 against the tax bill. At 65, or on a finding of total disability outside the veteran path, the exemption covers the first $7,500 of assessed value. At service-connected total disability it covers everything. So the difference between qualifying and not is not a few hundred dollars, it is the whole bill, every year, for as long as the veteran or the unremarried spouse owns the home. Mississippi does not run a partial exemption for partial ratings. A veteran at 70 or 90 percent gets nothing here beyond what any other homeowner of the same age gets. That is unusual: most states in this catalog step the exemption down through the middle ratings. Mississippi does not, which makes the jump to total disability the single largest state benefit it offers. File with the county tax assessor between January 1 and April 1. The filing is in person during business hours in the county where the home sits, and the assessor will want Social Security numbers for every applicant, dates of birth, the purchase price and down payment, and the tag numbers of every vehicle in the applicant's possession, including company vehicles. Bring the DD-214 and the VA rating decision. Senate Bill 2882 of 2026 (effective from January 1, 2026) provides that no applicant may be required to produce a copy of a closing statement or disclosure to qualify, so an assessor who insists on closing documents is asking for something the statute now says is optional. Now the part that costs people the exemption after they have it. The exemption is disallowed for reasons that have nothing to do with disability: failing to file a Mississippi income tax return, failing to pay Mississippi income tax on time, filing as a nonresident, failing to properly register a vehicle in Mississippi, or claiming homestead on more than one property. Disallowance is retroactive, and the taxing jurisdictions come back for the tax that was excused in error, which can move a mortgage escrow and trigger collection. The income tax part of that rule changes on January 1, 2027. House Bill 4044 of 2026 amends Section 27-33-63 so that a claimant whose household has failed to comply with the income tax laws stays eligible, but the exemption is not deducted from the bill; the tax collector collects the full tax and sends the exempted amount to the Department of Revenue to pay down the income tax debt, up to the amount owed. The exemption is no longer lost outright for that reason, but it is still worth nothing until the income tax account is clean. The vehicle registration and nonresident rules are unchanged. HB 1380 of 2026 (effective July 1, 2026) affects a surviving spouse. Where the veteran held this exemption and the surviving spouse's own age or disability status is unknown, the surviving spouse is moved to the primary applicant position and the exemption drops to the basic tier in Section 27-33-67(1). An unremarried surviving spouse who holds the full exemption in their own right should file a new application rather than rely on the automatic rollover. Two situations make that trap live rather than theoretical. First, a veteran whose entire income is VA compensation and military retired pay owes no Mississippi income tax and may conclude no return is needed; the exemption rule is about compliance with the income tax laws, so confirm the filing obligation with the Department of Revenue rather than inferring it from a zero liability. Second, a married applicant and the applicant's spouse must both qualify, and a spouse who keeps another state of domicile under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act is claiming to be a resident of another jurisdiction. That combination has cost people the exemption. Property acquired later in the year does not get a grace period here the way it does in some states. Ownership has to exist before January 1 of the year claimed, with the instrument recorded with the chancery clerk before January 7.