North Dakota Property Tax Credit for a Surviving Spouse

The surviving spouse of a qualifying disabled veteran is eligible for the credit in 57-02-08.8 in their own right, and the section then does something unusually generous: a surviving spouse who is receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation from VA receives a one hundred percent credit, whatever the veteran's rating had been. That matters because the credit is normally scaled by the veteran's disability percentage. A veteran rated 60 percent would have had a credit on $5,400 of taxable valuation. If that veteran dies of a service-connected cause and the spouse is awarded DIC, the spouse's credit is on the whole $9,000. The retroactivity clause is the part worth reading twice. Where the determination of disability or of service-connected death is made *after* the veteran's death, through a law that renders the surviving spouse eligible for DIC, the determination "is presumed to precede the veteran's death" for the purposes of the credit. A grant under a later presumptive statute does not fail because the paperwork arrived too late. The section also says what proof is enough: correspondence from VA to the surviving spouse indicating that they are a survivor of the qualifying veteran and are in receipt of DIC. A surviving spouse who is not receiving DIC can still claim the credit at the veteran's certified percentage, provided they own and occupy the homestead. The application route is the same as the veteran's: the local assessor or the county director of tax equalization, by April 1 of the assessment year, with an affidavit and the VA documentation, and the papers are open to public inspection. A separate and larger benefit may apply. If the deceased veteran was paraplegic or held a VA specially adapted housing award, the unremarried surviving spouse holds the exemption under 57-02-08(20)(a) on the first $120,000 of true and full value of the buildings, which is a different and usually larger measure than $9,000 of taxable valuation. Check both.