New Mexico Veteran Property Tax Exemption

Every resident veteran who owns property in New Mexico can take this, and it is worth more than it used to be. What it is. Section 7-37-5 exempts a fixed amount of the taxable value of property owned by a veteran or the veteran's unmarried surviving spouse, if that person is a New Mexico resident. It applies to any real property or manufactured home the veteran owns, not only the home, and to property in a grantor trust. Taxable value in New Mexico is one third of assessed value (3.6.6.10 NMAC), so a $10,000 exemption takes $30,000 of market value out of the tax base. The amount. Subsection B: $4,000 for tax years 2006 through 2024, $10,000 for tax year 2025, and from 2026 the $10,000 "adjusted for inflation". House Bill 47 of 2025, Laws 2025, chapter 10, signed March 20, 2025 with an emergency clause, made the change after voters approved House Joint Resolution 6 of 2023 in November 2024. The Department of Veterans' Services and the Taxation and Revenue Department said in August 2026 that the increase saved 65,720 veterans about $19 million in 2025. Why it is still $10,000. Subsection C multiplies $10,000 by the consumer price index "ending during the prior tax year" divided by the index "ending in tax year 2025", rounds down to $100 and never lowers the figure. For tax year 2026 both indexes are the 2025 index, so the fraction is one and the exemption is $10,000. The first year the formula can move the figure is 2027. The Department must publish the amount and send it to assessors by December 1 of the year before. A year behind the constitution. The amended Article 8, Section 5, as House Joint Resolution 6 wrote it, says $10,000 "in 2024" and inflation adjustment "in 2025 and each subsequent year". The statute gave $10,000 from 2025 and indexing from 2026, because the amendment was approved after the 2024 tax bills. Nobody is owed a refund for 2024 on the statute's words, but the gap is there. Who qualifies. Section 7-37-5, subsections F to I: honourably discharged, meaning anything but "a dishonorable discharge or a discharge for misconduct", and 90 days of continuous active duty, or less if the discharge was brought about by a service-connected disability. Civilian service recognised by federal law as military service, with a discharge certificate, counts. The rule at 3.6.6.12 NMAC adds that a veteran who reenlisted immediately does not lose it, that two veteran spouses each take one, that a surviving spouse who remarries and later divorces does not regain it, and that a spouse legally separated at the veteran's death keeps it. A veteran cannot claim it on a spouse's separate property or on partnership property. How to claim it. Apply to the Department of Veterans' Services with DVS Form 1, the DD-214 and proof of residency; it issues a certificate of eligibility. File the original certificate with the county assessor, no later than thirty days after the assessor mails the notice of value (section 7-38-17, subsection C). Once allowed it carries forward automatically until ownership or eligibility changes, and a lost certificate costs $5 to replace. The exemption is one per veteran across the state: section 7-38-17, subsection E requires verification that it is not claimed in more than one county or against more than one property in a year, but a veteran with little property can instead apply it to motor vehicle registration fees (see the vehicle entry). Veterans' organisations. Section 7-37-5.3 separately exempts the property of a veterans' organisation chartered by Congress and used primarily for the benefit of veterans and their families. A county that has not updated its page. Grant County's assessor page describes it as "Up to four thousand dollars ($10,000)".