South Dakota Paraplegic Veteran Dwelling Exemption

This is the larger of South Dakota's two veteran property tax programs and the one that is almost never described correctly. Section 10-4-24.10 exempts the dwelling from taxation, full stop, with no ceiling on value. The $200,000 cap belongs to the separate exemption in 10-4-40. The test is anatomical, not a percentage. The dwelling must be one specifically designed for use by paraplegics as a wheelchair home under 10-4-24.9, and it must be owned and occupied for the full calendar year in which the tax is to be levied by a paraplegic veteran, a veteran with the loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, or the unremarried widow or widower of such a veteran. A combined rating does not appear in either section. A veteran at 100 percent for conditions that do not involve the lower extremities does not qualify here; a veteran with loss of use of both legs does, whatever the combined figure is. What counts as the dwelling is defined generously. Section 10-4-24.9 includes real estate up to one acre on which the building sits, or so much of the surrounding land as is necessarily incident to using the premises as a dwelling. A multiple family building qualifies as to the part designed for the purpose. Two things the 2019 and 2026 amendments settled. Since 2019 the exemption continues once the director of equalization has determined the veteran or unremarried spouse is entitled to it, until ownership transfers, occupancy ends, or the use changes, and a change to the legal description does not disturb it so long as the person still lives there. The Department of Revenue's relief programs page nevertheless says applications "must be submitted annually to your local county assessor's office on or before November 1st". Read the statute: the annual filing the department describes is not what 10-4-24.10 requires of someone already determined eligible. Senate Bill 12 of 2026 added the way back in. A veteran who would otherwise qualify but missed the owner-occupied classification deadline or the exemption deadline may petition the board of county commissioners to refund the taxes paid in any of the previous four years, and the board may in its discretion approve or reject. The same act amended 10-18-2 so the abatement chapter carries the petition. It is discretionary, unlike the mandatory pending-claim look-back that House Bill 1193 of 2026 gave the disabled veteran exemption a month later. Do not confuse this with 10-4-24.11 to 10-4-24.13, which reduce rather than exempt, run on household income, and are not veteran-specific.