Utah Veteran With a Disability Property Tax Exemption

This is the most valuable Utah benefit for a veteran with a rating, and it works unlike any other property tax exemption in this catalog because it scales with the percentage. Where the text lives, and why county forms disagree. Until the 2025 session this was Utah Code sections 59-2-1903 and 59-2-1904. The 2025 general session, chapter 172, renumbered the whole of Utah's property tax relief scheme into a new chapter 59-2a, so the exemption is now section 59-2a-501 and the application is section 59-2a-502. County application forms have not all caught up: the Davis County application still carries the heading "UCA 59-2-1903 and 1904". The sections are the same benefit; cite the new numbers and do not be alarmed by a form bearing the old ones. How much. Section 59-2a-501, subsection 2, paragraph (a): "the amount of taxable value of eligible property that is exempt under Subsection (1) is equal to the percentage of disability described in the statement of disability multiplied by the adjusted taxable value limit." The adjusted taxable value limit is defined in section 59-2a-101, subsection 3: $479,504 for the calendar year beginning January 1, 2023, and for every year after that the previous year's limit plus the previous year's actual percentage change in the consumer price index. The Tax Commission's Publication 36, revised September 2026, publishes the operative figure as $535,459 of taxable value. The number moves every year, so confirm it with your county or with the current Publication 36 rather than relying on a figure in any guide, including this one. Then do the multiplication. At a 30 percent rating the exemption is 30 percent of the limit. At 60 percent it is 60 percent. Paragraph (b) caps it: the exemption "may not exceed the taxable value of the eligible property", so it cannot create a refund out of a cheaper house. What the limit is worth in market terms. Utah taxes a primary residence on 55 percent of fair market value, because section 59-2-103, subsection 3 gives residential property "a residential exemption equal to a 45% reduction in the value of the property" on up to one acre per residential unit. So a full $535,459 of exempt taxable value corresponds to roughly $973,000 of market value. For a veteran at 100 percent that is a complete exemption on almost any Utah home. For a veteran at 30 percent it is about $292,000 of market value taken off the roll. Individual unemployability is treated as 100 percent. Subsection 2, paragraph (c): "A county shall consider a veteran with a disability to have a 100% disability, regardless of the percentage of disability described on the statement of disability, if the United States Department of Veterans Affairs certifies the veteran in the classification of individual unemployability." No schedular floor, no arithmetic. This is the cleanest individual unemployability provision in this catalog: several states define unemployability themselves in terms narrower than VA's, and Utah simply defers to VA's certification. The floor is 10 percent. Subsection 2, paragraph (d): "A county may not allow an exemption claimed under this section if the percentage of disability listed on the statement of disability is less than 10%." A 0 percent rating gets nothing here. Some claimants get the whole taxable value regardless of percentage. Subsection 3 exempts the total taxable value of the eligible property where it is owned by the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran killed in action or who died in the line of duty; a minor orphan of such a veteran; or the unmarried surviving spouse or minor orphan of a deceased veteran with a disability who served before January 1, 1921 with a rating of 10 percent or more. That last clause is a fossil from an older statute and cannot reach a living claimant's own service, though it can still reach the surviving spouse or orphan of someone who served before 1921. It does not have to be a house. "Eligible property" in section 59-2a-101, subsection 10 is the veteran claimant's primary residence, "including a residence that the veteran claimant does not reside in because the veteran claimant is admitted as an inpatient at a health care facility", or "tangible personal property that: (i) is held exclusively for personal use; and (ii) is not used in a trade or business." The Tax Commission confirms it "can also be applied toward tangible personal property, such as motor vehicles." A veteran who rents rather than owns can still put the exemption against a vehicle, which is a route most states do not offer at all. An honorable or general discharge proves your citizenship. Subsection 4: an individual who received an honorable or general discharge "is presumed to be a citizen of the United States" and "may not be required to provide additional proof of citizenship". If a county asks for a birth certificate or passport on top of a DD-214, that subsection is the answer. Disputes go to the veterans department, not the assessor. Subsection 5: the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs "shall, through an informal hearing held in accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 4, Administrative Procedures Act, resolve each dispute arising under this section concerning an individual's status as a veteran with a disability." So an argument about whether you are a veteran with a disability is not an argument with the county. Applying, under section 59-2a-502. File by September 1 of the calendar year you are claiming, with the county where you reside on September 1. Include a copy of the certificate of discharge or other satisfactory evidence of eligible military service, and make sure the county has a statement of disability on file. The county must give you a receipt within 30 days. You do not refile every year. Subsection 6: after the county issues the receipt it "may not require a veteran claimant to file another application", except where you apply part of the exemption to tangible personal property, the percentage of disability changes, the veteran with a disability dies, ownership of the residence changes, occupancy changes, or the claimant on a survivor exemption is not the same person who claimed the previous year. The deadline bends in six situations. Subsection 3 requires the county to extend the September 1 deadline by one additional year where a military entity issued a decision taking effect in an earlier year that determines a disability, or where the county legislative body finds that the claimant or an immediate family member had an illness or injury that prevented filing, that an immediate family member died that year, that the claimant was out of the state for at least six consecutive months that year, or that missing the deadline "would be against equity or good conscience" and "was beyond the reasonable control of the veteran claimant". Section 59-2a-108 separately lets the commission or a county extend any application to December 31 for good cause, and requires a refund of any overpaid tax of $1 or more. A retroactive VA decision lets you amend. Subsection 4 requires the county to allow an amended application after the deadline where a military entity issues a written decision changing the percentage of disability that takes effect in an earlier year. Bring the statement giving the effective date of the decision. The provision worth knowing before you house-hunt. Subsection 5 lets a "qualifying disabled veteran claimant", meaning a veteran with a 100 percent permanent and total service-connected rating, apply before owning the residence at all. Show a real estate purchase contract or similar documentation, file in the county where the intended residence sits, state that it will be your primary residence, and the county must process the application and send a receipt within 15 business days saying whether it is preliminarily approved and, if so, "the amount of the qualifying disabled veteran claimant's tax exemption calculated in accordance with Section 59-2a-501". You can therefore get the exemption priced in writing before you close. No other state in this catalog offers that. The state's own booklet is behind its tax agency. The Department of Veterans and Military Affairs benefit booklet created on August 4, 2026 states the abatement is "up to $505,548 of taxable value". Publication 36, revised the following month, says $535,459. The Tax Commission administers the figure; use its number and confirm with the county.