New Mexico Armed Forces Retirement Pay Income Tax Exemption
Up to $30,000 a year of military retired pay, including disability retirement, is exempt from New Mexico income tax, and a surviving spouse can take the same $30,000 against a…
VetTOC · Veteran benefits reference
New Mexico
Free help with a VA claim
- New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services and Its Programmes. A cabinet department whose field service officers help with VA claims at no charge and whose State Benefits Division certifies eligibility for the property tax exemptions, licences, plates and scholarships. It also runs a service member and veteran suicide prevention programme and a burn pit registry outreach programme. nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa/en/item/4357/index.do
Find a VA-accredited representative: www.va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative/find-rep
New Mexico benefits
New Mexico Disabled Veteran License Plates
Free disabled veteran plates, with the registration fee waived, for up to two vehicles including motorcycles, for a veteran rated 50 percent or more.
Gate: 50 percent or more
New Mexico Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption, Proportional to the Rating
From tax year 2026 the share of your home's taxable value exempt from property tax equals your VA disability percentage, after the $10,000 veteran exemption comes off: 30 percent…
Gate: Any service-connected rating of 10 percent or more, exempting that percentage
New Mexico Exemption From Special Benefit Assessments for 100 Percent Disabled Veterans
A home owned and lived in by a veteran rated 100 percent permanent and total is exempt from special benefit assessments, the levies of conservancy districts, public improvement…
Gate: 100 percent rating; Permanent and total; Or total through individual unemployability, which the statute neither names nor excludes; Permanent on the unemployability route too
New Mexico Expedited Licensing for Service Members, Spouses and Veterans
A licensing board must issue a license within thirty days to a service member, military spouse or dependent child, or veteran who holds a current license from another state or…
New Mexico Free Tuition for Children and Spouses of the Fallen
Free tuition and up to $300 a year at a state institution for a child aged 16 to 26 of a New Mexico service member killed or who died as a result of service in armed conflict, or…
New Mexico High School Diplomas for World War II, Korea and Vietnam Veterans
A local school board may give a high school diploma, even after death, to an honourably discharged veteran who left a New Mexico high school to serve in World War II, Korea or…
New Mexico Hunting and Fishing Licences for Veterans and Service Members
A free lifetime hunting and fishing licence for a resident veteran rated 100 percent, a $10 combination licence for any other resident disabled veteran, and half price on every…
Gate: Free lifetime licence at 100 percent
New Mexico Income Tax Exemptions for Active Duty Pay and Guard Life Insurance
Active duty military pay is wholly exempt from New Mexico income tax, a Guard member's reimbursement for SGLI premiums is exempt, and a deployed member gets a year after…
New Mexico Legal Protections for Veterans and Military Families
Reemployment rights after service, custody protections for deploying parents, confidential and free recording of discharge papers, a crime of lying about service for gain, and…
New Mexico Military, Medal and Gold Star License Plates
Free plates with no registration fee for Purple Heart and Medal of Honor recipients, former prisoners of war and their surviving spouses, and serving Guard members; a $17 armed…
www.mvd.newmexico.gov/vehicles/license-plates/military-and-veterans
New Mexico National Guard $500,000 Death Benefit
Half a million dollars to the beneficiaries a Guard member or state defense force member named, if the member is killed on state active duty, on top of any other death benefit.
New Mexico National Guard Benefits
Resident tuition for Guard members and their families, a Guard scholarship programme, state hiring preference while serving, fifteen days of paid military leave for public…
New Mexico Protection Against Discrimination for Veterans and Military Families
Since May 2024 military status is a protected class under the New Mexico Human Rights Act, in employment, housing, credit and public accommodations.
New Mexico Reduced Vehicle Registration and Excise Tax Exemption
A veteran who cannot use the whole veteran property tax exemption can take it instead as registration fees at two-thirds of the normal rate, and a resident veteran who lost, or…
New Mexico Resident Tuition for Veterans, Guard Members and Military Families
A veteran eligible for federal education benefits pays resident tuition at every public college, as do the spouse and children of a veteran who are eligible for GI Bill benefits,…
New Mexico Resident Veteran Business and Contractor Preference
A certified resident veteran business or contractor with up to $6 million in annual revenue is treated as bidding ten percent lower, or gets ten percent of the evaluation points,…
New Mexico State Employment Veterans Preference
Five points for an honourably discharged veteran and for a serving Guard member, ten for a veteran with a service-connected disability of any percentage, added to the passing…
New Mexico State Museums and Historic Sites for Veterans
Free general admission to state museums and historic sites all year for a resident veteran rated 50 percent or more, and free admission for any resident who has served, and their…
Gate: Free all year at 50 percent
New Mexico State Parks Lifetime Veteran Pass
Since July 1, 2025 every resident veteran, not only the 50 percent disabled, can get a free lifetime hang-tag pass for unlimited day use and camping, including utility hookups,…
New Mexico State Veterans Cemeteries and the Angel Fire Memorial
Four state veterans cemeteries, at Fort Stanton, Gallup, Angel Fire and Taos, with a fifth planned in Carlsbad, for veterans and their families, alongside the national cemeteries…
New Mexico State Veterans' Home in Truth or Consequences
A state nursing home for veterans, their spouses and Gold Star parents in Truth or Consequences, with six new small houses and an annex for about 131 residents.
Gate: VA pays the full cost at 70 percent or more
New Mexico Veteran Designation on a Driver's License or ID
A veteran can have "Veteran" printed on a New Mexico driver's license or ID card at no extra cost on a first issue or renewal, on showing a DD-214 or a VA veteran ID card; adding…
www.mvd.newmexico.gov/nm-drivers-licenses-ids/veteran-designation
New Mexico Veteran Employment Tax Credit (Repealed in 2023)
The $1,000 employer credit for hiring a recently returned veteran was repealed with effect from July 1, 2023.
New Mexico Veteran Property Tax Exemption
Ten thousand dollars off the taxable value of property owned by a resident veteran with 90 days of active duty and an honourable discharge, or by the veteran's unmarried…
New Mexico Vietnam Veterans and Wartime Veterans Scholarships
Tuition, required fees and a book allowance at a state college, for undergraduate or graduate study, for a resident veteran who entered service from New Mexico or has lived here…
Who Counts as a Veteran in New Mexico
New Mexico has no single definition. The Veterans' Services Department Act counts active duty, six continuous years in the Guard or reserves, or commissioned service in the…
79 federal benefits apply here as well and are left off this page; the place page lists them.