How a South Dakota Veteran Finds Out About Property Tax Relief
Every assessment notice in the state has to name the veteran exemptions by March 1.
VetTOC · Veteran benefits reference
South Dakota
Free help with a VA claim
- South Dakota County and Tribal Veterans Service Officers. Every county must employ, share, or contract for a veterans service officer, tribes may appoint their own, and the state prosecutes federal claims without charge. Department records on a claim are confidential by statute. sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/33A-1-22
- South Dakota Protections Against Paid Claim Assistance. Since 2025 a paid claims consultant must sign a written agreement, may not charge an initial or nonrefundable fee, may not guarantee an outcome, and is capped at five times the monthly increase in benefits actually awarded. sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/33A-2-39
Find a VA-accredited representative: www.va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative/find-rep
South Dakota benefits
Michael J. Fitzmaurice State Veterans Home
Domiciliary and nursing care at Hot Springs, up to seventy-eight nursing beds.
South Dakota Burial Allowance for an Indigent Veteran
One hundred dollars toward the burial of a veteran or a veteran’s spouse whose estate and family cannot pay.
South Dakota Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption
Two hundred thousand dollars of the full and true value of an owner-occupied dwelling is exempt for a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected…
Gate: Rated permanently and totally disabled; Permanence is part of the test, not an extra; Permanent unemployability is the other route; Permanence on the unemployability route too
South Dakota Free Pheasant Hunt for Disabled Veterans and Purple Heart Recipients
A nonprofit may host a free special pheasant hunt for veterans rated twenty percent or more, or receiving special monthly compensation at rate K, and for Purple Heart recipients.
Gate: Twenty percent, or special monthly compensation at rate K
South Dakota Free Recording and Release of a Discharge Certificate
A veteran records a discharge certificate with the county register of deeds free, and certified copies go free to a listed set of people.
South Dakota Free Tuition for Wartime Veterans
One month of free undergraduate tuition for each month of qualifying service, never less than one academic year and never more than four, at a Regents university or a technical…
Gate: Ten percent, but only on the disability route in
South Dakota Free Tuition for a Child of a Veteran Who Died in Service
Free tuition at a Regents university or technical college for a resident child under twenty-five of a veteran who died from any cause while in the armed forces.
South Dakota Has No Income Tax on Military Pay or Retired Pay
There is no state individual income tax, so military retired pay, drill pay, VA compensation and a survivor annuity are all untaxed by the state without an exemption, a cap, a…
South Dakota Headstone Setting and Private Marker Stipend
Up to $200 to set a federal headstone, or $100 toward a privately bought stone with the veteran’s military details etched on the back.
South Dakota Honorary High School Diploma for Wartime Veterans
A veteran who served in the Second World War, Korea, or between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975 may request an honorary high school diploma from any school district in the…
South Dakota Housing Authority Rental Preference for Veterans
As between equally needy and equally eligible applicants, a municipal or county housing authority must prefer the family of a service member or veteran, and one admission…
South Dakota Hunting and Fishing for Active Duty Members
A resident stationed outside the state hunts small game and fishes with no licence and no fee, a nonresident on active duty can buy a three-day waterfowl licence, and a big game…
South Dakota Lifetime State Park Entrance License
A lifetime park entrance licence and a fifty percent camping discount for a resident veteran with a total service-connected disability, a K Award, or prisoner of war status.
South Dakota Military Specialty License Plates
Nineteen plates, from a plain veteran plate to the Medal of Honor, each with its own eligibility rule.
South Dakota National Guard State Active Duty Pay and Protections
Federal pay rates on state active duty, medical care at state expense and full pay until a medical board clears an injured member, expense reimbursement, and state law extending…
South Dakota National Guard Tuition Benefit
One hundred percent of in-state resident tuition for a member of the South Dakota National Guard, undergraduate and graduate, and since 2024 at in-state private nonprofit…
South Dakota Paraplegic Veteran Dwelling Exemption
A wheelchair home owned and occupied by a paraplegic veteran, a veteran with loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, or the unremarried widow or widower, is exempt from…
South Dakota Professional Licensing for Veterans and Military Spouses
Three separate routes: restoration of a licence held at the time of induction, credit for military training toward licensing requirements, and a thirty-day expedited licence for…
South Dakota Property Tax Exemption for a Surviving Spouse
The same $200,000 exemption passes to a surviving spouse, and there are two ways in: the veteran was permanently and totally disabled, or the spouse receives DIC for a…
South Dakota Property Tax Reduction for Paraplegics
A separate income-scaled reduction of 25 to 100 percent of the tax on a single-family dwelling owned and occupied by a paraplegic.
South Dakota Reduced Fee Hunting and Fishing License
A combined resident small game and fishing licence for a ten dollar fee, valid four calendar years, on a forty percent service-connected allotment, a K Award, a forty percent…
Gate: Forty percent, on the VA route in
South Dakota Registration Fee Exemption for a Disabled Veteran Plate
Five plates come free of annual registration fees, and since 2024 a disabled veteran can take an ordinary county plate instead and keep the exemption.
South Dakota Removal Protection for a Veteran in Public Employment
A veteran holding a public position cannot be removed except for incompetency or misconduct, after notice, stated charges and a hearing, with the burden of proof on the employer.
South Dakota Resident Tuition for Veterans and Military Families
A veteran, an active duty member, and the spouse or child of either are classified as resident students with no twelve-month waiting period.
South Dakota State Employee Military Differential Pay
A state employee activated into Title 10 or Title 32 service other than for training is paid the difference between state salary and military pay and allowances, at least…
South Dakota State Veterans Cemetery
Burial at no cost for an eligible veteran at Sioux Falls, with a spouse or dependent fee capped by statute at the federal plot allowance and currently $1,002.
South Dakota Tuition for a Child or Spouse of a Disabled or Deceased Guard Member
Tuition without cost at a Regents institution or a technical college where a South Dakota National Guard member died or became totally and permanently disabled on duty.
South Dakota Tuition for a Dependent of a Prisoner of War or Person Missing in Action
Eight semesters free of tuition and mandatory fees for a child or spouse of a South Dakota prisoner of war or person missing in action.
South Dakota Veteran Designation on a Driver License
A veteran designation is added to a driver licence, permit or nondriver identification card on request, free, with a list of accepted proofs.
South Dakota Veterans Bonus
A cash bonus of up to $500 per qualifying period, still open with no closing date, for a veteran who was a South Dakota resident for six months before entering service.
Gate: Ten percent or more pays the flat $500
South Dakota Veterans Preference in Public Employment
A veteran gets preference for appointment, employment and promotion at every level of government in the state, an interview as of right if minimally qualified, and mandamus to…
What the South Dakota Veterans Home Takes From an Estate
A resident who dies without legal dependents and without a will leaves the whole estate to the home as sole heir.
Who Counts as a Veteran in South Dakota
The widest definition in this catalog. Serving the full obligation for reserve or National Guard service is enough, with no minimum days and no deployment.
79 federal benefits apply here as well and are left off this page; the place page lists them.