Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption in Hawaii (2026)

Last reviewed August 26, 2026. Every figure, form and deadline on this page is re-checked against the state’s own government sources once a quarter, and the date above is updated when we do it.

Hawaii does not run a state property tax exemption for disabled veterans. The old state law, Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 246-29, was repealed in 2016 because property tax authority belongs to the four counties. Each county, Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii County (the Big Island), Maui and Kauai, runs its own exemption, with its own rating threshold, its own paperwork, and its own dollar figure. There is no single “Hawaii number” to quote.

You will still see the repealed statute cited online as if it were current law. It shows the exact rule the counties copied when they wrote their own versions, but it is not what actually governs your tax bill today. Your county’s ordinance is.

How much is the Hawaii exemption worth?

County	Rating needed	What you pay or get exempted
Honolulu (Oahu)	Totally disabled due to injuries received while on duty	Exempt from all property tax except the county’s minimum tax, currently $300 a year
Hawaii County (Big Island)	100% disabled, or 100% unemployable (TDIU), or both	Exempt from all property tax except 50% of the minimum tax, which works out to $100 on a home where the standard $200 minimum applies, less on smaller improvement values
Maui	70% or higher, defined as “severely disabled”	Flat $150 a year in place of the normal assessment-based bill
Kauai	80% or higher	Exempt from all property tax except a $150 minimum tax ($75 if you also qualify for the additional income exemption)
	Below 80%	Up to $50,000 of taxable value exempted, on top of the regular home exemption

Every one of these numbers comes from the county’s own code or its Real Property Assessment / Real Property Tax office, not from a state agency, because there is no state agency running this benefit anymore.

Why sites still quote a Hawaii state statute

Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 246-29, titled “Homes of totally disabled veterans,” used to be the source everyone cited. It is still floating around on legal-reference sites with its full, pre-2016 text: a total exemption from “all property taxes, other than special assessments,” for a totally disabled veteran, their spouse, or their unmarried surviving spouse. That text is not current law. Chapter 246 was repealed in its entirety by Act 52 of the 2016 legislative session. The Department of Taxation’s own announcement on the change says plainly that the power to tax real property was transferred to the counties by amendment to the state constitution, so keeping chapters 246 and 246A on the books “have no effect,” and their repeal is administrative cleanup rather than a policy change. Each county had already been running the substance of the old statute through its own code for decades; the state repeal just removed the dead text that no longer did anything.

Practically, that means the number you actually get depends entirely on which island you live on, and you have to go to that county’s office, not a Hawaii state agency, for the form, the verification process and the current dollar figures.

Who qualifies in Hawaii?

Because this is four separate county programs, “who qualifies” is really four separate answers. All four share the same backbone: the disability has to be service-connected, from an injury received while on duty with the U.S. Armed Forces, and the county can require proof.

• Honolulu, Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Section 8-10.5. You must be “totally disabled due to injuries received while on duty with the armed forces of the United States.” The home must be owned and occupied as your principal residence, or owned jointly with your spouse and occupied by either or both of you. Only one home per person, and any portion used commercially does not qualify. There is no explicit percentage written into the ordinance itself, current practice is to certify total disability with your VA rating decision.
• Hawaii County, Hawai’i County Code Section 19-73. The rating language is exact: “100 percent disabled or 100 percent unemployable, or both, due to injuries received while on duty.” This is the one county code that explicitly names TDIU alongside a schedular 100% rating. Proof of disability or unemployable status from the VA can substitute for the county’s usual certification.
• Maui, Maui County Code Section 3.48.475. The threshold is a defined term, “severely disabled,” set at 70 percent or higher by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The county verifies your rating directly with the VA. The severe disability has to be the result of a service-connected injury while on duty.
• Kauai, Kauai County Code Section 5A-11.4. Two tiers by rating: 80 percent or higher gets the near-full exemption, and a rating “less than eighty percent (80%)” gets the $50,000 taxable-value exemption instead. Final determination comes from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

None of the four counties means-tests this exemption. Your income does not affect eligibility on any island.

Surviving spouses

Honolulu, Hawaii County and Kauai all continue the exemption to an unmarried surviving spouse who keeps living in the home as a principal residence. Honolulu’s form will accept a claim from a widow or widower even when the veteran never filed while alive, as long as the family can document that the veteran would have qualified. Maui runs a separate flat $150 rate for the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran who died while on duty in military service, which is not the same population as the severely-disabled-veteran rate, read the county form carefully if this applies to you.

Can the exemption be used before closing?

Hawaii does not use a fixed ownership date like Ohio’s January 1 rule. Instead, Honolulu and Hawaii County tie the exemption to your county’s next tax payment: file your claim before the cutoff for that payment (roughly June 30 for the August billing and December 31 for the February billing) and the exemption applies starting with that next payment, not a full tax year later. Maui and Kauai run their own annual filing deadlines (December 31 for Maui’s current cycle, September 30 for Kauai) rather than a payment-by-payment window. In all four counties, though, the county still has to review and approve your claim before the reduced bill exists.

Four states put a pre-purchase determination in the statute. Hawaii is not one of them

State rule. Four states let a qualifying veteran get something in writing from the taxing authority before they own the home:

• Virginia: file the normal exemption paperwork plus documentation of the purchase agreement and the commissioner of the revenue must process it and send an approval or denial letter, with the exemption amount, within 20 business days. Va. Code § 58.1-3219.6(B). The exemption itself takes effect only after you become the owner.
• Maryland: you may apply for a specific dwelling you intend to purchase, and the Department of Assessments and Taxation must send a preliminary approval or denial, with the amount, within 15 business days. Md. Code, Tax-Property § 7-208(d)(5). No second application is needed once you own it.
• Utah: a qualifying disabled veteran claimant may apply before owning the residence with a real estate purchase contract, filed in the county where the home sits, and the county must send a receipt with preliminary approval or denial and the calculated amount within 15 business days. Utah Code § 59-2a-502(5).
• Alabama: for closings on or after October 1, 2026, the tax assessing official issues a tentative certificate of permanent and total disability before purchase, within 20 days, and the statute says a settlement agent or loan closing officer may not consider the homestead ad valorem taxes when calculating debt-to-income once you hand over that certificate. Ala. Code § 40-9-21.3.

One correction worth having, because it gets repeated a lot: outside of Alabama these laws bind the county or the state tax office, not your lender. They force the taxing authority to answer you in writing before closing. They do not order a lender to waive or exclude the tax. Alabama is the only one of the four that reaches into the loan file itself. North Carolina has a bill that would add a prequalification process, House Bill 94, which passed the House 112 to 0 in May 2025 and has sat in Senate Rules since. It is not law, so do not plan around it.

In Hawaii it is a lender decision, so shop it

Lender overlay and market practice. There is no Hawaii statute telling the taxing authority to pre-approve you before you own the home, so whether this benefit helps you qualify comes down to lender policy. Here is what that looks like in practice, from lender guidance we collected directly in August 2026:

• Some lenders will use the reduced tax figure before closing, and some will not. One wholesale lender told us plainly it will consider a veteran real estate tax exemption and a reduced property tax number in the qualifying payment, as long as underwriting gets the local exemption rules and proof you meet them. If the documentation is short, underwriting uses the full tax amount instead. Another wholesaler checks it state by state and county by county on every single closing. If your lender says no, that is not the final answer on the benefit. It is that lender’s answer. Ask another one.
• Every lender will require proof of eligibility if the lower tax is doing work in your file. If the reduced tax is what lowers your debt ratio or raises your residual income, expect to document it: your VA rating decision or award letter showing the qualifying disability, the taxing authority’s own published exemption rules, and usually the completed exemption application. One lender’s VA guide requires proof of 100 percent disability from VA plus a copy of the completed county application for property tax exemption, and where the application has to be notarized it takes an unsigned copy up front and conditions it to be signed at closing.

Lender overlays apply everywhere. State permission is not lender permission. One large investor allows the anticipated reduced tax for qualifying only for primary residences in California, Florida, Maryland, Texas, Utah and Virginia, and only with proof the veteran applied to the taxing authority before the note date. Hawaii is not on that list.

Practically, ask your loan officer two questions before you write an offer: will you use a reduced tax figure to qualify me, and will you waive the tax escrow. Different lenders give different answers on the same file, and that is normal, not a mistake.

What we can do instead: waive the escrow

If the exemption cannot be counted yet, the fallback is to not escrow the taxes at all, so your monthly housing expense is not carrying twelve months of a tax bill that is about to shrink. VA does not require escrows, so this is a lender and investor decision, and many will allow it on a strong file. There are lenders that will waive the tax escrow on a VA loan even when the property taxes have not been waived yet, so this is a real option and not a rare favor. Some will waive it with no restrictions at all, others want the eligibility proof and the correct paperwork in the file first. Waiving escrow does not require the taxing authority to approve anything, which is why it is usually the easier ask of the two. Understand the tradeoff: with no escrow account, you pay the taxing authority directly and you are on your own for those tax bills until the exemption is actually approved, and approval can take a while. Budget for it and pay the bill on time; a delinquent tax bill on a home you just bought is an expensive way to save a few dollars of monthly payment.

One more VA rule to know, because it runs the other way. On estimating taxes, Chapter 4 says “If taxes are expected to increase, use the increased amount.” There is no matching VA instruction that lets an underwriter write down your taxes, which is why the reduction is always a lender option and never a VA entitlement. The Chapter 4 text is here if you want to read it.

Plan for the gap between closing and approval

These applications take a while to process, and the taxing authority’s calendar does not wait for your loan. A tax bill can come due between your closing date and the day your exemption is approved, and you are the owner, so that bill is yours. That can include taxes attributable to the period the prior owner held the home. One lender’s VA guide makes it explicit and requires a signed letter of explanation from the veteran borrower stating they are solely responsible for the property taxes owed for the prior owner. Keep the money set aside and do not assume the first bill will be reduced, especially if you waived escrow and Hawaii is billing you directly.

How to apply in Hawaii, county by county

There is no single Hawaii form. File with the county where the property sits.

1. Honolulu. File Claim for Exemption, Homes of Totally Disabled Veterans (Form BFS-RP-E-8-10.5), with a copy of your VA disability rating letter or a physician’s certificate of total disability. Download the current fillable form and the continuance form (E-8-10.5A) from the Real Property Assessment Division’s Totally Disabled Veterans page. Email and fax are not accepted, mail or hand-deliver to the Honolulu or Kapolei office. File on or before June 30 for the exemption to apply to the first-half payment due in August, or on or before December 31 for the second-half payment due in February.
2. Hawaii County. File the disabled or unemployable veterans claim (Form 19-73) with the county’s Real Property Tax Division, along with your VA determination letter. See the Hawai’i County Real Property Tax Division page for current contacts and forms. Same statewide filing pattern applies: on or before June 30 for the first-half payment, on or before December 31 for the second-half payment.
3. Maui. File the Disability Exemption for Severely Disabled Veteran claim under Maui County Code Section 3.48.475, with the Real Property Assessment Division verifying your service-connected rating directly with the VA. Get the current claim form from Maui County’s document center (PDF download). Deadline is December 31 for the following assessment year, and Maui recommends emailing the form with your VA verification to the Real Property Assessment Division.
4. Kauai. File RP Form P-6, plus a Claim for Home Exemption (Form P-3) if you do not already have one on file, with the county’s Real Property Tax office. See Kauai County’s exemption and tax relief page for the current forms. Deadline is September 30.

Finding your county office if you are not sure which one you are in: Hawaii has only four counties, so there is no statewide directory to hunt through. Honolulu is the island of Oahu, Hawaii County is the Big Island, and Maui County covers Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Use the office page for whichever island your property is on, linked above.

All four counties require you to remain at the qualifying disability level to keep the exemption, and a change in your VA rating is something you are expected to report.

Can you get a refund of a prior payment?

Hawaii’s counties do not run a formal statewide “prior year refund” process the way some states do, because most of them tie the exemption to the next payment rather than a calendar tax year. If you file before the cutoff for the payment that has not gone out yet, that payment itself carries the reduction, there is no separate refund step needed for it. If you file after a payment has already been billed or paid, you generally cannot recover that specific payment, the reduction picks up with the next one.

If you believe an already-approved exemption was left off a bill in error, or your VA rating changed retroactively, contact your county’s Real Property Assessment or Real Property Tax office directly. Corrections and any available credit are handled case by case at the county level, not through a state form.

Other Hawaii programs for disabled veterans

Property tax is the biggest recurring housing cost most veterans deal with, but Hawaii has a few other programs worth knowing about, all administered by state or county agencies rather than a mortgage lender.

• Military retirement pay is fully exempt from Hawaii income tax (state). Under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 235-7(a)(3), military retirement pay is treated as a government pension for past services and excluded from Hawaii adjusted gross income, with no age requirement and no dollar cap. VA disability compensation is not taxable income to begin with, at the state or federal level. HRS 235-7.
• Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery and neighbor-island veteran cemeteries (state). The Office of Veterans’ Services maintains the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery at Kaneohe on Oahu and supports veteran cemeteries on the Big Island, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Burial there is separate from, and can be used alongside, the VA’s own national cemetery and burial benefits. Hawaii Office of Veterans’ Services, Benefits and Services.
• Adapting a home for a service-connected disability (federal). The VA’s Specially Adapted Housing and Special Home Adaptation grants pay to build or modify a home for certain service-connected disabilities, and can be used alongside a VA loan in Hawaii the same as anywhere else. These are federal benefits, not Hawaii programs.

Hawaii disabled veteran property tax FAQs

Is there a Hawaii state disabled veteran property tax exemption?

No, not anymore. Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 246, which used to hold the state’s disabled veteran exemption at section 246-29, was repealed in its entirety in 2016. The State Department of Taxation’s own announcement says the repeal was a cleanup because the power to tax real property had already moved to the counties. Sites that still quote HRS 246-29 as current law are quoting a dead statute. Each county now runs its own exemption under its own code.

How much does the exemption save on Oahu?

A totally disabled veteran’s home on Oahu is exempt from all real property tax except the city’s minimum tax, currently $300 a year, under Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Section 8-10.5. On a home that would otherwise carry a $4,000 or $6,000 annual bill, that is most of the tax gone.

What rating do I need in Hawaii County, Maui and Kauai?

Hawaii County requires a 100 percent disability rating, or 100 percent unemployability (TDIU), or both, and cuts the minimum tax in half. Maui sets the bar at 70 percent or higher, called ‘severely disabled,’ and charges a flat $150 a year instead of the normal bill. Kauai splits into two tiers: 80 percent or higher gets the same near-total exemption as the other islands, and anything under 80 percent gets a $50,000 taxable-value exemption instead.

Does a lower VA rating still help in Hawaii?

On Kauai, yes. A veteran rated below 80 percent still gets up to $50,000 of taxable value exempted under the county’s disability exemption, on top of the regular home exemption. Honolulu, Hawaii County and Maui do not have a partial tier, their programs are built around one disability threshold per county.

Can a surviving spouse keep the exemption?

Yes on Oahu, Hawaii County and Kauai, as long as the spouse stays unmarried and keeps living in the home as their principal residence. Honolulu will even grant it to a widow or widower when the veteran never filed while alive, as long as the family can show the veteran would have qualified. Maui pays its own flat $150 rate to the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran who died while on duty.

Can I get the exemption on a house I am buying right now?

It depends on when you file, not on owning the home on a fixed date like January 1. Honolulu and Hawaii County apply the exemption starting with the next tax payment if you file before that payment’s cutoff (roughly June 30 for the August bill, December 31 for the February bill). Maui and Kauai run on their own annual deadlines. Buy and file in time and you can see the reduction sooner than in most states, but the county still has to approve the claim, and a lender will not count it before that approval exists.

Can a lender use the exemption before my county approves it?

If your county has already approved the exemption, your tax bill really is lower, and that lower number is the one a lender uses. On a purchase the exemption is not on record yet at closing, so most lenders build the file on the full, non-exempt tax bill, and an escrow waiver is the usual fallback so you are not carrying twelve months of a bill that is about to shrink.

Where to go next

• Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Guide, every state’s exemption, form and deadline in one directory
• Property tax discounts for veterans on VA disability, the national overview
• Funding Fee Waivers and Refunds Guide, the fee is waived outright at a 10 percent rating or higher, and can be refunded if you already paid it
• VA loans, the basics
• Hawaii Dept. of Taxation, Announcement 2016-07 (PDF download), confirming the 2016 repeal of the old state veteran exemption statute