Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption in Mississippi (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.

Mississippi’s disabled veteran property tax exemption wipes out all ad valorem property tax on your homestead if you are an honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected total disability. It is not a partial credit like the exemption for age or general disability. But it is capped at the first $7,500 of assessed value and 160 acres of homestead property, the same ceiling Mississippi uses for its regular age/disability homestead exemption. You file the application with your county Tax Assessor between January 1 and April 1.

You will see this described online as an exemption with no cap at all. That is only half true, and further down I show you exactly where the cap sits and where it comes from.

How much is the Mississippi exemption worth?

Tier	Who	Amount
Tier 1, Regular	Homeowner under 65, not totally disabled	Tax credit up to $300, based on assessed value
Tier 2, Age/Disability	65 or older, or totally disabled under the Social Security Act, Railroad Retirement Act or IRS disability rules, by January 1	Exempt on the first $7,500 of assessed value (about $75,000 of true value), up to 160 acres
Tier 3, Total Exemption	Honorably discharged veteran with service-connected total disability, honorably discharged veteran age 90+, or the unremarried surviving spouse of either, or the unremarried surviving spouse of a service member killed on active duty	All ad valorem tax exempted on the same $7,500 assessed value / 160 acre homestead

Tiers 2 and 3 both sit on the identical $7,500-of-assessed-value, 160-acre homestead. The difference is what happens inside that box. Tier 2 gets a partial credit computed from a statutory table. Tier 3, the veteran tier, gets the whole tax bill on that capped homestead wiped to zero.

Where the cap actually is

Mississippi assesses an owner-occupied home (Class I property) at 10 percent of its true, or market, value. $7,500 of assessed value is therefore roughly $75,000 of market value. If your home and land are worth more than that, or your land exceeds 160 acres, the exemption still zeroes out the tax on the first $75,000 and 160 acres, but the value and acreage above that line are assessed and taxed the normal way.

National guides and some benefits sites describe this as an exemption with no dollar limit at all, because Mississippi’s own consumer-facing homestead page talks about being “exempt from all property taxes on their qualifying homesteads” without repeating the cap on that page. The cap is real, and it comes from the state’s own administrative rule, not from a blog’s guess:

Most disabled veteran homeowners in Mississippi will still see their whole tax bill disappear, because a typical Mississippi home and lot fall under the $75,000 true value and 160 acre lines. If you own a larger or more expensive property, or acreage, tell your Tax Assessor’s office you want the exact split between the exempt and taxable portion before you count on a $0 bill.

Who qualifies in Mississippi?

To claim the total exemption in Mississippi you need to fit one of these categories, as of January 1 of the tax year:

• Service-connected, total disability as an American veteran who was honorably discharged from military service. The statute does not define this further than that.
• An honorably discharged American veteran age 90 or older on or before January 1 of the year claimed.
• The unremarried surviving spouse of a veteran who qualified under either category above.
• The unremarried surviving spouse of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces who was killed or died on active duty, or of a National Guard or reserve member who was killed or died on active duty for training.

You also have to meet Mississippi’s general homestead rules: own and occupy the home as your primary residence, be the head of a family, be a Mississippi resident, and stay current on Mississippi income tax and the road and bridge privilege tax on your vehicle registration. Falling behind on either can get a homestead exemption disallowed, veteran or not.

Do you need a 100 percent VA rating specifically?

The statute says “service-connected, total disability” and does not say the rating has to come from a particular VA schedule or that it excludes individual unemployability. A county tax collector asked the Mississippi Attorney General’s office about this directly in 2025, for a veteran who works a private-sector job while carrying a total and permanent VA disability rating:

In practice, bring your VA award letter showing the total or 100 percent service-connected rating and your DD214, and let your county Tax Assessor tell you if they want anything else.

No income test on this exemption

Unlike some states, Mississippi does not add an income ceiling on top of the veteran exemption. The income-related rule that does apply to everyone is that you and your spouse must have filed and paid Mississippi income tax as residents, not because of how much you earn, but because filing as a non-resident or being delinquent disqualifies the whole homestead exemption.

Can the exemption be used before closing?

In Mississippi, no. Not for the year you buy. Eligibility is fixed on January 1 of the tax year, and Mississippi adds a paperwork deadline on top of that: the deed has to be filed with the Chancery Clerk’s office before January 7 of that year for the ownership to count. Buy any time in 2026 and the earliest tax year you can claim is 2027. You would apply between January and April of 2027, and Mississippi property taxes for that year come due by February 1, 2028.

Four states put a pre-purchase determination in the statute. Mississippi 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 Mississippi it is a lender decision, so shop it

Lender overlay and market practice. There is no Mississippi 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. Mississippi 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 Mississippi is billing you directly.

How to apply in Mississippi, step by step

1. File with your county Tax Assessor between January 1 and April 1 of the year you are claiming. Mississippi does not post a single statewide homestead application PDF online; applications are only accepted in person at the county Tax Assessor’s office, and the office keeps the original plus copies. Use the Mississippi Secretary of State’s county offices directory (PDF download) to find your county Tax Assessor’s contact information.
2. Bring proof of your disability. Mississippi’s accepted forms of proof include a Veteran’s Consent of Release (Form 72-042), a Report of Confidential Social Security Benefit Information (Form 72-051), Schedule R or Schedule 3 of your federal income tax return, a letter from an employer outlining the disability, or detailed letters from two physicians. For veterans, bring your VA award letter showing the total, service-connected rating and your DD214. Your county Tax Assessor issues these forms and can tell you which one they want.
3. Have your Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses for everyone on the application, the physical address of the property (no P.O. boxes), your purchase price and down payment, your closing statement, and the current tag numbers for every vehicle you or your household owns or possesses.
4. Be current on Mississippi income tax and vehicle registration. Filing as a non-resident, missing an income tax payment, or tagging a vehicle in the wrong place can get the whole homestead exemption disallowed, not just the veteran portion.
5. You do not refile every year once approved, unless your ownership, marital status, occupancy, or eligibility tier changes. A move, divorce, remarriage, or a change in your disability status all trigger a new application in the next filing window.

General background on the whole program, including the definitions cited above, is in the Department of Revenue’s own explanation:

Can you get a refund of prior year taxes?

We did not find a Mississippi provision for a late homestead application or a refund of a prior year you missed. The Department of Revenue’s own guidance is direct about the deadline: you must file on or before April 1 to qualify for that assessment year, with no stated grace period for veterans or anyone else. If you missed a year, the safest assumption is that year is gone, and your priority is filing correctly and on time for the current year.

If your circumstances changed mid-year, for example your VA rating became final after April 1, ask your county Tax Assessor directly whether they have any local mechanism to backdate that year. Practice can vary by county even when the statute is silent, and this is exactly the kind of detail your own Tax Assessor’s office should confirm before you assume either way.

Other Mississippi programs for disabled veterans

The homestead exemption is the big one for a home you own, but Mississippi and the VA offer other help worth knowing about.

• Mississippi Veterans Home Purchase Board / MVHPB loan program (state). The Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board’s loan program helps qualifying veterans and their surviving spouses finance a home purchase in Mississippi, funded by state general obligation bonds and administered separately from a standard VA loan. Ask whether it can be combined with or compared against a VA loan on your file.
• State income tax on military and VA pay. VA disability compensation is not taxable income to begin with, and Mississippi does not tax it. Confirm the current treatment of any military retirement pay with a Mississippi tax preparer, since retirement pay rules can change by legislative session.
• 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 HISA grants cover smaller medical improvements. These are federal VA benefits available regardless of state, and they can be used alongside a VA loan.
• County Veteran Service Officers (county). Every Mississippi county has access to a Veteran Service Officer who can help file VA claims, including the disability rating paperwork you need for this exemption, at no cost. Start there if your rating paperwork is not in order yet.

Mississippi disabled veteran property tax FAQs

How much is Mississippi’s disabled veteran property tax exemption?

If you are an honorably discharged veteran with a service-connected total disability, Mississippi exempts your homestead from all ad valorem property tax, not just a partial credit. The exemption is capped at the first $7,500 of assessed value and 160 acres, the same ceiling that applies to the regular age and disability homestead exemption. Assessed value is 10 percent of true value for an owner-occupied home, so the cap works out to about $75,000 of market value.

Is there really no cap? Some sites say Mississippi’s veteran exemption is uncapped.

That is not accurate. The Mississippi Department of Revenue’s own homestead exemption page describes the veteran benefit as exemption from all taxes on the qualifying homestead, and the Mississippi Administrative Code spells out that the $7,500 assessed value and 160 acre limits on the homestead itself still apply. A veteran’s tax on that capped homestead goes to zero. Value or acreage above the cap is still taxed the normal way.

Do I need a 100 percent VA rating?

The statute says service-connected, total disability as an honorably discharged veteran, and does not define that phrase further. A 2025 opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General’s office concluded the law does not require the veteran to also be unemployed or unemployable in a civilian job, only that the veteran document a service-connected total disability. The Department of Revenue decides what documentation it will accept, and your county Tax Assessor can tell you what they want to see from your VA award letter.

Can an unremarried surviving spouse keep the exemption?

Yes. Mississippi extends the full exemption to the unremarried surviving spouse of a veteran who qualified for it, and separately to the unremarried surviving spouse of a service member or National Guard or reserve member who was killed or died on active duty or active duty for training.

What is the filing deadline in Mississippi?

You file with your county Tax Assessor between January 1 and April 1 of the year you want the exemption for. There is no statewide provision we found for a late application or a refund of a prior year you missed, so file inside that window.

Can I get the exemption on a home I am buying this year?

Not for the current tax year. Mississippi requires you to own and occupy the home, with the deed filed with the Chancery Clerk before January 7, as of January 1 of the tax year. Buy in 2026 and your first eligible tax year is 2027, applied for between January and April 2027.

Can a lender use the exemption before it is on the tax roll?

Only once it is actually on the roll. A lender qualifying a purchase in 2026 has to use the full, non-exempt tax bill because the exemption cannot take effect until tax year 2027. On a refinance of a home where the exemption is already approved, the lower real tax bill is what gets used.

Where to go next

• Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption Guide, every state’s exemption, form and deadline in one directory
• The complete guide to VA home loans
• Property tax discounts for veterans on VA disability, the national overview
• Bad credit VA loans in Mississippi
• 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
• Mississippi Department of Revenue, Homestead Exemption, the current tiers and rules
• Directory of all Mississippi county offices, including Tax Assessors (PDF download) (PDF download)