No Vehicle Licence Tax or Registration Fee for a Purple Heart Recipient
A.R.S. 28-5802(C) exempts one personally owned vehicle from the vehicle licence tax and the registration fee for a bona fide Purple Heart recipient with an honorable discharge. No disability rating is involved. Because Arizona's vehicle licence tax is value-based and charged annually, the saving recurs every year for as long as you hold the vehicle.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
A.R.S. 28-5802(C) exempts one personally owned vehicle from the vehicle licence tax and the registration fee for a bona fide Purple Heart recipient with an honorable discharge. No disability rating is involved. Because Arizona's vehicle licence tax is value-based and charged annually, the saving recurs every year for as long as you hold the vehicle.
What it's worth: No vehicle licence tax and no registration fee on one vehicle
- The route is the Purple Heart plus an honorable discharge. There is no disability rating requirement.
- It covers ONE personally owned vehicle.
- Satisfactory proof of the decoration is required at initial registration.
- Arizona's vehicle licence tax is value-based and annual, so the saving repeats every year and is larger on a newer vehicle.
- The surviving-spouse continuation in 28-5802(A)(2) is written on the 100% disability route. Whether it reaches this route is not established from the sources reviewed.
Who is entitled to it
- You served in the U.S. armed forces.
- You were awarded the Purple Heart.
- You were discharged honorably.
- You register a vehicle in Arizona.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Claim it at INITIAL registration, with satisfactory proof of the Purple Heart. That is when the statute asks for the proof.
- 2Take the award citation as well as the DD-214.
- 3Do not be asked for a disability rating. This route does not involve one, and being told it does is a reason to cite 28-5802(C).
- 4It covers one personally owned vehicle. Choose the one with the highest value — the tax is value-based.
- Form
- MVD exemption at registration
- File with
- Arizona Motor Vehicle Division
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
Sources
- authority · statuteA.R.S. 28-5802(C)
- operating · published policyADOT Motor Vehicle Division
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