Veteran benefits in Johnson County, Indiana
- Benefits you can claim here
- 17
- Property tax rate
- 0.75
- effective rate, ACS 2023 five-year
- A deduction from the assessed value of your homestead, typical home
- $0
- a year at this county rate
- Veterans in this county
- 8,835
- US Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop2023 county model, as of 9/30/2025
What to do, in Johnson County
The process is the same across Indiana for the statewide records. Only the office and the tax rate change.
Find what applies to you
17 benefits reach Johnson County. Browse them below.
Check whether you qualify
Open any benefit and answer a few questions about that one specifically.
Get your proof
A VA Benefit Summary Letter from VA.gov covers most of them, in about two minutes.
File with Johnson County
Form DR-501 to the Property Appraiser before March 1. File even without your letter.
How much is a property tax exemption worth in Johnson County?
The rate shown is the county's effective property tax rate - aggregate taxes actually paid divided by aggregate home value, from the Census ACS 2023 five-year file. Every overlapping levy, credit and cap is already inside it, which makes it the honest basis for sizing an exemption's dollar value.
These are example savings for a typical home in this county, not an estimate of your own bill. Your actual saving depends on your assessed value, your taxing districts, and how this exemption interacts with any others you hold.
| Effective rate | what homeowners here actually paid |
|---|---|
| Basis | ACS 2023 five-year aggregates |
| A deduction from the assessed value of your homestead (Ind. Code §6-1.1-12-14) | about $0 a year against the county rate |
| Total exemption (Ind. Code §6-1.1-12-14) | the entire bill — about $1,875 a year against the county rate on a typical $250,000 value, and more once your other taxing units are added |
| Where to file | Johnson County county auditor |
| Deadline | January 5, every year |
Which document does the Johnson County county auditor accept?
Statute sets the floor; the office picks the paperwork.
Easiest · VA Benefit Summary Letter
Sign in at VA.gov, choose Download VA Letters, then Benefit Summary — Veteran Benefits.
All 17 benefits you can claim in Johnson County
All 92 Indiana counties get the same statewide law.
recreation(2)
The Golden Hoosier Passport — $25 a Year, and Free by Post for Former POWs
A $25 annual passport giving unlimited admission to Indiana's state-owned parks, recreation areas, reservoirs and forests, for veterans who meet the Disabled Hoosier Veteran plate criteria. Former prisoners of war receive the pass AUTOMATICALLY BY POST — they do not apply. Historic sites and museums are outside it.
$25 a year for unlimited state park entry — free and automatic for former POWs
Disabled American Veteran Hunting and Fishing Licence
$2.75 for a year, or $27.50 for ten years, for a resident veteran with a service-connected disability — fishing and small game. No minimum percentage is stated: any service-connected rating reaches it, and so does disability retirement through the Department of Defense.
$2.75 a year, or $27.50 for ten years
education(3)
A No-Cost High School Diploma for the War That Interrupted School
Indiana issues a state high school diploma, at no cost, to an honorably discharged veteran who attended an Indiana high school in good standing and left before graduating to serve during the Second World War (7 December 1941 to 31 December 1946), Korea (27 June 1950 to 31 January 1955) or Vietnam (5 August 1964 to 7 May 1975).
A state high school diploma, at no cost
Tuition and Fees Exempt for a Purple Heart Recipient
Indiana exempts a Purple Heart recipient from tuition and fees for up to 124 credit hours at Indiana public institutions — and pays up to $5,000 a year at private non-profits for students who graduated high school in 2023 or later. The Purple Heart is the whole gate; no disability rating is involved. Apply through ScholarTrack with a FAFSA every year.
Tuition and fees for up to 124 credit hours, or $5,000 a year at a private non-profit
Tuition and Fee Exemption — Children of Disabled Veterans, POWs, MIAs and Purple Heart Recipients
Up to 100% of tuition and fees for 124 credit hours — but if your parent enlisted after 1 July 2011 the coverage is 20% plus their disability rating. Eligibility is wider than disability alone: children of veterans with hazardous peacetime duty carrying a service or campaign medal and a service-connected rating, children of POW or MIA service members, children of Purple Heart recipients, and former students of the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home all qualify. Apply through ScholarTrack, with a FAFSA every year.
Up to 100% of tuition and regularly assessed fees, for up to 124 semester credit hours
burial(2)
Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery — No-Cost Burial at Madison
Burial at the Indiana Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Madison carries no charge for opening and closing the plot, the outer burial container, the monument, or use of the chapel. It takes veterans separated under conditions other than dishonorable, Guard members and reservists who die while serving, and active duty line-of-duty deaths. Casket burial, in-ground cremation, a columbarium and a scatter garden are all available.
No charge for opening and closing, the outer burial container, the monument or the chapel
The County Burial Allowance — Up to $1,000, and Your County Sets the Figure
Indiana counties pay a burial allowance for a deceased Indiana-resident member of the armed forces. The statutory ceiling is up to $1,000, but the ACTUAL amount is set by county ordinance — Hamilton County publishes $500, which is itself the proof that the figure varies. Claims run through the County Veteran Service Officer to the board of commissioners. There is no disability requirement.
Up to $1,000 by statute — your county's ordinance sets the actual figure
vehicles(3)
Indiana Veteran Plates — Hoosier Veteran, Purple Heart, Ex-POW and Gold Star
Indiana issues a family of veteran plates through the BMV with eligibility verified by the veterans department. The Hoosier Veteran plate is $15 on production of a DD-214 showing honorable separation, with personalisation a further $45. The Gold Star plate is free. The Purple Heart and Ex-POW plates go to recipients and former prisoners of war. Two of the plates fund veterans programmes: POW-MIA proceeds go to the Veterans Assistance Trust Fund, and Support Our Troops proceeds to the Military Family Relief Fund.
Hoosier Veteran plate $15; Gold Star free; Purple Heart and Ex-POW for recipients
A Vehicle Excise Tax Credit for Disabled Veterans Who Own No Qualifying Property
Indiana gives a credit against vehicle excise tax to a veteran with 90 or more days of service and an honorable discharge, holding a veterans department certificate of eligibility, who does NOT own property the disabled-veteran property tax deduction can be applied to. It exists precisely for the veteran who rents. A statute mirror shows the lesser of the excise due or $70 per vehicle, for up to two vehicles a registration year, claimed on State Form 52870 — but those figures could not be confirmed on an official page this session.
A credit against vehicle excise tax — a statute mirror shows $70 per vehicle, up to two
Disabled Hoosier Veteran Plate — Free Metered Parking Statewide
A veteran rated at least 50% — or one with service-connected loss of sight, loss of use of hands or feet, or a rating for a condition that precludes walking without pain — displays the Disabled Hoosier Veteran plate, and the statute forbids charging that vehicle a fee in any metered parking space.
Disabled Hoosier Veteran plate on any non-commercial vehicle class; no fee may be charged in metered parking spaces
other(3)
Military Family Relief Fund — Emergency Grants up to $2,500
Indiana pays emergency grants for hardship expenses — housing, utilities, food, medical costs, transport — to a resident veteran or servicemember with an eligible discharge or separation code and demonstrated financial hardship. The LIFETIME maximum is $2,500, unless the Veterans Affairs Commission approves more. There is no disability requirement.
Up to $2,500 in a lifetime for hardship expenses
Indiana Deducts Active and Reserve Military Pay
Indiana lets a resident deduct the actual amount of active or reserve military pay received. Combat-zone pay already exempt federally is not deducted twice. There is a SEPARATE deduction for Guard and reserve income earned on involuntary-order mobilisation, so a mobilised member should check both.
The actual amount of active or reserve military pay, deducted
Indiana Deducts Military Retirement in Full
From tax year 2022 the deduction equals the entire amount of military retirement income and survivor benefits.
The whole of your military retirement and survivor benefits, deducted
Filing in Johnson County
- Office
- Johnson County Property Appraiser
- Form
- DR-501 for most exemptions; DR-501DV for the combat-related discount; DR-501M for a deployment exemption.
- Deadline
- March 1, every year. Missing it costs the whole tax year — there is no late route back in.
Free help in Johnson County
Johnson County has a County Veteran Service Officer, and their help is free. Go to them for anything touching a federal VA disability claim.
Nobody should charge you to claim the benefits on this page. Unaccredited operators charging fees for VA claims are a real and growing problem.
Common questions about Johnson County veteran benefits
- What can I claim here?
- The Indiana statewide records apply in every county. We have not researched county-level programmes here, so this page shows state law and complete geography rather than a local layer.
- What is it worth in this county?
- Dollar figures use the county's EFFECTIVE property tax rate - what homeowners there actually paid per dollar of home value, from the Census ACS 2023 five-year file. It is an estimate for sizing a saving; the levy table on your own bill governs.
- Where do I file for a veteran property tax exemption in Johnson County?
- File with your county auditor. The form and deadline are on each benefit record.
- What document does the Johnson County county auditor accept as proof?
- The statute sets what must be proved. An office may tell you which document it prefers, but it may not add a requirement the statute does not contain. We have not researched per-county document quirks in Indiana.
Other counties
- Adams
- Allen
- Bartholomew
- Benton
- Blackford
- Boone
- Brown
- Carroll
- Cass
- Clark
- Clay
- Clinton
- Crawford
- Daviess
- Dearborn
- Decatur
- DeKalb
- Delaware
- Dubois
- Elkhart
- Fayette
- Floyd
- Fountain
- Franklin
- Fulton
- Gibson
- Grant
- Greene
- Hamilton
- Hancock
- Harrison
- Hendricks
- Henry
- Howard
- Huntington
- Jackson
- Jasper
- Jay
- Jefferson
- Jennings
- Knox
- Kosciusko
- LaGrange
- Lake
- LaPorte
- Lawrence
- Madison
- Marion
- Marshall
- Martin
- Miami
- Monroe
- Montgomery
- Morgan
- Newton
- Noble
- Ohio
- Orange
- Owen
- Parke
- Perry
- Pike
- Porter
- Posey
- Pulaski
- Putnam
- Randolph
- Ripley
- Rush
- St. Joseph
- Scott
- Shelby
- Spencer
- Starke
- Steuben
- Sullivan
- Switzerland
- Tippecanoe
- Tipton
- Union
- Vanderburgh
- Vermillion
- Vigo
- Wabash
- Warren
- Warrick
- Washington
- Wayne
- Wells
- White
- Whitley
This is an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. Veterans Alliance is privately owned and is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Geography from the US Census; veteran population from the VA VetPop2023 county model.