Iowa veteran benefits
- Verified veteran benefits
- 35
- each with its statute
- Counties covered
- 99
- every one has its own page
- Veterans in this state
- 0.17M
- Rating thresholds that matter
- 0
- each one opens something different
How to use this, in four steps
You are on step 1. Nothing is locked — browse everything first, then check the ones that look relevant.
See what you may be entitled to
Browse every verified benefit in your state. No questions, no account — everything is open.
Check whether you qualify
Open any benefit and answer a few questions about that one. We stop as soon as we know.
Get the letter that shows the finding
A VA Benefit Summary Letter configured to show service connection, the rating and permanence satisfies most offices without disclosing any diagnosis.
File before the deadline
File with the county or city assessor by July 1; once granted, only changes need reporting.
Which of these sounds like you?
Pick one and we will narrow the list. You can change or clear it at any point.
Two things sharpen this a lot
Both optional. Your county decides where you file and what a property tax exemption is actually worth; your rating decides which thresholds you cross.
Where do you live?
We use this once to work out your county, because property tax is decided county by county. No benefit is ever matched on a ZIP code alone.
Your VA disability status
What does my rating actually unlock?
Read the record for the routes that apply in Iowa — permanent 100%, IU paid at 100%, or DIC for a surviving spouse.
39 benefits worth checking
What you appear to qualify for — worth checking.
One question checks 22 of them. You can skip it and keep browsing.
Did you serve in the armed forces?
2 more questions could resolve others. We ask them one at a time.
Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, Ex-POW and Disabled Veteran Plates — First Set Free, and Free City Parking
Iowa issues the first numbered set of Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, Ex-POW and Disabled Veteran plates at NO CHARGE. Additional sets are $25, personalised ones $25 for the first and $50 for additional. A $5 annual validation fee goes to the Veterans Licence Fee Fund and ordinary registration still applies. Since 1 July 2022, a vehicle displaying these plates PARKS FREE at city meters — which is worth more, over a year, than the plates cost.
VeteransApplies statewideFirst numbered set free — and free parking at city meters since July 2022
Read it and check if you qualifySet-Aside Deer and Turkey Licences — Resident Prices for Non-Residents
Iowa reserves 75 non-resident deer licences and 25 wild turkey licences each year for veterans entitled to a service-connected rating of 30% or more, at RESIDENT fees. It is reached through a hunt run by a natural resources department approved organisation providing hunting experiences in Iowa for disabled veterans. This is a benefit for people who do NOT live in Iowa.
VeteransApplies statewide75 deer and 25 turkey non-resident licences a year, at resident prices
Read it and check if you qualifyOperation Recognition — an Honorary Diploma, Back to the First World War
Iowa awards an honorary high school diploma to an honorably discharged veteran who left an Iowa high school without graduating in order to enlist, with service in the First World War (6 April 1917 to 11 November 1918), the Second World War (16 September 1940 to 31 December 1946), Korea (25 June 1950 to 31 January 1955) or Vietnam (28 February 1961 to 5 May 1975). Eligibility is established jointly by the veterans and education departments. Apply with the DD-214.
VeteransApplies statewideAn honorary Iowa high school diploma
Read it and check if you qualify$5,000 Toward a Down Payment
The Iowa Finance Authority pays a $5,000 grant toward the down payment and closing costs on a home, for someone with 90 cumulative days of active duty between 2 August 1990 and 6 April 1991, or from 11 September 2001 onward. Training and drills do not count toward the 90 days. Anyone injured in federal-status service during those periods qualifies too. It is used with an IFA FirstHome or Homes for Iowans loan, or another qualifying fixed-rate fully amortising mortgage, through a participating lender.
VeteransApplies statewide$5,000 toward the down payment and closing costs
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Whole Levy, Credited
The entire property tax levy on the homestead is credited at permanent 100% or IU paid at 100% — and a surviving spouse on DIC qualifies with no rating at all.
VeteransApplies statewide100% of the tax levied on the homestead, credited
Read it and check if you qualifyChildren of the Fallen — Tuition, Books, Housing and Tools
A scholarship for the child of a service member who died in the post-9/11 period, covering tuition, books, fees, HOUSING, required tools and equipment, approved tutoring and other required educational expenses. Applications close 31 DECEMBER each year. It is run by the state veterans department and funded through the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines.
VeteransApplies statewideTuition, books, fees, housing, tools, equipment and approved tutoring
Read it and check if you qualifyA CDL Without the Skills Test — and the Motorcycle Test Too
Iowa issues a commercial driving licence without the skills test to a military truck driver who operated similar vehicles for the TWO YEARS preceding the application. Separately, the department waives the MOTORCYCLE skills test for military personnel who complete a Motorcycle Safety Foundation rider course.
VeteransApplies statewideThe CDL skills test waived — and the motorcycle skills test on an MSF course
Read it and check if you qualifyAn Annual Fishing or Hunting-and-Fishing Licence for a Nominal Fee
Iowa Code 483A.24(20) caps the fee for an annual fishing licence, or a combined hunting-and-fishing licence, at NOT MORE THAN $5 for an Iowa resident who served on federal active duty. No disability is required. The department's current counter price is not published on the pages reviewed.
VeteransApplies statewideAn annual fishing, or hunting-and-fishing, licence capped by statute at $5
Read it and check if you qualifyMilitary Service Property Tax Exemption — $4,000 Off Taxable Value
Iowa takes $4,000 off the taxable value of a veteran's property, for assessment years beginning on or after 1 January 2023. It was $1,852 until HF 718 raised it, retroactive to assessment year 2023. It reaches an honorably separated, retired, furloughed or discharged veteran — and, separately, ANY Iowa-resident former member with at least eighteen months of aggregate service. No disability is required. File with the assessor by 1 July and it continues automatically thereafter.
VeteransApplies statewide$4,000 off taxable value, from assessment year 2023
Read it and check if you qualifyMilitary Retirement — Excluded in Full
All military retirement pay is excluded from Iowa income tax — since 2014, survivor benefits included, for residents and nonresidents alike.
VeteransApplies statewideThe whole of your military retirement pay, excluded
Read it and check if you qualify$7 Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Licence
Seven dollars, once, for a lifetime combination hunting and fishing licence — for any veteran the VA pays monthly, 0% compensable ratings included, and former POWs.
VeteransApplies statewideA lifetime combination hunting and fishing licence, for a one-time $7
Read it and check if you qualifyAbsolute Preference, Written Reasons, and Three Ways to Enforce It
Preference in appointment and employment over any other applicant of no greater qualifications, across state departments, counties, cities and school corporations — with a duty to put the reasons for refusal in writing, and mandamus, appeal or binding arbitration if the preference is refused.
VeteransApplies statewidePreference over any applicant of no greater qualifications; five or ten points where a point-rated exam is used
Read it and check if you qualifyWar Orphans Educational Assistance
State educational assistance for the child of a person who died during active federal military service. For deaths on or after 11 September 2001 it pays up to the highest resident undergraduate tuition rate at a regents university per year; for earlier deaths the statute caps assistance at $600 a year and $3,000 lifetime.
VeteransApplies statewidePost-9/11 deaths: up to the highest regents resident tuition rate per year, five years' worth lifetime; pre-9/11 deaths: $600 a year, $3,000 lifetime
Read it and check if you qualifyProfessional Licence Fees Waived — Initial and One Renewal, Within Five Years of Discharge
Every licensing board, agency and department in this state must waive the initial application fee and one renewal fee for an applicant discharged honorably or generally, where the fee would otherwise fall within five years of that discharge.
VeteransApplies statewideInitial application fee plus one renewal fee, waived by whichever board licenses your profession
Read it and check if you qualifyState Veterans Home — No Out-of-Pocket Cost at a 70% Rating With Nursing Need
The state runs a veterans home at Marshalltown offering residential and nursing care. What a resident pays is set on their own income and assets up to the full daily rate — and the home states that a veteran rated 70% or higher who needs nursing care has no out-of-pocket expense.
VeteransApplies statewideLong-term care charged on your own income and assets — nothing out of pocket at 70%+ with a nursing need
Read it and check if you qualifyTargeted Small Business — a 40% Share of the State’s Small-Business Procurement Goal
A business majority-owned by a service-disabled veteran can certify as a Targeted Small Business. State agencies must then aim to place at least 40% of their targeted small business purchasing with service-disabled veteran-owned firms.
VeteransApplies statewideCertification, plus a 40% share of each agency’s targeted small business goal
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans Trust Fund — Fifteen Named Bills It Can Pay, Including Rent Application Fees
A state trust fund pays for a defined list of things on a majority vote of the veterans commission: travel to follow-up medical care, retraining, hearing, dental, vision and prescriptions, counselling, durable medical equipment, and emergency vehicle repair, housing repair or temporary housing. One-time homelessness prevention is capped at $1,000.
VeteransApplies statewideA named bill paid — with homelessness prevention capped at $1,000 once per recipient
Read it and check if you qualifyInjured Veterans Grant — $2,500 Every Thirty Days, Up to $10,000, So Family Can Be There
A veteran seriously or very seriously injured in the line of duty after 11 September 2001 can receive $2,500 at a time, at thirty-day intervals, up to $10,000 — paid so that family members can be with them during recovery.
VeteransApplies statewide$2,500 per thirty-day interval, to a maximum of $10,000 per qualifying injury
Read it and check if you qualifyCounty Relief for an Indigent Veteran — Food, Shelter, Utilities, Medical and a Funeral
Every county board of supervisors may appropriate money for food, clothing, shelter, utilities, medical benefits and a funeral for indigent veterans living in the county, and for their indigent spouses, surviving spouses and minor children. Burial is a duty, not a discretion.
VeteransApplies statewideLiving costs and funeral expenses met by the county, at a level each board of supervisors sets
Read it and check if you qualifyNational Guard Service Scholarship — Never Less Than Half the Regents Tuition Rate
A serving member of the Iowa army or air national guard reading for a first bachelor’s degree has tuition paid by the state: never more than the resident tuition rate at a board of regents university, and never less than half of it. The adjutant general decides eligibility, and that decision is final.
VeteransApplies statewideTuition paid, floored at half the regents resident rate and capped at the full one
Read it and check if you qualifyIowa Veterans Cemetery — Free for the Veteran, $300 for a Spouse or Child
The state runs its own veterans cemetery near Van Meter in Dallas County. Interment is at no cost to an honorably discharged veteran; the department’s published fee for a spouse or dependent child is $300. Pre-registration is available before there is any need.
VeteransApplies statewideNo cost for the veteran; $300 for a spouse or dependent child
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Recorder Files Your Discharge Free — and Certified Copies Are Free When a Claim Needs Them
The county recorder must record a veteran’s discharge without charge, and must record medals, citations, commissions and any other document needed to perfect a claim on the same terms. Where a certified copy is required to perfect a veteran’s or a dependant’s claim, the custodian must furnish it without charge. The file is confidential for sixty-two years.
VeteransApplies statewideRecording free; certified copies free where a claim requires them
Read it and check if you qualifyA Car the Government Bought You Registers Free — Plus One Free Set of Plates
A seriously disabled veteran provided with an automobile or other vehicle by the United States government under the federal automobile grant pays no annual registration fee for that vehicle, and receives one set of plates — ordinary or military — without fee.
VeteransApplies statewideAnnual registration fee waived on the granted vehicle, plus one free plate set
Read it and check if you qualifyBreak the Lease on Orders — House or Car, and the Dependant Walks Free Too
Iowa lets a service member end a premises lease or a vehicle lease on written notice plus a copy of the orders. The trigger is entering military service during the lease term, or receiving permanent change of station orders or a deployment of not less than ninety days. On a vehicle lease the lessor may not charge an early termination fee, and the termination also ends any obligation a dependant carries under the same lease. Read §29A.90 first: the subchapter defines "service member" as a member of the military forces of THIS STATE on qualifying duty, which is narrower than the section alone suggests.
VeteransApplies statewideLease ends on orders; no early termination charge on a vehicle lease; advance rent refunded within 30 days
Read it and check if you qualifyNo Eviction, No Repossession, No Foreclosure Without a Judge — and a Rent Ceiling of $1,200
During military service a landlord may not terminate a service member’s tenancy for nonpayment of rent where the rent is less than $1,200 a month, and a court may stay a possession action for up to three months. A creditor may not repossess under an installment contract or foreclose a mortgage entered into before service without a court order, and doing so knowingly is a serious misdemeanor. Dependants may claim the same relief on application to a court. The subchapter’s own definition section limits all of it to state-status duty of at least thirty consecutive days.
VeteransApplies statewideEviction for nonpayment barred below $1,200 monthly rent; up to a three-month stay; no repossession or foreclosure without a court order
Read it and check if you qualifyA Veteran’s Benefit Is Exempt From Execution — With No Dollar Cap Written Beside It
An Iowa resident debtor may hold exempt from execution their rights in a veteran’s benefit. The exemption sits in the general exemption statute among social security and public assistance, and unlike the alimony exemption two lines below it, it carries no "reasonably necessary" limiter and no dollar ceiling. The same section also exempts an interment space of up to one acre.
VeteransApplies statewideVeteran’s benefit exempt from execution; interment space up to one acre also exempt
Read it and check if you qualifyA Grave Marker From the County — and Treble Damages If Somebody Takes It
The county commission of veteran affairs may furnish a suitable and appropriate marker for the grave of each veteran buried within the county, placed to permanently mark and designate the grave for memorial purposes, paid from the commission’s own funds. Taking a marker so provided is a simple misdemeanor and carries liability for three times its cost.
VeteransApplies statewideGrave marker furnished by the county commission; three times its cost recoverable if it is taken
Read it and check if you qualifyReopen a Default Judgment — and Nobody May Downgrade Your Credit for Asking
A default judgment entered against a service member during military service, or within thirty days after it ends, may be set aside where service prejudiced the defence. Proceedings may be stayed on request. And the act of asking for a stay or a postponement may not be used by any lender to deny credit, change existing terms, or file an adverse credit report.
VeteransApplies statewideA default judgment set aside, proceedings stayed, and no adverse credit report for asking
Read it and check if you qualifyDeployment Is Not a Custody Argument — and Nobody Gets a Permanent Order While You Are Gone
Iowa has enacted the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act. A court may not weigh a parent’s past or probable future deployment in general when deciding a child’s best interest, may not make a PERMANENT custody order without the deploying parent’s consent, and must hear a motion filed before departure on an expedited basis. Caretaking time may be handed temporarily to a family member rather than lost.
VeteransApplies statewideNo permanent order without your consent; deployment excluded from the best-interest weighing
Read it and check if you qualifyYour Job Is Held, Your Seniority Is Not Frozen — and the Civil Air Patrol Is Inside It
An employer may not discharge or discriminate against a guard member, a reservist, a coast guard member or a civil air patrol member for that membership, nor hinder them from performing duty. Ordered duty carries a leave of absence, and on return the employer must restore the position or one of like seniority, status and pay. The absence counts as leave with pay-status protections: vacation, sick leave and bonus rights are unaffected.
VeteransApplies statewideReinstatement to the same or a like position, with vacation, sick leave and bonus rights intact
Read it and check if you qualifyThe County Keeps a Permanent Record of Where Every Veteran Is Buried
For every person with a military service record buried or whose cremated remains are placed in the county, the funeral director must transmit the information the department asks for to the county veteran affairs office. The executive director or administrator records it alphabetically and by description of the location in the cemetery, and keeps it as a permanent record.
VeteransApplies statewideA permanent county register of the grave location, kept at no charge to the family
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Two Flags Flown Over the Capitol Go to the Family
When the governor orders the national and state flags to half-staff for an Iowa servicemember who died on active duty, the office of the governor presents the two flags that flew over the state capitol to the surviving spouse — or, where there is no surviving spouse, to another member of the immediate family. The department carries the cost of the flags.
VeteransApplies statewideThe two capitol flags, presented to the family at the department’s cost
Read it and check if you qualifyNo Veterans Treatment Court Sits in the Iowa Code — What Exists Is a Judge’s Docket
There is no veterans treatment court section in the Iowa Code. A bill in the 88th General Assembly would have created §602.7301 and put a veterans treatment court in every judicial district, and would have given district associate judges jurisdiction over it; neither change is in the Code. A veteran facing charges in Iowa is asking a particular judge for a particular docket, not invoking a statutory right.
VeteransApplies statewideNo statutory veterans treatment court — ask the judge, not the Code
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Has No Veteran Route — and the Rules Left the Word Behind
Iowa’s beginning farmer tax credit pays the LANDOWNER who leases to a qualifying beginning farmer: five percent of fixed cash rent, or fifteen percent on a commodity share, capped at $50,000 per taxpayer per year inside a $12 million annual programme. Veteran status appears nowhere in it — not in the eligibility section, not in the rate section, and not in the rule chapter. A veteran wanting to farm in Iowa is inside the same programme as everybody else.
VeteransApplies statewideNo veteran rate, preference or set-aside — the ordinary programme rates apply
Read it and check if you qualifyCounty Veteran Relief Does Not Cover the Ride — Transport Is Not on the Statutory List
Iowa Code chapter 35B was read end to end and contains no transportation provision. The county appropriation at §35B.14 names food, clothing, shelter, utilities, medical benefits and a funeral — and stops there. Rides to a VA hospital in Iowa are run by counties and volunteer organisations out of local money and goodwill, not out of a statutory duty a veteran can insist on.
VeteransApplies statewideNo statutory transport duty — ask your county office what it actually runs
Read it and check if you qualifyGold Star Plates — One Free Set, and No Clause That Takes Them Back on Remarriage
A surviving spouse, parent, child or sibling of a servicemember who died on active duty during a time of military conflict, or as a result of that service, may order registration plates bearing a gold star emblem. One set is issued at no charge — the $25 special-plate fee is disapplied by name. The Department of Veterans Affairs, not the Department of Transportation, is the office that confirms the lineage.
VeteransApplies statewideOne set of gold star plates at no charge; the $25 issuance fee is waived
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Word VETERAN on Your Licence — and the County Office That Gets Told
An honourably discharged veteran may ask for the word VETERAN to be marked prominently on the face of an Iowa driver's licence. Two things about it are rarely mentioned: a Guard or Reserve applicant going straight to the department must show 90 days aggregate active duty for other than training, and where the licence is issued on a DD214 the department must notify your county commission of veteran affairs, which is then required to make contact with you.
VeteransApplies statewideVETERAN printed on the face of the licence
Read it and check if you qualifyParking Placard on a VA Certification — With a Self-Certification the Statute Does Not Mention
Iowa may accept a certification of disability from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs instead of a statement from a physician for a persons-with-disabilities parking permit. The rule adds a condition the statute leaves out: you must also self-certify, under penalty of perjury, that the VA-certified disability is a LIFELONG disability impairing mobility to the extent §321L.1(8) defines. A rating letter on its own does not carry you across.
VeteransApplies statewideNot a veteran benefitStandard placard valid five years; a VA certification may replace the medical statement
Read it and check if you qualifyDeployment Stops the Shutoff — Gas and Electric, Through Deployment Plus 90 Days
Where one of the heads of household is a service member deployed for military service, a rate-regulated gas or electric utility cannot shut the service off during the deployment or within 90 days after it ends. The catch is entirely procedural and entirely decisive: the utility must be told about the deployment BEFORE the disconnection. Nobody checks for you.
VeteransApplies statewideNo gas or electric disconnection during deployment, plus 90 days after
Read it and check if you qualify
Does my county change the answer?
For the statewide records, no — the same law applies in all 99 counties. What changes is the office you file with and the local tax arithmetic, which we do not yet hold for Iowa.
- Adair County
- Adams County
- Allamakee County
- Appanoose County
- Audubon County
- Benton County
- Black Hawk County
- Boone County
- Bremer County
- Buchanan County
- Buena Vista County
- Butler County
- Calhoun County
- Carroll County
- Cass County
- Cedar County
- Cerro Gordo County
- Cherokee County
- Chickasaw County
- Clarke County
- Clay County
- Clayton County
- Clinton County
- Crawford County
- Dallas County
- Davis County
- Decatur County
- Delaware County
- Des Moines County
- Dickinson County
- Dubuque County
- Emmet County
- Fayette County
- Floyd County
- Franklin County
- Fremont County
- Greene County
- Grundy County
- Guthrie County
- Hamilton County
- Hancock County
- Hardin County
- Harrison County
- Henry County
- Howard County
- Humboldt County
- Ida County
- Iowa County
- Jackson County
- Jasper County
- Jefferson County
- Johnson County
- Jones County
- Keokuk County
- Kossuth County
- Lee County
- Linn County
- Louisa County
- Lucas County
- Lyon County
- Madison County
- Mahaska County
- Marion County
- Marshall County
- Mills County
- Mitchell County
- Monona County
- Monroe County
- Montgomery County
- Muscatine County
- O'Brien County
- Osceola County
- Page County
- Palo Alto County
- Plymouth County
- Pocahontas County
- Polk County
- Pottawattamie County
- Poweshiek County
- Ringgold County
- Sac County
- Scott County
- Shelby County
- Sioux County
- Story County
- Tama County
- Taylor County
- Union County
- Van Buren County
- Wapello County
- Warren County
- Washington County
- Wayne County
- Webster County
- Winnebago County
- Winneshiek County
- Woodbury County
- Worth County
- Wright County
Every benefit here was checked against the statute or rule behind it, and each page shows the date. This is an informational match, not a government eligibility determination — the responsible agency decides your application.