Veteran benefits in Cass County, Iowa
- Benefits you can claim here
- 39
- Property tax rate
- 1.32
- effective rate, ACS 2023 five-year
- 100% of the tax levied on the homestead, typical home
- $0
- a year at this county rate
- Veterans in this county
- 830
- US Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop2023 county model, as of 9/30/2025
What to do, in Cass County
The process is the same across Iowa for the statewide records. Only the office and the tax rate change.
Find what applies to you
39 benefits reach Cass 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 Cass 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 Cass 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 |
| 100% of the tax levied on the homestead (Iowa Code §425.15) | about $0 a year against the county rate |
| Total exemption (Iowa Code §425.15) | the entire bill — about $3,300 a year against the county rate on a typical $250,000 value, and more once your other taxing units are added |
| Where to file | Cass County County or city assessor |
| Deadline | July 1, every year |
Which document does the Cass County County or city assessor 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 39 benefits you can claim in Cass County
All 99 Iowa counties get the same statewide law.
vehicles(4)
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.
First numbered set free — and free parking at city meters since July 2022
A 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.
Annual registration fee waived on the granted vehicle, plus one free plate set
Gold 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.
One set of gold star plates at no charge; the $25 issuance fee is waived
Parking 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.
Standard placard valid five years; a VA certification may replace the medical statement
recreation(3)
Set-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.
75 deer and 25 turkey non-resident licences a year, at resident prices
An 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.
An annual fishing, or hunting-and-fishing, licence capped by statute at $5
$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.
A lifetime combination hunting and fishing licence, for a one-time $7
education(4)
Operation 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.
An honorary Iowa high school diploma
Children 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.
Tuition, books, fees, housing, tools, equipment and approved tutoring
War 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.
Post-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
National 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.
Tuition paid, floored at half the regents resident rate and capped at the full one
housing(2)
$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.
$5,000 toward the down payment and closing costs
State 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.
Long-term care charged on your own income and assets — nothing out of pocket at 70%+ with a nursing need
property tax(2)
The 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.
100% of the tax levied on the homestead, credited
Military 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.
$4,000 off taxable value, from assessment year 2023
licenses & fees(4)
A 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.
The CDL skills test waived — and the motorcycle skills test on an MSF course
Professional 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.
Initial application fee plus one renewal fee, waived by whichever board licenses your profession
The 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.
Recording free; certified copies free where a claim requires them
The 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.
VETERAN printed on the face of the licence
other(11)
Military Retirement — Excluded in Full
All military retirement pay is excluded from Iowa income tax — since 2014, survivor benefits included, for residents and nonresidents alike.
The whole of your military retirement pay, excluded
Veterans 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.
A named bill paid — with homelessness prevention capped at $1,000 once per recipient
Injured 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.
$2,500 per thirty-day interval, to a maximum of $10,000 per qualifying injury
County 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.
Living costs and funeral expenses met by the county, at a level each board of supervisors sets
Break 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.
Lease ends on orders; no early termination charge on a vehicle lease; advance rent refunded within 30 days
No 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.
Eviction for nonpayment barred below $1,200 monthly rent; up to a three-month stay; no repossession or foreclosure without a court order
A 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.
Veteran’s benefit exempt from execution; interment space up to one acre also exempt
Reopen 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.
A default judgment set aside, proceedings stayed, and no adverse credit report for asking
Deployment 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.
No permanent order without your consent; deployment excluded from the best-interest weighing
No 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.
No statutory veterans treatment court — ask the judge, not the Code
County 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.
No statutory transport duty — ask your county office what it actually runs
employment(2)
Absolute 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.
Preference over any applicant of no greater qualifications; five or ten points where a point-rated exam is used
Your 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.
Reinstatement to the same or a like position, with vacation, sick leave and bonus rights intact
business(2)
Targeted 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.
Certification, plus a 40% share of each agency’s targeted small business goal
The 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.
No veteran rate, preference or set-aside — the ordinary programme rates apply
burial(4)
Iowa 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.
No cost for the veteran; $300 for a spouse or dependent child
A 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.
Grave marker furnished by the county commission; three times its cost recoverable if it is taken
The 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.
A permanent county register of the grave location, kept at no charge to the family
The 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.
The two capitol flags, presented to the family at the department’s cost
Filing in Cass County
- Office
- Cass 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 Cass County
Cass 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 Cass County veteran benefits
- What can I claim here?
- The Iowa 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 Cass County?
- File with your County assessor. The form and deadline are on each benefit record.
- What document does the Cass County County or city assessor 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 Iowa.
Other counties
- Adair
- Adams
- Allamakee
- Appanoose
- Audubon
- Benton
- Black Hawk
- Boone
- Bremer
- Buchanan
- Buena Vista
- Butler
- Calhoun
- Carroll
- Cedar
- Cerro Gordo
- Cherokee
- Chickasaw
- Clarke
- Clay
- Clayton
- Clinton
- Crawford
- Dallas
- Davis
- Decatur
- Delaware
- Des Moines
- Dickinson
- Dubuque
- Emmet
- Fayette
- Floyd
- Franklin
- Fremont
- Greene
- Grundy
- Guthrie
- Hamilton
- Hancock
- Hardin
- Harrison
- Henry
- Howard
- Humboldt
- Ida
- Iowa
- Jackson
- Jasper
- Jefferson
- Johnson
- Jones
- Keokuk
- Kossuth
- Lee
- Linn
- Louisa
- Lucas
- Lyon
- Madison
- Mahaska
- Marion
- Marshall
- Mills
- Mitchell
- Monona
- Monroe
- Montgomery
- Muscatine
- O'Brien
- Osceola
- Page
- Palo Alto
- Plymouth
- Pocahontas
- Polk
- Pottawattamie
- Poweshiek
- Ringgold
- Sac
- Scott
- Shelby
- Sioux
- Story
- Tama
- Taylor
- Union
- Van Buren
- Wapello
- Warren
- Washington
- Wayne
- Webster
- Winnebago
- Winneshiek
- Woodbury
- Worth
- Wright
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.