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The HERO Act Stops the Registry Charging You — Registrations, Licence Fees, Excise and Sales Tax

At a 100% rating, or unemployability from a service-connected disability, the Registry waives registration fees on any and all vehicle registrations where the veteran is an owner, and driver’s licence transaction fees for every licence class. Excise tax and sales tax are waived on one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck. Special plate fees, reinstatement fees, permit and road test fees, Mass ID and professional credential fees are all still charged.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

At a 100% rating, or unemployability from a service-connected disability, the Registry waives registration fees on any and all vehicle registrations where the veteran is an owner, and driver’s licence transaction fees for every licence class. Excise tax and sales tax are waived on one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck. Special plate fees, reinstatement fees, permit and road test fees, Mass ID and professional credential fees are all still charged.

What it's worth: No registration fee on any vehicle you own, no driver’s licence transaction fee, no excise or sales tax on one vehicle

  • No dollar figure is claimed. The Registry states the exemptions without a fee schedule on this page, and municipal excise is calculated on the vehicle’s value by the town.
  • The excise exemption is the large one in most years, because excise is levied annually on value while a registration fee is a flat charge.
  • The registration fee exemption is written as applying to any and all registrations where the veteran is listed as one of the owners — it is not limited to one vehicle, unlike the excise and sales tax exemptions.

Who is entitled to it

  • The exemptions follow the veteran.
  • A 100% disability rating is one of the two routes the Registry names.
  • The second route is being deemed unemployable because of a service-connected disability.
  • You live in this state.

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

  1. 1Know which of the two doors you are coming through: a 100% disability rating determined by the federal veterans department, or a determination that you are unemployable because of a service-connected disability. The Registry names both and treats them the same.
  2. 2Make sure you are on the registration. The Registry states the disabled veteran MUST be listed as one of the owners for the registration fee exemption to apply.
  3. 3Do not expect the special plate to be free. Special plate fees are expressly excepted from the registration fee waiver, so a decorative or commemorative plate still costs what it costs.
  4. 4Do not expect a reinstatement to be free either. Reinstatement fees are excepted from both the registration and the driver’s licence waivers.
  5. 5On the licence side, the waiver covers transaction fees for all licence classes — but permit and road test fees are still charged, as are Mass ID and Liquor ID fees and professional credential fees.
  6. 6Claim the excise exemption on one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck that you own and use non-commercially. The Registry notes the HERO Act moved this test to the federal veterans department’s determination and away from the Registry’s Medical Advisory Board — so an old refusal based on the board is worth re-opening.
  7. 7For the sales tax exemption you must obtain Disabled Veteran plates for that vehicle. It covers one passenger vehicle or pick-up truck; buy a second and you pay sales tax on it.
  8. 8Purple Heart recipients have their own sales tax route: approval for Disabled Veteran plates plus a minimum 60% service-connected rating on the disability breakdown letter, with either Purple Heart or Disabled Veteran plates registered to the vehicle claimed.
Form
Service-Connected Disability Breakdown letter from the federal veterans department, presented with the transaction
File with
Registry of Motor Vehicles; the excise exemption through your city or town
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter · va rating decision
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThe exceptions are where this goes wrong at the counter. "No registration fees" does not mean no special plate fee and no reinstatement fee; "no driver’s licence fees" does not mean no permit fee, no road test fee, no Mass ID fee and no professional credential fee. The Registry lists all eight exceptions on the same page as the exemptions.
CorrectionThe eligibility test for the excise exemption changed under the HERO Act and old refusals may no longer stand. It is now the federal veterans department’s disability determination that decides it, not the Registry’s Medical Advisory Board.
Worth knowingThis is not the same test as the Disabled Veteran plate. The plate runs on 60% plus ambulation plus disabled parking eligibility; these fee and tax exemptions run on 100% or unemployability. A veteran can hold one without the other, and the sales tax exemption needs both at once.
Known gapThe statutory text of the HERO Act and of M.G.L. c.60A and c.64H §6 could not be read: malegislature.gov refused the connection to the browser and to curl this session. This record rests on the Registry’s own published summary.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.