Veteran benefits in Benton County, Minnesota
- Benefits you can claim here
- 38
- Property tax rate
- 0.94
- effective rate, ACS 2023 five-year
- $150,000 of market value excluded; $300,000 at total and permanent, typical home
- $0
- a year at this county rate
- Veterans in this county
- 2,259
- US Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop2023 county model, as of 9/30/2025
What to do, in Benton County
The process is the same across Minnesota for the statewide records. Only the office and the tax rate change.
Find what applies to you
38 benefits reach Benton 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 Benton 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 Benton 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 |
| $150,000 of market value excluded; $300,000 at total and permanent (Minn. Stat. §273.13, subd. 34) | about $0 a year against the county rate |
| Total exemption (Minn. Stat. §273.13, subd. 34) | the entire bill — about $2,350 a year against the county rate on a typical $250,000 value, and more once your other taxing units are added |
| Where to file | Benton County County assessor |
| Deadline | December 31, every year |
Which document does the Benton County County 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 38 benefits you can claim in Benton County
All 87 Minnesota counties get the same statewide law.
vehicles(5)
EX-POW Plates, Free — No Plate Fee, No Renewal Sticker Fee, Free Replacements
A former prisoner of war certified by the commissioner of veterans affairs gets EX-POW plates at no charge, on a passenger car, motorcycle or recreational motor vehicle. Renewal stickers cost nothing. A damaged plate is replaced free. The plates transfer to another vehicle the same person owns, and combined EX-POW and disability plates are available. What is NOT waived is the motor vehicle registration tax itself, so expect a bill for that — the saving is the plate and sticker fees, not the registration.
Plates, renewal stickers and replacements all free
War Service Plates — Vietnam, Korea, Pearl Harbor, the Gulf, and Combat Wounded
Minnesota issues special plates bearing service designations: VIETNAM VET, Pearl Harbor survivor, World War II, Korea, Persian Gulf, Laos War, Iraq and Afghanistan, and combat-wounded designations among others. They go on a passenger car, recreational vehicle or one-ton pickup, and on a motorcycle for certain designations. Service with an allied nation counts for some of them, which is unusual. The one procedural point that stops applications is that a CERTIFIED COPY of the discharge papers showing character of discharge is required — not a photocopy.
Service designation plates on a car, RV, one-ton pickup or (for some) a motorcycle
Registration Tax, Plate and Filing Fees Waived — Two Vehicles
A veteran with a total service-connected disability registers up to two vehicles at once with no registration tax, no administrative fee, no filing fee and no plate or sticker fees — and pays no motor vehicle sales tax on a purchase. Joint registration with a spouse or domestic partner keeps the exemption.
No registration tax, administrative fee, filing fee, plate or validation sticker fees — up to two vehicles at once; no sales tax on a vehicle purchase
Gold Star Plates Free — Including Personalised Ones, and Siblings Are Inside
The commissioner issues GOLD STAR plates free of charge to a surviving spouse, parent or legal guardian, child, or sibling of a person who died while serving honorably in active service — and replaces them free if they are damaged. If the family member wants personalised Gold Star plates, the commissioner is forbidden to charge the ordinary personalised-plate fees. Moving the plates to another vehicle costs $5.
Plates free of charge, damaged plates replaced free, personalisation fees waived; $5 to transfer to another vehicle
Free Metered Parking With No Time Limit — On a Certificate, Not on a Rating
A vehicle displaying the disability certificate or disability plates may park in a designated disabled space, in a metered space without paying the meter and without time restrictions unless separately posted, and without time limits in a restricted non-metered space. The test is a ten-part medical definition certified by a health professional, and it includes losing an arm or a leg without a usable artificial limb. A six-year or long-term certificate carries no fee.
No meter fee and no time restriction; $5 only for organisation, temporary and short-term certificates
other(11)
Disaster Relief With No Income Test — When the Governor Names Your County
When the governor issues an emergency executive order, veterans, surviving spouses and called-up reserve members living in a named county can get SSAP assistance that is EXPRESSLY NOT SUBJECT TO THE PROGRAMME'S INCOME OR ASSET LIMITS. It can offset a drop in household income or assets, meet increased costs caused by the emergency, and repair the primary residence or vital property. Two veterans in one household may each apply. This is the version of state veteran assistance that reaches people who would ordinarily be told they have too much to qualify.
Emergency assistance with the SSAP income and asset limits lifted
$750 for Past Military Service — but Choose Between This and the Retirement Subtraction
Minnesota pays a refundable $750 credit to a separated member who has either 20 years' service, a 100% total and permanent service-connected rating, or an entitlement to federal military retirement pay. It is income-tested: the $750 falls by 10% of adjusted gross income over $30,000, so it runs out around $37,500. The point to get right is that YOU CANNOT TAKE BOTH this credit and the military retirement pay subtraction under Minn. Stat. 290.0132 subd. 21. For a lower-income retiree the credit is usually worth more; higher up, the subtraction is. Work out both before filing.
$750, phasing out above $30,000 of adjusted gross income
$120 for Every Month in a Combat Zone — Refundable, So It Pays Even at Zero Tax
Minnesota pays a credit of $120 for each month, or part of a month, of active service in a combat zone or qualified hazardous duty area after 31 December 2008. It is REFUNDABLE: if the credit is larger than your Minnesota tax, the commissioner refunds the difference, so it is money even for someone who owes nothing. A part-month counts as a whole month, which matters at both ends of a deployment. The test is Minnesota domicile at the time of the service, not now.
$120 for each month or part of a month of qualifying service
Military Retirement Pay Subtracted — or a Credit, Not Both
Military retirement pay comes out of Minnesota taxable income — unless the credit for past military service is worth more to you, because the statute makes you choose.
Your military retired pay, subtracted from Minnesota taxable income
Subsistence Assistance — Rent, Utilities and a Cash Allowance While You Cannot Work
When a medical condition stops you working at your usual occupation for 30 days or more, the state will pay shelter, utilities and health insurance premiums and add a cash allowance — for up to six 30-day periods.
Shelter paid at the actual rent or mortgage, plus a personal needs allowance from $532 to $2,944 a month
Veteran’s Relief Grant — One Grant, Once in a Lifetime
A discretionary grant paid straight to your creditors for rent, mortgage, utilities, home or vehicle repair, medical bills, childcare or tools. You get it once, ever.
An amount set case by case, paid direct to the vendors you name
Dental and Optical Assistance — $1,500 a Year for Teeth, $600 for Eyes
Income- and asset-tested help with routine dental and optical care at the provider of your choice, with separate lifetime authorisations of up to $4,000 for dentures and $2,500 for the extractions that precede them.
Up to $1,500 a year of dental care and $600 of optical care, per person
"Support Our Troops" Grants — $4,000 a Calendar Year, Hard Ceiling
A statutory account funding direct grants to service members, Guard members, veterans in financial need and their immediate families. The maximum to any one individual is $4,000 in a calendar year.
Up to $4,000 to any one individual in a calendar year
Your Veteran’s Benefit Is Judgment-Proof — For One Year After You Get It
A veteran’s pension, bonus, adjusted compensation, allotment or other benefit paid by Minnesota or by the United States is exempt from attachment, garnishment, seizure or sale on final process — for one year after receipt.
Protection from attachment, garnishment, seizure or sale — for 12 months after the money arrives
Apportioned VA Benefits Are Subtracted From Your Child Support
Where an apportioned veterans’ benefit is paid for a child because of the obligor’s eligibility, and the other parent receives it, the amount is subtracted from the obligor’s net child support obligation.
A dollar-for-dollar reduction in the net support obligation, equal to the benefit the child receives
Women Veterans Program — Access and Outreach, With the Services Themselves Federal
Minnesota runs a Women Veterans Program whose stated mission is equitable access, gender-specific responsiveness and outreach — but every health, trauma and prevention service it names belongs to the federal VA, the Department of Defense or the National Guard rather than to the state.
Outreach, navigation and advocacy — no separate state entitlement
recreation(3)
Two Years After Discharge: Fish and Small Game With No Licence, Deer Licence Free
A Minnesota resident discharged from federal active service may take small game and fish WITHOUT A LICENCE for 24 months after discharge, and the commissioner shall issue a deer licence with no fee. Carry your discharge papers — they are what stands in for the licence. The window is the whole of the benefit: it opens on discharge and closes 24 months later, which is exactly the period when someone is least likely to be reading a state benefits page. A further subdivision taking effect 1 March 2027 will add reduced-fee deer, small game and angling licences.
No licence needed for small game or fishing for 24 months; deer licence free
Free State Park Permit at ANY Disability Rating — Not Just 100%
Minnesota issues the annual state park permit free to a veteran with ANY level of service-connected disability. There is no minimum percentage: 10% qualifies exactly as 100% does. Purple Heart recipients qualify separately with no disability at all. The permit is displayed on a vehicle the veteran owns and occupies, and daily permits are available for a qualifying veteran without a vehicle. Proof is the VA determination letter or other official VA or DoD validation.
Annual state park permit issued at no charge
Permanent Free Angling — and Free Deer and Small Game
At 100% service-connected, the angling licence is free and PERMANENT — issued once, never renewed — with free firearm and archery deer and free small game beside it, and the driver’s-licence veteran designation accepted as the evidence at any agent.
Angling: free and permanent. Deer (firearm and archery) and small game: free
education(4)
Resident Tuition Whatever Your Address — and Credit for What the Military Taught You
Minn. Stat. 197.775 gives a veteran the resident undergraduate tuition rate at Minnesota public institutions regardless of where they live. For graduate programmes the rate applies if you were a Minnesota resident on entering service and enrol within two years of separating. Two further provisions are worth as much: Minnesota State MUST award academic credit for military training that meets American Council on Education standards, and military service is treated as a positive factor in graduate and professional admissions at the University of Minnesota. Credit for training shortens the degree, which is often worth more than the rate.
Resident tuition rate, plus mandatory credit for qualifying military training
Minnesota GI Bill — $5,000 a Year
Up to $5,000 a year and $15,000 lifetime, for school, apprenticeship or on-the-job training — for veterans, for serving Guard and reserve members with five or more cumulative years since 11 September 2001, and for families of the fallen and the severely disabled. The apprenticeship path can also generate two $1,000 job placement credits.
Up to $5,000 an academic year; $15,000 lifetime
Minnesota National Guard Tuition Reimbursement
A tuition grant for a Guard member serving satisfactorily, benchmarked to the University of Minnesota’s lower-division liberal arts rate, running to 144 semester credits — and extended for deployment, injury or death in service.
Up to 100% of tuition, benchmarked to the University of Minnesota rate, to 144 semester credits
Free Tuition for a Deceased Veteran’s Spouse and Children — and Remarriage Does Not End It
A child or surviving spouse of a veteran who died as a result of military service is admitted to any eligible Minnesota public postsecondary institution free of tuition until a bachelor’s or equivalent degree, and receives a $750 educational assistance stipend each year. The statute defines an eligible spouse as the surviving spouse "regardless of whether the surviving spouse remarries". A 2026 act signed on 21 April 2026 adds fees to the waiver and opens the section to the families of prisoners of war and those missing in action.
Free tuition at an eligible Minnesota public institution until a bachelor’s degree, plus a $750 stipend each year
employment(4)
A Veteran in Public Employment Cannot Be Fired Without a Hearing
Once past any initial probationary period, a veteran holding a position in Minnesota state civil service, or with a county, city, town, school district or other political subdivision, may be removed only for incompetency or misconduct SHOWN AFTER A HEARING, on due notice and written charges. The employer must give written notice of the intent to discharge and of the right to a hearing. The trap is the clock: FAILING TO REQUEST THE HEARING WITHIN 30 DAYS WAIVES REINSTATEMENT. Arbitrator lists come from the Bureau of Mediation Services.
Removal only for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing
Ten Points at the County, City or School District — Fifteen If You Are Disabled
Minnesota's veterans preference reaches beyond state jobs. Counties, home rule charter and statutory cities, towns, school districts and other political subdivisions must add 10 points to a veteran's score on an open examination, and 15 points for a disabled veteran. A disabled veteran also gets 5 points on a first promotional examination. Where a school does not use a 100-point rating at all, it must instead GRANT AN INTERVIEW to a qualifying veteran applicant — which is the provision worth knowing, because most local hiring is not scored.
10 points on an open examination, 15 if disabled; an interview where there is no scored exam
Veterans Preference — Ranked Ahead, Not Points
Disabled veterans rank ahead of every other applicant, veterans ahead of every nonveteran — and a rejected veteran finalist must be told why, in writing.
Ranked ahead of nonveterans — disabled veterans ahead of everyone
Ten Days’ Leave When a Family Member Is Injured or Killed in Service
An employee whose parent, child, grandparent, sibling or spouse is injured or killed while serving in the armed forces may take up to ten working days of leave per occurrence — unpaid, from an employer of any size.
Up to ten working days per occurrence — leave without pay
licenses & fees(3)
Expedited and Temporary Licensure for Recent Veterans and Military Spouses
Every Minnesota professional licensing board must run a procedure to expedite your application, and to issue a temporary licence on an out-of-state one — but for a veteran the door closes two years after separation.
An expedited application, and a temporary licence to work while it runs
Recording Your Discharge With the County — No Fee
A discharge, release or transfer certificate may be recorded with any Minnesota county recorder by the person it was issued to without paying any fee. Access to what is recorded is then restricted by statute.
The recording fee, waived — and a same-county copy of your DD214 for the rest of your life
Two Veteran Designations on the Licence — and Neither Is Free
On request and on payment of the required fee, the department must issue a driver’s licence or state identification card bearing either "Veteran" or "Veteran 100% T&P". A veteran under Minn. Stat. 197.447, or a retired or honorably discharged Guard or Reserve member, qualifies for the first; the second additionally needs satisfactory evidence of a 100 percent total and permanent service-connected disability.
The word Veteran, or Veteran 100% T&P, on your licence or state ID — on payment of the required fee
burial(4)
Burial in a Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery — Four Sites, No Fee for the Veteran
A gravesite or niche, a pre-placed liner, a headstone and perpetual care. The statute forbids a plot or interment fee for an eligible veteran; a spouse or eligible dependant is charged $1,002.
$0 for the veteran, $1,002 for a spouse or eligible dependant, all burial options
A State Grave Marker — Ordered by Your County Service Officer
The commissioner of veterans affairs may provide a marker to permanently mark the grave of a veteran buried inside Minnesota. The request must come from a county veterans service officer or a chartered veterans organisation.
A grave marker provided by the State, within available funds
Honour Guard at the Funeral — $50 Paid to the Post That Renders It
The commissioner pays $50 for each honour guard detail a local veterans organisation provides at a deceased veteran’s funeral, and the post may pass some or all of it to a student who plays Taps.
An honour guard detail — the $50 goes to the post, not to the family
A County Soldiers’ Rest — Free Ground for the Veteran and the Spouse
Where a county board has bought and designated a soldiers’ rest, the ground must be used for veterans and spouses of veterans without charge for space — and charging for a lot in one is a misdemeanour.
No charge for the burial space, where your county keeps a soldiers’ rest
Filing in Benton County
- Office
- Benton 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 Benton County
Benton 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 Benton County veteran benefits
- What can I claim here?
- The Minnesota 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 Benton County?
- File with your County assessor. The form and deadline are on each benefit record.
- What document does the Benton County County 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 Minnesota.
Other counties
- Aitkin
- Anoka
- Becker
- Beltrami
- Big Stone
- Blue Earth
- Brown
- Carlton
- Carver
- Cass
- Chippewa
- Chisago
- Clay
- Clearwater
- Cook
- Cottonwood
- Crow Wing
- Dakota
- Dodge
- Douglas
- Faribault
- Fillmore
- Freeborn
- Goodhue
- Grant
- Hennepin
- Houston
- Hubbard
- Isanti
- Itasca
- Jackson
- Kanabec
- Kandiyohi
- Kittson
- Koochiching
- Lac qui Parle
- Lake
- Lake of the Woods
- Le Sueur
- Lincoln
- Lyon
- McLeod
- Mahnomen
- Marshall
- Martin
- Meeker
- Mille Lacs
- Morrison
- Mower
- Murray
- Nicollet
- Nobles
- Norman
- Olmsted
- Otter Tail
- Pennington
- Pine
- Pipestone
- Polk
- Pope
- Ramsey
- Red Lake
- Redwood
- Renville
- Rice
- Rock
- Roseau
- St. Louis
- Scott
- Sherburne
- Sibley
- Stearns
- Steele
- Stevens
- Swift
- Todd
- Traverse
- Wabasha
- Wadena
- Waseca
- Washington
- Watonwan
- Wilkin
- Winona
- Wright
- Yellow Medicine
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.