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$200,000 Exempt — Not the $150,000 the Summaries Say, and the Surviving Spouse Keeps It

$200,000 of the home’s value is exempt at permanent and total — recently raised from the $150,000 every summary still quotes — with a separate FULL exemption for paraplegic veterans in adapted homes. Under SDCL 10-4-41 the same $200,000 goes to a surviving spouse, either of a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability, or where the spouse receives VA dependency and indemnity compensation for a service-connected death.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

$200,000 of the home’s value is exempt at permanent and total — recently raised from the $150,000 every summary still quotes — with a separate FULL exemption for paraplegic veterans in adapted homes. Under SDCL 10-4-41 the same $200,000 goes to a surviving spouse, either of a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability, or where the spouse receives VA dependency and indemnity compensation for a service-connected death.

What it's worth: $200,000 of full and true value, exempt

  • The separate paraplegic programme exempts the wheelchair-adapted home entirely, with its own gate.
  • SDCL 10-4-41 exempts $200,000 of full and true value for the surviving spouse of a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability, or for a spouse receiving VA dependency and indemnity compensation for a service-connected death.
  • The DIC route does not require the veteran to have held a rating in life.
  • The surviving spouse exemption continues until the property is sold, vacated, the spouse remarries, or the use changes.
  • A late applicant may petition the county commissioners for recalculation and refund going back up to four years. A missed year is not necessarily lost.

Who is entitled to it

  • You meet the permanent and total test.
  • You own and occupy the home.
  • Your home is 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

Deadline: November 1
  1. 1Apply with the county assessor by November 1 — every year; the exemption does not carry itself forward.
  2. 2If you are paraplegic or have lost the use of both lower extremities and the home is wheelchair-adapted, claim the full paraplegic exemption instead.
  3. 3South Dakota also levies no income tax — there is no state return to file.
Form
Disabled veteran exemption application
File with
Your county assessor, by November 1, annually
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThe Department of Revenue now states the exemption at $200,000 of value — the $150,000 in circulation everywhere is the old figure.
Worth knowingThe paraplegic full exemption is a separate programme with a functional gate (wheelchair-adapted structure), not a rating gate.

Sources

Why only one source type: The Department of Revenue states the $200,000 figure, the paraplegic programme and the November 1 deadline in terms.

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