Disabled Veteran Plate — $10 a Year Instead of Registration Fees
The disabled veteran specialty plate replaces the annual registration fees with a $10 initial plate fee and a $10 annual renewal decal — on up to two sets, for a car, pickup, van or motorcycle. Eligibility is narrower than a rating: an allotment for a total service-connected disability, a statutory benefit for loss or loss of use of an extremity, or a K Award, incurred in wartime or armed conflict. POW, Pearl Harbor survivor and Purple Heart plates carry the same fee treatment.
Verified August 22, 2026
What this benefit is
The disabled veteran specialty plate replaces the annual registration fees with a $10 initial plate fee and a $10 annual renewal decal — on up to two sets, for a car, pickup, van or motorcycle. Eligibility is narrower than a rating: an allotment for a total service-connected disability, a statutory benefit for loss or loss of use of an extremity, or a K Award, incurred in wartime or armed conflict. POW, Pearl Harbor survivor and Purple Heart plates carry the same fee treatment.
What it's worth: $10 initial plate fee and $10 annual decal in lieu of the annual registration fees — up to two sets
- Placing a set on a heavy pickup over 6,000 lbs or a motor home is allowed, but those pay their regular annual registration fees.
Who is entitled to it
- You receive the allotment for a total service-connected disability.
- You are a resident of this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
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How to claim it
- 1Apply through your county treasurer on the military specialty plate form. You need state residency, a state driver licence or nondriver ID, and documentation of the qualifying disability — the state may confer with the federal and state veterans affairs departments to confirm it.
- 2Eligibility runs on the nature of the benefit, not a bare percentage: an allotment for a total service-connected disability, a statutory benefit for loss or loss of use of one or more extremities, or a K Award — and the disability must have been incurred on wartime active duty or in a military mission involving armed conflict.
- 3The plate costs $10 to issue and $10 a year for the renewal decal, and the vehicle carrying it pays no annual registration fees. Up to two sets, on automobiles, pickups, vans or motorcycles.
- 4Since 2024 a qualifying veteran may take standard county plates instead of the distinctive design and keep exactly the same fee treatment (SDCL 32-5-157.1).
- Form
- Military specialty plate application
- File with
- County treasurer of the applicant's county of residence
- Documents you will need
- va benefit summary letter
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
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Sources
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.