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A Wheelchair-Designed Home Pays No Property Tax — and the County Can Refund Four Years Back

South Dakota exempts the dwelling of a paraplegic veteran, or one with loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, from property tax in full, where the dwelling is DESIGNED FOR WHEELCHAIR USE to the SDCL 10-4-24.9 standard and is owned and occupied for the full calendar year. Two things are worth knowing. Applications are due to the county assessor by 1 NOVEMBER each year. And the county commission has a DISCRETIONARY POWER TO REFUND UP TO FOUR PRIOR YEARS on petition — so a veteran who has been paying without knowing may get some of it back.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

South Dakota exempts the dwelling of a paraplegic veteran, or one with loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, from property tax in full, where the dwelling is DESIGNED FOR WHEELCHAIR USE to the SDCL 10-4-24.9 standard and is owned and occupied for the full calendar year. Two things are worth knowing. Applications are due to the county assessor by 1 NOVEMBER each year. And the county commission has a DISCRETIONARY POWER TO REFUND UP TO FOUR PRIOR YEARS on petition — so a veteran who has been paying without knowing may get some of it back.

What it's worth: The dwelling fully exempt from property taxation

  • The dwelling, or the qualifying part of it, is FULLY EXEMPT from property taxation.
  • The dwelling must be DESIGNED FOR WHEELCHAIR USE to the SDCL 10-4-24.9 standard.
  • Paraplegia, or LOSS OR LOSS OF USE OF BOTH LOWER EXTREMITIES.
  • Owned and occupied FOR THE FULL CALENDAR YEAR.
  • APPLY TO THE COUNTY ASSESSOR BY 1 NOVEMBER each year.
  • The exemption CONTINUES until ownership transfers, occupancy ends, or the use changes.
  • THE COUNTY COMMISSION MAY REFUND UP TO FOUR PRIOR YEARS on a discretionary petition.
  • WHETHER THE DISABILITY MUST BE SERVICE-CONNECTED IS NOT ESTABLISHED from the sources reviewed.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are in one of the groups this reaches.
  • You are paraplegic or have lost the use of both lower extremities.
  • This is the home you own and live in.
  • South Dakota property.

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: 1 November each year
  1. 1Diary 1 NOVEMBER. The application is annual and the date is fixed.
  2. 2Have evidence that the dwelling is designed for wheelchair use — the statute sets a design standard, not merely an adaptation.
  3. 3If you have been paying property tax on a qualifying dwelling, PETITION THE COUNTY COMMISSION for a refund of up to four prior years. It is discretionary, so ask rather than assume.
  4. 4Ask the assessor whether service connection is required; the published material does not say.
  5. 5The exemption continues once granted, but the annual application keeps it clean.
Form
Application to your county assessor by 1 November
File with
Your county assessor
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
Annual
Claimed once a year.
Known gapWe could not establish from the sources reviewed whether the paraplegia must be service-connected. Ask the county assessor before ruling yourself out — several states' equivalents of this exemption do not require it.
Worth knowingThe four-year refund petition is discretionary and nobody offers it unprompted. If you have been paying, it is worth a letter.

Sources

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