Veteran benefits in Union County, South Dakota
- Benefits you can claim here
- 26
- Property tax rate
- 1.14
- effective rate, ACS 2023 five-year
- $200,000 of full and true value, typical home
- $0
- a year at this county rate
- Veterans in this county
- 1,058
- US Department of Veterans Affairs VetPop2023 county model, as of 9/30/2025
What to do, in Union County
The process is the same across South Dakota for the statewide records. Only the office and the tax rate change.
Find what applies to you
26 benefits reach Union 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 Union 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 Union 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 |
| $200,000 of full and true value (SDCL 10-4-40) | about $0 a year against the county rate |
| Total exemption (SDCL 10-4-40) | the entire bill — about $2,850 a year against the county rate on a typical $250,000 value, and more once your other taxing units are added |
| Where to file | Union County County assessor |
| Deadline | November 1, annually, every year |
Which document does the Union 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 26 benefits you can claim in Union County
All 66 South Dakota counties get the same statewide law.
vehicles(5)
POW, Pearl Harbor and Purple Heart Plates — $10 a Year Instead of Registration
South Dakota issues POW, Pearl Harbor Survivor and Purple Heart plates for $10 AT ISSUE AND $10 A YEAR FOR THE RENEWAL DECAL, IN LIEU OF annual registration fees — so the whole registration bill becomes ten dollars. MEDAL OF HONOR PLATES CARRY NO ANNUAL REGISTRATION FEES OR ANY OTHER FEES AT ALL. None of these routes needs a disability rating; they turn on the status or the decoration. You must be a South Dakota resident with a state driver licence or non-driver ID.
$10 at issue and $10 a year in lieu of registration; Medal of Honor plates are free
Branch Emblem Plates for $10 — Any Honorably Discharged Veteran
South Dakota offers branch-emblem plates — Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine, Navy and SPACE FORCE — to any honorably discharged veteran who served on active duty, for a $10 special-plate fee ON TOP OF regular registration. No rating, no wartime service, no decoration. You need an active South Dakota driver licence or ID card. Renewal is at the standard registration rate, so the $10 is a one-off rather than annual. A $12 mailing fee applies where plates are posted.
$10 special-plate fee, plus regular registration
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.
$10 initial plate fee and $10 annual decal in lieu of the annual registration fees — up to two sets
Gold Star Plate — Parent, Spouse, Sibling or Child, and It Is Not Free
A Gold Star military specialty plate for the parent, spouse, sibling or child of a member who died while serving on active duty or as a result of that service. The relationship list is wider than most people expect — a sibling qualifies. The fee position is narrower than most people expect: $10 to issue, and the ordinary annual registration still applies.
$10 to issue the plate; ordinary annual registration still applies
The Disabled Veteran Plate Is Already a Parking Permit
A vehicle displaying the disabled veteran plate may park without time limitation where parking is restricted by time, and may park in any space reserved for a person with a disability. The parking statute names the disabled veteran plate alongside the medical-certification plate. There is no second application, no physician certificate and no placard to obtain.
Unlimited time in time-restricted parking, and access to reserved disability spaces
licenses & fees(4)
CDL Skills Test Waived — and Even Exchange Takes the Written Tests Too
South Dakota waives the CDL skills test for a current or former member of the armed forces, including Reserve and National Guard, who holds a military licence to operate a military commercial vehicle. FORMER MEMBERS HAVE ONE YEAR AFTER SEPARATION OR RETIREMENT. Separately, EVEN EXCHANGE waives BOTH the knowledge and skills tests for qualifying specialties — Army 88M, 92F and 14T, Air Force 2T1, 2F0 and 3E2, USMC 3531, Navy EO — with commanding-officer verification. Check your specialty before booking anything.
The skills test waived; Even Exchange waives the knowledge tests too
Occupational Licensure for Military Members and Spouses — Thirty Days, and No Fee At All
A licensing board must issue the licence within thirty days of a completed application from an active-duty member or their spouse who holds a similar licence elsewhere — and SDCL 36-1B-4 bars the board from charging an application fee or any other fee for it.
Licence issued within thirty days of a completed application, with no application fee or any other board fee
Certificates for a Claim — the County May Not Charge You
Birth, death, marriage, adoption, divorce, guardianship and conservatorship records, certified, at no charge — when the record supports a claim against a federal or state agency by or for a service member or veteran, their spouse, surviving spouse or dependants. It is a small statute that almost nobody invokes.
No county fee for certified copies of birth, death, marriage, adoption, divorce, guardianship or conservatorship records needed to support a claim
Veteran Designation on a Licence or ID — Six Ways to Prove It, One of Them a CVSO Signature
An honorably discharged veteran may have a veteran designation printed on a driver licence, permit or nondriver identification card. The statute lists six acceptable proofs, and the last one matters: a certificate signed by a county veterans service officer on the state veterans department’s own form. Nobody who has lost their discharge papers is shut out.
A veteran designation printed on your licence, permit or nondriver ID
property tax(2)
$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.
$200,000 of full and true value, exempt
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.
The dwelling fully exempt from property taxation
recreation(2)
Hunting and Fishing at $10 for Four Years — From 40%
A resident veteran with a 40% or greater VA allotment — or the "K" award, or 40% Social Security disability plus service, or former POW status — licences for small game and fishing at a $10 fee, valid four years.
$10 for four years of small game and fishing licences
Lifetime Park Entrance and Half-Price Camping — 100%, POW or Purple Heart
A resident veteran with 100% total service-connected disability — or POW or Purple Heart status — gets a lifetime state park entrance licence and a 50% discount on camping and the electrical fees that ride with the site.
Lifetime park entrance free; camping and electrical fees at half price
education(4)
A Month of Free Tuition per Month Served — After Your Federal Benefits, Not Instead of Them
A resident wartime veteran with an honorable discharge earns one month of free tuition at the state universities and technical colleges for each month of qualifying service — floor of one academic year, ceiling of four. Being GI Bill-eligible does not exclude you. SDCL 13-55-2 requires only that federal tuition benefits be applied first: the state benefit begins where the federal ones stop.
One month of undergraduate tuition free per month of qualifying service — minimum one academic year, maximum four
Guard Tuition — 100%, Not 50%, and 128 Credits of It
A serving Guard member pays no tuition at a state university for up to 128 undergraduate credits, 32 graduate credits, and one approved programme at a technical college. Widely-circulated summaries still say fifty percent. The department's own education page says the reduction is a hundred.
100% tuition reduction — up to 128 undergraduate credits and 32 graduate credits at the state universities, plus one approved programme at a technical college
Free Tuition for the Families of the Killed, the Missing, the Captured — and Guard Line-of-Duty Casualties
Three entitlements to tuition at state-supported schools. A child under 25 of a service member killed in action or who died on active duty qualifies under one; the spouse or child of a prisoner of war or a person missing in action qualifies under the other, which also covers mandatory fees. Separately, dependants of South Dakota National Guard members who died or became disabled in the line of duty — children 24 and under AND spouses — receive a 100 percent tuition waiver.
Full tuition at state-supported schools; the prisoner-of-war and missing-in-action route also covers mandatory fees
The Diploma You Left Behind — Awarded by the School District
A veteran who left school for the Second World War, Korea or Vietnam may be awarded an honorary high school diploma by a school district of their choosing. No examination, no coursework. It is the sort of thing families arrange for a parent and then wish they had known about a decade earlier.
An honorary high school diploma awarded by a school district, for active service in the Second World War, Korea or Vietnam
other(7)
The Veterans Bonus — Up to $500, and You Can Draw It Twice
A cash bonus of up to $500 for qualifying service in the first Gulf period, and up to $500 again for qualifying service from 1993 onwards. The eligibility test changes shape across four date windows: two of them take any active service, two of them take only medal-qualifying or combat service.
Up to $500 for qualifying service 2 August 1990 to 31 December 1992, and up to $500 again for qualifying service from 1 January 1993
Burial Money: $100 Means-Tested, $200 Not — and Both Run on a One-Year Clock
Two separate payments that families routinely confuse. The burial allowance is up to $100 and only where the estate and immediate family lack the funds. The headstone SETTING reimbursement is $200, with $100 more for etching service details on a privately bought stone — and it carries no means test at all.
Up to $100 burial allowance where the family lacks funds; $200 towards setting a government headstone or marker, plus $100 for etching service details on a privately purchased stone
The State Cemetery — Free for You, $1,002 for Your Spouse, and It Cannot Be Prepaid
The state veterans cemetery at Sioux Falls costs a veteran nothing for any burial option. A spouse interment is $1,002, and the same figure applies whichever option is chosen — casket, in-ground cremation or columbarium niche. The department states plainly that spouse and dependent fees cannot be prepaid and are subject to change, which means a family planning ahead cannot lock the number in.
No cost for a veteran on any burial option; $1,002 for a spouse or eligible dependent — covering the gravesite or niche, a pre-placed grave liner, the headstone or niche cover and perpetual care
Deployment Cannot Be Used Against You in a Custody Case
The codified law says it directly: a court may not consider a parent's past deployment or possible future deployment in itself. The one exception is written just as plainly — where, on return, either the service member or the child shows a substantial and material change of circumstances that adversely affects the ability to care for the child, the best interests of the child decide. The same chapter provides an expedited hearing and testimony by electronic means.
A statutory bar on treating past or possible future deployment as a custody factor in itself, plus an expedited hearing and testimony by electronic means for a deploying parent
No State Lease-Termination Right — the Federal Act Is the Whole of It
Several states put a military lease-termination right in their own landlord and tenant law, on top of the federal one. This state does not. Chapter 43-32 is the entire codified law on the lease of real property here, and its section list contains no military, active-duty, deployment or permanent-change-of-station provision at all. A service member breaking a lease here is relying on the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and only on that.
No state lease-termination provision for service members — the federal Act stands alone here
Veterans Court — Two Tracks, 13 or 15 Months, Lincoln or Minnehaha County
The Second Judicial Circuit runs a veterans treatment court at Sioux Falls, and it publishes exactly what it demands. You must be 18 or over, have prior service in the armed forces, face felony or misdemeanour charges, live in Lincoln or Minnehaha County, pass a legal screen and a risk and needs assessment, and be willing. You are then placed on Track 1 (minimum 13 months, four phases) or Track 2 (minimum 15 months, five phases). Every phase has a sober-day threshold, rising to 120 consecutive days by the last one.
A judicially supervised treatment track of at least 13 months (Track 1) or 15 months (Track 2), with a volunteer veteran mentor throughout
A Free Ride to a VA Appointment From 42 Rural Counties
Two transit operators hold federal highly rural transportation grants covering this state, and between them they serve 42 counties. The rides go to VA and VA-authorised health appointments and cost the veteran nothing. The eligibility test is not your rating or your income — it is the population density of the county you live in: fewer than seven people per square mile.
Free transport to VA-authorised health appointments across 42 highly rural counties, run by two grant-holding transit operators
Filing in Union County
- Office
- Union 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 Union County
Union 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 Union County veteran benefits
- What can I claim here?
- The South Dakota 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 Union County?
- File with your County assessor. The form and deadline are on each benefit record.
- What document does the Union 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 South Dakota.
Other counties
- Aurora
- Beadle
- Bennett
- Bon Homme
- Brookings
- Brown
- Brule
- Buffalo
- Butte
- Campbell
- Charles Mix
- Clark
- Clay
- Codington
- Corson
- Custer
- Davison
- Day
- Deuel
- Dewey
- Douglas
- Edmunds
- Fall River
- Faulk
- Grant
- Gregory
- Haakon
- Hamlin
- Hand
- Hanson
- Harding
- Hughes
- Hutchinson
- Hyde
- Jackson
- Jerauld
- Jones
- Kingsbury
- Lake
- Lawrence
- Lincoln
- Lyman
- McCook
- McPherson
- Marshall
- Meade
- Mellette
- Miner
- Minnehaha
- Moody
- Oglala Lakota
- Pennington
- Perkins
- Potter
- Roberts
- Sanborn
- Spink
- Stanley
- Sully
- Todd
- Tripp
- Turner
- Walworth
- Yankton
- Ziebach
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.