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Veterans and Surviving Spouses Property Tax Credit

One hundred percent of the property tax on your principal dwelling, refunded through the income tax return — at 100% disability or individual unemployability, with a Wisconsin-rooted service history.

Verified August 19, 2026

What this benefit is

One hundred percent of the property tax on your principal dwelling, refunded through the income tax return — at 100% disability or individual unemployability, with a Wisconsin-rooted service history.

What it's worth: 100% of the property tax paid on your principal dwelling, back as a credit

  • The credit equals the tax actually paid on the principal dwelling and up to one acre, so its size is your tax bill — whatever your county and district rates produced.

Who is entitled to it

  • You have a 100% service-connected disability rating.
  • You are rated individually unemployable — which counts as 100% here.
  • You were a Wisconsin resident at entry into service, or lived in Wisconsin five consecutive years after entry.
  • The tax was paid on your principal dwelling.
  • Your home is in Wisconsin.

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: April 15, with your return
  1. 1Get certified by the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs FIRST — the Department of Revenue pays the credit, but WDVA decides eligibility, and the certification attaches to your first-year return.
  2. 2Claim the credit on the Wisconsin return each year with the property tax you actually paid on the principal dwelling.
  3. 3If you are an unremarried surviving spouse, claim in your own right — the credit carries over on the routes the Department lists, including where you receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.
Form
WDVA certification, then the credit on your Wisconsin income tax return
File with
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue, with your return
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter · dd214
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThe residency test is about your service history, not your address today: Wisconsin residence at ENTRY into active service, or any five consecutive years of Wisconsin residence after entry. A 100%-rated veteran who retired to Wisconsin three years ago does not yet qualify, and no summary we have seen says so.
Worth knowingIndividual unemployability counts as 100% — the Department defines it in terms, including the 60%-plus-adjustment and the 70%-combined-with-one-at-40% routes.
Worth knowingBecause it is a credit for tax actually paid, this is the rare property relief where county rates change the REFUND rather than the saving — the entitlement is identical in all 72 counties.
Known gapThe unremarried surviving spouse routes have conditions we publish only in outline — including one turning on Dependency and Indemnity Compensation received after 2014. A surviving spouse should have WDVA walk their specific route.

Sources

Why only one source type: docs.legis.wisconsin.gov refused the connection on 19 August 2026, so the statute itself could not be read. The Department of Revenue administers the credit and its qualifications page states the tests in terms, so we publish on it and record the limitation.

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