State veteran benefits · AR
Arkansas Veteran Benefits
Arkansas exempts a veteran rated 100 percent permanent and total, or awarded special monthly compensation for limb loss or blindness, from all state taxes on the homestead and personal property, and the exemption passes to an unmarried surviving spouse and minor children.
By Mario Bailey, U.S. Air Force veteran · current Air National Guard member. Data updated 2026-07-10.
What Arkansas adds, benefit by benefit
Your federal VA benefits travel with you to any state. Everything below is the second stack: what Arkansas itself offers, each item checked against the state's own official source on the date shown.
Property tax relief
Under Arkansas Code 26-3-306, a disabled veteran awarded special monthly compensation for the loss or loss of use of one or more limbs, total blindness in one or both eyes, or a service-connected 100 percent total and permanent disability is exempt from payment of all state taxes on the homestead and personal property. On the veteran's death the exemption extends to the surviving spouse while unmarried and to minor dependent children, including families of those killed in service or declared missing in action.
Apply through the county collector's office. Arkansas also gives every homestead owner a tax credit, worth up to $500 and authorized to rise to $600 beginning with 2026 bills, but the 26-3-306 exemption replaces the bill entirely for those who qualify.
SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs · retrieved 2026-07-10
State income tax
Beginning with tax year 2018, Act 141 of 2017 exempts retirement benefits received by a member of the uniformed services from Arkansas income tax, and the state's instructions list military pension first among income exempt from tax. Active duty pay has been fully exempt since 2014, and VA benefits are exempt outright.
SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration · retrieved 2026-07-10
Military Dependents' Scholarship
The spouse or dependent child of an Arkansas resident who was killed or missing in action, a prisoner of war, killed on ordnance delivery, or declared 100 percent totally and permanently disabled from service can attend any public or approved private Arkansas college with tuition at the in-state rate, mandatory fees, and an on-campus room and meal plan covered.
The award pays what remains after federal Chapter 35 DEA benefits are applied, requires full-time enrollment and a 2.0 GPA, and runs up to eight semesters. Applicants must also apply for DEA and document the veteran's status.
SOURCE: Arkansas Division of Higher Education · retrieved 2026-07-10
State hiring preference
Arkansas Code 21-3-302 and 21-3-303 add 5 points to a qualified veteran's passing score on state hiring assessments and 10 points for disabled veterans, certain veterans over 55 drawing a pension or compensation, and qualifying spouses. Agencies must weigh the preference both when building interview lists and when ranking finalists.
Eligibility covers honorably discharged veterans from a tour of active duty and those with at least six years of honorable National Guard or Reserve service; unremarried surviving spouses can also claim it.
SOURCE: Arkansas Shared Administrative Services · retrieved 2026-07-10
State veterans homes
Arkansas runs two state veterans homes, in Fayetteville and North Little Rock, with round-the-clock nursing, therapy services, hospice support, and social work. Admission takes an honorable discharge and a documented medical need for nursing home care, and spouses and Gold Star parents are also eligible.
SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs · retrieved 2026-07-10
Lifetime hunting and fishing license for $3
A resident veteran certified 100 percent totally and permanently disabled can buy the Resident Disabled Military Veteran Lifetime Combination License (VLC2) for $3, carrying the Resident Sportsman hunting and Fisheries Conservation fishing privileges for life. Veterans rated 70 percent or more, or 50 percent with a Purple Heart, can get the $52.50 VLL2 version that folds in trout and state duck stamp privileges.
One year of Arkansas residency is required, and the license comes from the AGFC Little Rock office in person or by mail.
SOURCE: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission · retrieved 2026-07-10
State veterans cemeteries
Arkansas operates two state veterans cemeteries, at North Little Rock and at Birdeye in Cross County. Interment is free for veterans discharged under conditions other than dishonorable and $807 for a spouse or qualified dependent, including the gravesite, opening and closing, perpetual care, and a federal headstone or niche cover.
SOURCE: Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs · retrieved 2026-07-10
Read the Arkansas statute closely, because it is broader than the usual 100 percent club. The homestead exemption in 26-3-306 reaches any veteran drawing special monthly compensation for losing a limb or the use of one, or for blindness, even if the combined schedular rating never says 100. It also wipes personal property tax, which in Arkansas is a real annual bill on vehicles, boats, and trailers, not a rounding error. A qualifying veteran with a house and two trucks escapes both assessments, and the exemption outlives the veteran for an unmarried spouse and minor children.
The income side is just as absolute: military retired pay left the Arkansas tax base in 2018, active duty pay left in 2014, and VA compensation was never in it, a distinction worth understanding via is VA disability taxable. For a retiree comparing the mid-South, Arkansas now taxes none of the three streams most military households live on. What your rating pays is in the VA disability pay tables.
The family benefit with the longest reach is the Military Dependents’ Scholarship, and its design is the part people misread. It is a gap filler: Arkansas pays what tuition, fees, and campus room and board cost after federal Chapter 35 money is applied, so families must apply for the federal benefit first even if they expect it to be denied. Skipping that step stalls the state award. Used correctly across eight semesters it can zero out a degree, and it sits alongside rather than inside the transfer rules covered in the Post-9/11 GI Bill guide.
Smaller pieces reward attention. The $3 lifetime license is close to symbolic in price but permanent, and the 70 percent tier at $52.50 is one of the few places Arkansas draws a line below 100. The two state cemeteries charge veterans nothing, with the federal underpinnings described in veteran burial and memorial benefits. And the state’s 5 and 10 point hiring preference applies at two stages of selection, interview list and final ranking, which is stronger than a single score bump; the federal equivalent works differently, as laid out in veterans’ preference for federal jobs. The commonly missed move: qualifying veterans still need to file the exemption with the county collector, because nothing about 26-3-306 happens automatically.
Where to apply
State benefits are administered by the state, not by VA, so the applications above run through Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs or the specific agency named in each source link. A free VA-accredited representative or VSO in Arkansas will know both stacks, the federal claim and the state paperwork, and charges nothing to help with either.