State veteran benefits · ID
Idaho Veteran Benefits
Idaho cuts up to $1,500 off the property tax on the home and up to one acre for veterans rated 100% or paid at 100% for unemployability, with no income limit.
By Mario Bailey, U.S. Air Force veteran · current Air National Guard member. Data updated 2026-07-10.
What Idaho adds, benefit by benefit
Your federal VA benefits travel with you to any state. Everything below is the second stack: what Idaho itself offers, each item checked against the state's own official source on the date shown.
Property tax reduction for disabled veterans
Veterans recognized by VA as 100% service-connected disabled, or receiving 100% compensation due to individual unemployability, can reduce the property tax on their Idaho primary residence and up to one acre of land by as much as $1,500. There is no income limit, and the home can be a mobile home.
Apply through the county assessor between January 1 and April 15 for that year's taxes. If the disability is permanent and total, the benefit renews automatically and you do not reapply each year.
SOURCE: Idaho State Tax Commission · retrieved 2026-07-10
Income tax on military retired pay
Idaho taxes military retired pay as regular income, but the Idaho Retirement Benefits Deduction lets a retired service member deduct qualifying military pension income if they are classified as disabled, are age 62 or older, or are under 62 and worked during the year with enough employment income to require a federal return. The maximum is recalculated by the state each year. VA disability compensation is never taxed, by Idaho or any other state.
The deduction is claimed on Form 39R and married veterans must file jointly to take it. A younger retiree who neither works nor is classified as disabled pays Idaho income tax on the pension until reaching one of the qualifying doors.
SOURCE: Idaho State Tax Commission · retrieved 2026-07-10
Armed Forces dependent scholarship
The Armed Forces and Public Safety Officer Dependent Scholarship gives children and spouses of Idaho service members killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty a full waiver of tuition and fees at Idaho public institutions, plus up to $750 per semester for books and on-campus housing and subsistence.
SOURCE: Idaho Division of Veterans Services · retrieved 2026-07-10
State and local hiring preference
Idaho adds five percentage points to the rating of preference-eligible veterans in public hiring, ten points for veterans with a service-connected disability of 10% or more, and veterans rated 30% or higher are entitled to an interview when they meet the position's qualifications. The preference covers state, county, city, and other local public employers.
SOURCE: Idaho Department of Labor · retrieved 2026-07-10
State veterans homes
The Idaho Division of Veterans Services operates four state veterans homes, in Boise, Lewiston, Pocatello, and Post Falls, giving the state skilled-care coverage in each of its population centers.
SOURCE: Idaho Division of Veterans Services · retrieved 2026-07-10
DAV hunting and fishing licenses
Resident veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 40% or more buy a Disabled American Veteran license for $5, then pay reduced big-game tag prices: deer $10.75, elk $16.50, bear $6.75, turkey $10.75, with archery or muzzleloader permits at $3.75 each.
The VA rating letter is only required on the first application, not on renewals.
SOURCE: Idaho Department of Fish and Game · retrieved 2026-07-10
State veterans cemeteries
Idaho operates two state veterans cemeteries, the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Boise and a second state cemetery in Blackfoot serving eastern Idaho, alongside the Snake River Canyon National Cemetery.
SOURCE: Idaho Division of Veterans Services · retrieved 2026-07-10
Read Idaho’s benefits as a package for the outdoors-minded 100% rated homeowner and they look better than the headline numbers suggest. The property tax reduction tops out at $1,500, which will not zero out a Boise-area bill the way Oregon’s or Washington’s neighbors sometimes assume, but it comes with two features most capped programs lack: no income test at all, and automatic renewal once VA has you at permanent and total. Individual unemployability counts too, a point veterans paid at the 100% rate through IU regularly miss. If you are near a rating threshold, run the numbers in the combined rating calculator before assuming you fall short.
The calendar is the trap. Idaho’s application window is January 1 to April 15, county assessor’s office, and if you close on a house in May you wait until the next January and eat a full year of unreduced taxes. Put the reminder in your phone the day you go under contract.
The income tax picture is the honest weak spot. A 42-year-old retiring E-8 pays Idaho’s income tax on that pension for two decades before the age-62 deduction opens up, unless they are classified as disabled. That is a real cost difference against no-income-tax neighbors like Washington, Nevada, and Wyoming, and it should factor into a retirement-move spreadsheet next to housing costs. Your VA compensation is a different animal entirely, untaxed everywhere, as covered in is VA disability taxable, and the monthly amounts are in the current VA disability pay tables.
Where Idaho quietly overdelivers is the sporting portfolio. A 40% rating, which is a far lower bar than most states set for outdoor benefits, converts a $5 license into elk tags at $16.50. For a veteran who hunts every fall, that recurring discount is worth more over ten years than the property tax break is in one.
Education money for veterans themselves is thin; the state’s flagship program is for dependents of those killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty, and it is generous there, covering tuition, books money, and housing. Veterans finishing their own degrees should anchor on the Post-9/11 GI Bill. And remember the state preference points apply to Idaho public employers only; federal jobs at Mountain Home or the VA hospital run on the separate federal veterans’ preference system.
Where to apply
State benefits are administered by the state, not by VA, so the applications above run through Idaho Division of Veterans Services or the specific agency named in each source link. A free VA-accredited representative or VSO in Idaho will know both stacks, the federal claim and the state paperwork, and charges nothing to help with either.