Montana Veteran Benefits 2026: Complete State Guide

• Montana Veteran Benefits by Status and Rating
• Montana Income Tax Benefits
• Montana Disabled Veteran Property Tax Assistance
• Education Benefits
• Employment Benefits
• Vehicles, Licenses and Plates
• Hunting, Fishing and State Parks
• Montana State Veterans Homes
• State Veterans Cemeteries
• Surviving Spouse and Family Benefits
• National Guard and Military Family Programs
• How to Claim Montana Veteran Benefits, Step by Step
• Frequently Asked Questions

Montana is not a no-tax state for military retirees, but it has become a much friendlier one. Since 2024, retirees who keep working in Montana can shield up to half of their retired pay for five years, and the legislature made that program permanent in 2025. Veterans rated 100% get one of the more generous income-based property tax reductions in the region, and there are real benefits on licenses, parks and tuition. This guide covers each Montana benefit for 2026, who qualifies and how to claim it.

Montana Veteran Benefits by Status and Rating

Montana Income Tax Benefits

Working Military Retirement Exemption

Montana taxes military retired pay, but working retirees can exclude part of it. The Department of Revenue lets an eligible retiree exclude the lesser of 50% of their military retirement income or their Montana-source income from wages, a business or farming. You qualify if you:

• Receive retirement pay from the U.S. Armed Forces, including the National Guard and reserve components, and
• Became a Montana resident after June 30, 2023, or were a resident before your retired pay began and have stayed one

The exclusion can be claimed for five consecutive years, counted from your retirement year, from tax year 2024, or from the year you moved to Montana if you arrived after June 30, 2023. You claim it on Form WMRE with your Form 2. If you become a nonresident after claiming it, you lose eligibility, even if you move back.

The program originally ended after 2033; the 2025 Legislature removed that end date in Senate Bill 93, according to a 2025 legislative staff report. In 2024, its first year, 1,711 residents claimed it.

Survivor Benefit Plan Annuities

Surviving spouses who receive SBP, RCSBP or RSFPP annuities can exclude up to 50% of them under the same residency rules and five-year limit. Military death benefits don’t count as survivor benefits for this purpose.

Active-Duty, Guard and Reserve Pay

Base, special and incentive pay for active-duty members is excluded from Montana income tax, as is Guard and Reserve pay while on state or federal active orders; attach a copy of your orders to your return. Guard and Reserve members who travel more than 100 miles for duty can deduct the travel, and combat zone pay is excluded. Nonresident military spouses don’t pay Montana tax on income earned while stationed there with the service member.

Age 65 Subtraction, Disability Pay and TSP

Taxpayers 65 and older get a $5,500 subtraction ($11,000 for a joint return when both spouses are 65), adjusted for inflation from tax year 2025. Military disability retirement pay and VA disability compensation are not taxable. TSP withdrawals are fully taxable in Montana, even though no state tax is withheld. Our military pension calculator shows your retired pay before state tax.

Montana Disabled Veteran Property Tax Assistance

The Montana Disabled Veteran (MDV) Assistance Program cuts the property tax on your home by 100%, 80%, 70% or 50%, depending on your federal adjusted gross income. You qualify if you:

• Are rated 100% service-connected, or paid at the 100% rate, by VA
• Own the home or are buying it under contract
• Live in it as your primary residence for at least seven months of the year

The 2026 income limits, from the Legislature’s 2025 staff report and the Air Force benefits summary:

Because VA disability compensation isn’t part of federal adjusted gross income, it doesn’t count toward these limits. The limits are adjusted for inflation each year. An unremarried surviving spouse qualifies if they own and live in the home and the veteran met the program’s service-connected rating or death requirements.

Apply online or mail the MDV application, with your VA benefit summary letter, to a Department of Revenue field office by April 15; late applications roll to the next year. In 2025, about 3,612 disabled veterans and surviving spouses used the program, with an average benefit of $1,913.

Education Benefits

Montana University System tuition waivers cover tuition, not fees, and can’t push total discounts above the campus’s tuition. Several are “last dollar,” applied after other aid:

• Honorably discharged veteran waiver: for Montana resident veterans with an honorable discharge (general or under honorable conditions doesn’t qualify), undergraduate or graduate, once VA education benefits are used or expired.
• Montana National Guard waiver: for members in good standing who have finished initial entry training and are making academic progress. Apply through the Award Montana portal.
• War orphans waiver: for children 25 or younger of service members killed in action or who died of combat injuries, if the service member entered from Montana and served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan. It covers up to a bachelor’s degree.
• Guard survivors: spouses and children of Guard members killed in the line of duty on state active duty can get a waiver through the campus financial aid office.

These stack on top of federal benefits such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Montana also belongs to the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and recognizes Purple Star schools.

Employment Benefits

• Hiring preference: on scored public hiring, veterans get 5 points and disabled veterans or eligible relatives get 10. Where jobs aren’t scored, preference goes first to disabled veterans, then eligible relatives, then veterans when qualifications are equal, and it also applies in layoffs.
• Who counts as a veteran: 180 or more days of honorable active duty (other than training), reserve service in a wartime or campaign period, or six years of service with three in the Montana Guard. Disabled veterans need an honorable discharge plus a service-connected rating with a disability pension, or a Purple Heart.
• Military leave: public employees in the Reserve or Guard who have worked at least six months get 120 hours of paid military leave a year, with up to 240 hours carried over.
• Private employers may adopt their own veteran hiring preference policies, and Job Service centers give veterans priority service.

Vehicles, Licenses and Plates

• Registration fee waiver: for veterans rated 100%, Purple Heart recipients rated 50% or higher, and certain unremarried surviving spouses. Apply through your county treasurer with a VA benefit summary letter.
• Disabled Veteran plate: for Purple Heart recipients rated 50% or higher and veterans rated 100%. It carries disabled parking privileges, has no renewal fees and waives the veterans cemetery fee, but doesn’t transfer to a surviving spouse.
• Other plates: Montana offers 24 military plate designs, including Purple Heart and Gold Star Family.
• Veteran designation: available on your driver’s license or ID with a DD-214 or other proof; there’s no extra charge beyond the normal fee.
• Active duty: a Montana license stays valid until 90 days after an honorable discharge, and residents stationed elsewhere can register vehicles at reduced fees with Form MV53.

Hunting, Fishing and State Parks

• State parks: Montana resident veterans get 50% off camping fees (electrical fees excluded) with a DD-214, VA ID or a license with the veteran designation.
• Combat-disabled discount: veterans with a permanent, substantial combat-connected disability get 50% off certain deer and antelope licenses.
• Deployed Guard and Reserve: residents ordered to federal active duty outside Montana for at least two months for a contingency operation get a free conservation, Class A fishing or Class AAA combination license for five years.
• Purple Heart recipients: residents can hunt and fish for game birds (not wild turkeys) with only a Wildlife Conservation License and an AIS prevention pass.
• Stationed in Montana: active-duty members and dependents stationed in the state 30 days or more can buy resident licenses.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks handles all of these; call 406-444-2535.

Montana State Veterans Homes

Montana’s three veterans homes provide reduced-cost long-term care, including skilled nursing, memory care and domiciliary care, for honorably discharged veterans, their spouses and surviving spouses, generally age 55 and older.

State Veterans Cemeteries

Montana’s state veterans cemeteries offer casket, columbarium and cremation burials, with headstones provided by the federal government. Eligibility follows VA national cemetery rules, and there’s no Montana residency requirement. You can pre-register through the Montana Veterans Affairs Division.

• Fort Harrison: 3550 Heroes Road, Fort Harrison; 406-324-4793
• Miles City: Highway 59 and Cemetery Road; 406-721-2945
• Missoula: 1911 Tower Street; 406-721-2995

The Crow Tribe also operates the Apsaalooke Veterans Cemetery in Crow Agency.

Surviving Spouse and Family Benefits

An unremarried surviving spouse can keep the MDV property tax reduction under its own income limits, and can exclude half of SBP annuities for five years. Gold Star families can get a Gold Star plate and the Montana Honor and Remember medallion. Federal survivor benefits are usually larger — see our guide to VA benefits for surviving spouses.

National Guard and Military Family Programs

• Military Family Relief Fund: grants for families of Guard and Reserve members on federal contingency active duty: $250 per dependent, up to $2,000 for financial need, and $2,000 for members wounded in combat. Call 406-324-3333.
• State active duty: enlisted Guard members get twice base pay for the first 15 days of state active duty, and beneficiaries of a member who dies in the line of duty on state active duty receive $50,000.

VA care in Montana runs through the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center near Helena and clinics statewide; if you haven’t enrolled, apply for VA health care online. Veterans buying a home can use a VA loan with no down payment.

How to Claim Montana Veteran Benefits, Step by Step

1. Gather your documents: your DD-214 and a VA benefit summary letter showing your rating.
2. Claim the retirement exclusion on Form WMRE with your Montana Form 2, if you’re a working retiree.
3. Apply for the MDV property tax reduction with the Department of Revenue by April 15.
4. Register vehicles and order plates through your county treasurer.
5. Ask for help: Montana’s free veteran service officers, listed by the Veterans Affairs Division, can file state and federal claims for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is provided by USMilitary.org, an independent educational resource. We are not affiliated with the State of Montana, the Montana Veterans Affairs Division, VA or any government agency. Income limits change every year; confirm current details with the Montana Veterans Affairs Division, the Montana Department of Revenue or the official Montana state benefits summary before you apply.