If you serve in the military or have served, Utah offers a property tax break that grows with your disability rating, plus a tax credit that shields most military retirement pay. Utah draws many military families after a PCS, which is short for Permanent Change of Station, the official military move from one duty station to another, with Hill Air Force Base anchoring the Ogden, Layton, and Clearfield area and Dugway Proving Ground to the west. This guide explains the main rules in plain language and points you to the state's own sources. Tax law changes, so treat these figures as a starting point and confirm the current rules before you file.
How Utah Helps Disabled Veterans With Property Taxes
Utah offers a Veteran with a Disability Exemption that lowers the taxable value of a home based on the veteran's disability rating. Taxable value is the part of a property's value that the county actually taxes. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, known as the VA, is the federal agency that rates service-connected disabilities, and your rating sets the size of the break.
As the Utah State Tax Commission describes in its property tax relief guide, Publication 36, the exemption applies to a veteran disabled in the line of duty, with a rating of at least 10 percent, and to an unmarried surviving spouse or minor orphans. There is no exemption for a rating below 10 percent.
How the Rating Scales the Exemption
Utah sets a maximum amount of taxable value that can be exempted, and your share equals that maximum times your disability rating. For 2026, the maximum is $535,459 of taxable value, an amount the state adjusts each year for inflation, so it rises over time. In plain terms, a veteran with a 100 percent rating can exempt the full $535,459 of taxable value, while a veteran with a 50 percent rating exempts half of that, or about $267,730. Because a higher-value home may have value left over above the exempted amount, the break may lower the bill rather than erase it. Confirm the current maximum with your county and the Tax Commission before you count on it.
Active-Duty Service Members
Utah also has an Active Duty Armed Forces Exemption. As Davis County, home to Hill Air Force Base, explains in its tax relief pages, a service member who completes at least 200 days of qualifying active-duty service outside Utah in a 365-day period can have the property taxes on a primary residence abated for the following year. You apply the year after you complete the qualifying service.
Surviving Spouses
The Veteran with a Disability Exemption can carry to an unmarried surviving spouse or to minor orphans, with VA documentation of the rating and, where required, the death. Because the details depend on your situation, confirm them with your county before you rely on the benefit.
How It Works With Your Local Tax Bill
Property tax in Utah is administered by the county. You file your exemption application with the county where the home sits, and the county applies it to your primary residence, including up to one acre of land. The break covers your primary home, not a second home or rental. Deadlines matter: Davis County notes a filing deadline of September 1, which the Tax Commission may extend to December 31 for good cause, so do not wait until the bill arrives.
If you are weighing where to settle, our guide to the military bases in Utah and our look at the best places to live near Hill Air Force Base can help you picture the local cost of owning a home along the Wasatch Front.
Military Pay and Utah State Income Tax
Utah has a flat state income tax, set at 4.55 percent on the worksheet the state currently publishes, and it does not have a separate exemption that removes military retirement pay from income. Instead, it uses a credit. As the Utah State Tax Commission explains, the Military Retirement Credit equals 4.55 percent of the military retirement pay included in your federal adjusted gross income. Because that matches the flat rate, the credit offsets the Utah tax on your military retirement pay, so most retirees owe no state tax on it.
A few details matter. You cannot claim both the Military Retirement Credit and the general Retirement Credit in the same year, and survivor benefits for a service member who died on active duty use a separate Military Survivor Benefits Credit instead. Active-duty pay of a Utah resident is generally taxable as income, though the credit and the federal rules for combat pay can reduce what you owe, and VA disability compensation is not part of federal income, so Utah does not tax it. Rates and credits can change, so confirm the current figures with the Tax Commission before you file.
A Note for Military Spouses: MSRRA
If you are a military spouse, the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act, known as MSRRA, may matter to you. MSRRA is a federal law that lets a military spouse keep a home state for tax and voting purposes even after moving on military orders. You do not automatically become a Utah resident just because your service member got orders here.
Under the related federal rules, a service member, the spouse, or both may choose the service member's home state, the spouse's home state, or the service member's permanent duty station for residency. Because that choice affects both states' taxes, confirm yours before you file. For the property tax exemption in this guide, what usually matters most is that you own and live in the home as your primary residence.
