South Carolina Veterans Benefits: Tax Breaks, Tuition, and Burial

South Carolina veterans benefits include a full property tax exemption on the home and vehicles of permanently and totally disabled veterans, a complete state income tax exclusion on military retirement pay, free in-state college tuition for children of certain wartime veterans, hiring preference for state jobs, free hunting and fishing licenses for totally disabled veterans, reduced-cost military license plates, admission to six state veterans nursing homes, and free burial at the state veterans cemetery in Anderson. Each benefit runs through a different agency, so the paperwork and the office you file with change depending on what you’re claiming.

Property Tax Exemption on Your Home and Vehicles

If you are a veteran with a service-connected disability rated permanent and total by the VA, South Carolina exempts your home and up to five acres from all property taxes. The same exemption covers up to two private passenger vehicles that you own or lease, or that a spouse living at the same address owns or leases.¹

You file Form PT-401-I with the South Carolina Department of Revenue. The fastest route is the MyDORWAY online portal at MyDORWAY.dor.sc.gov; you can also mail the form to SCDOR, Government Services Division, PO Box 125, Columbia, SC 29214-0720, or take it to any SCDOR service center.² You’ll need a certificate signed by your county veterans’ service officer confirming the permanent and total disability rating, along with the property’s tax map number and deed reference, and for each vehicle the VIN, make, year, and county of registration.

A veteran who becomes permanently and totally disabled partway through a tax year can claim the exemption for the whole year.³ Retroactive claims must reach SCDOR within two years of the date the taxes were paid.²

Surviving spouses keep the exemption as long as they remain unmarried and continue to live in the home, and the benefit also runs to surviving spouses of service members killed in action. If your deceased spouse was eligible but never applied, you can still claim the exemption.¹

Military Retirement Pay Is Fully Exempt From State Income Tax

South Carolina exempts all military retirement income from state individual income tax, with no age limit and no dollar cap. The deduction is written into S.C. Code § 12-6-1171, which lets you deduct every dollar of military retirement income that would otherwise sit in your South Carolina taxable income.⁴ The Department of Revenue confirms the point plainly: all military retirement pay included as taxable income is exempt regardless of the recipient’s age.⁵

There is no special application. You report the retirement income on your South Carolina return and take the full deduction on the same return.

Free In-State Tuition for Veterans’ Children

South Carolina waives tuition at every state-supported college, university, and technical school for the children of qualifying wartime veterans. The waiver covers tuition only. Room, board, and fees are not included, and the student has to maintain satisfactory academic standing and conduct at the school.⁶

The veteran parent must have served honorably during a federally defined war period and must fall into at least one of these categories: killed in action or otherwise died in service; died of a service-connected disease or disability; a prisoner of war as defined by Congress or presidential proclamation; permanently and totally disabled from any cause as determined by the VA; awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; missing in action; or awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in combat. The waiver also extends to the child of a deceased veteran who previously qualified under the POW or disability categories.⁶

The student has to be a South Carolina resident, 26 or younger, and pursuing an undergraduate degree.⁶ The application goes to the South Carolina Department of Veterans’ Affairs rather than to the college itself. You’ll need a certified birth certificate showing the relationship to the veteran and the veteran’s DD-214 to verify honorable service and the qualifying service dates. Once SCDVA approves, it issues a letter of eligibility that the student takes to the financial aid office at the school.

Hiring Preference for State Government Jobs

Honorably discharged veterans who also qualify for federal employment preference get hiring preference at every South Carolina state agency and public higher education institution. The policy, administered by the South Carolina Department of Administration, took effect January 1, 2021.⁷

You still have to meet the minimum training and experience listed for the position and be able to perform the duties with or without a reasonable accommodation.⁷ On the application, mark the veteran’s preference box and upload your DD-214. The preference gives you priority among equally qualified candidates. It is not an automatic hire.

Free Hunting and Fishing License for Totally Disabled Veterans

Veterans who are totally disabled and receiving VA disability benefits can get a free statewide hunting and fishing license. The standard is total disability, not a percentage threshold, and you must have been a South Carolina resident for at least one year (365 days).⁸

Download the disability license application from the Department of Natural Resources, mark the VA as the certifying agency, and attach a current-year VA benefits verification statement. Applications submitted without that documentation are returned.⁹ The license is issued under S.C. Code § 50-9-510.

Military License Plates

Under a law effective in May 2022, several military license plate types no longer carry registration fees, some plates come with free metered parking statewide, and certain plates can be issued with disabled parking privileges built in.¹⁰

Qualifying active-duty or prior service members can receive up to three plates per eligible plate type, and if you qualify for more than one type you can get up to three of each, though each plate goes on a single vehicle.¹⁰ Veterans who held permanent military plates before the 2022 change are grandfathered under the old rules and don’t have to surrender their current plates, but the SCDMV offers a voluntary exchange for the updated plates.

State Veterans Nursing Homes

South Carolina runs six state veterans nursing homes offering skilled and intermediate care:

E. Roy Stone Veterans Pavilion, Columbia
Veterans’ Victory House, Walterboro
Richard Michael Campbell Veterans Home, Anderson
Veteran Village, Florence
Palmetto Patriots Home, Gaffney
Patriot’s Village, Sumter

Admission is limited to South Carolina veterans separated under general or honorable conditions who need skilled or intermediate nursing home care.¹¹ Expect to submit medical records documenting current care needs and proof of service. The homes are state-managed but draw federal VA funding, which generally lowers out-of-pocket costs compared with private nursing facilities.

Burial at the State Veterans Cemetery

The M.J. “Dolly” Cooper Veterans Cemetery in Anderson buries eligible veterans at no cost, covering the plot, grave liner, permanent marker, and the opening and closing of the gravesite. A spouse or eligible dependent child can be interred in the same plot for $300 per person.¹²

Eligibility requires an honorable discharge documented by a DD-214 and one of three residency conditions: South Carolina resident when entering the Armed Forces, South Carolina resident at the time of death, or a South Carolina resident for at least five years. SCDVA may waive the time requirement for compelling reasons. Spouses must provide a marriage certificate. Eligible children must be unmarried and either under 21 or mentally or physically incapable of self-support.¹²

Keeping Your Benefits Active

Approval is not permanent in every case. For the property tax exemption, you have to reapply if your status changes or if you buy different property; the exemption does not follow you automatically from one home to the next.²

If the Department of Revenue questions an exemption and issues a proposed assessment, you have 90 days to file an appeal.¹³ Miss that window without paying, and SCDOR issues a Final Assessment and sends the account to collections. Unpaid tax liabilities accrue interest from the due date and become a personal debt the Attorney General can pursue in court.¹⁴

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-37-220 – General Exemption From Taxes
2
South Carolina Department of Revenue. Property Tax Exemption Application for Individuals (PT-401-I)
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-37 – Assessment of Property Taxes
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-6-1171 – Military Retirement Income Deduction
5
South Carolina Department of Revenue. Retirees – Lower Your Individual Income Tax Bill With These Five Tips
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 59-111 – Scholarships
7
SC Department Of Veterans’ Affairs. New Veteran’s Hiring Preference
8
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Disability License Information
9
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Disability Hunting and Fishing License Application
10
SC Department Of Veterans’ Affairs. Military License Plate Updates at SCDMV
11
SC Department Of Veterans’ Affairs. State Veterans Homes
12
SC Department Of Veterans’ Affairs. Cemetery
13
South Carolina Department of Revenue. Audit Process
14
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-54 – Uniform Method of Collection and Enforcement of Taxes