1. A disabled veteran of the United States armed forces with an armed forces service-connected disability of fifty percent or greater or a disabled veteran who has an extra-schedular rating to include individual unemployability that brings the veteran’s total disability rating to one hundred percent as determined by the department of veterans’ affairs, who was discharged under honorable conditions or who has been retired from the armed forces of the United States, or the unremarried surviving spouse if the disabled veteran is deceased, is eligible for a credit applied against the first eight thousand one hundred dollars of taxable valuation of the fixtures, buildings, and improvements of the person’s homestead owned and occupied by the disabled veteran or unremarried surviving spouse equal to the percentage of the disabled veteran’s disability compensation rating for service-connected disabilities as certified by the department of veterans’ affairs for the purpose of applying for a property tax exemption. An unremarried surviving spouse who is receiving department of veterans’ affairs dependency and indemnity compensation receives a one hundred percent exemption as described in this subsection.
2. If two disabled veterans are married to each other and living together, their combined credits may not exceed one hundred percent of five thousand four hundred dollars of taxable valuation of the fixtures, buildings, and improvements of the homestead. If a disabled veteran co-owns the homestead property with someone other than the disabled veteran’s spouse, the credit is limited to that disabled veteran’s interest in the fixtures, buildings, and improvements of the homestead, to a maximum amount calculated by multiplying eight thousand one hundred dollars of taxable valuation by the disabled veteran’s percentage of interest in the homestead property and multiplying the result by the applicant’s certified disability percentage.
3. A disabled veteran or unremarried surviving spouse claiming a credit under this section for the first time shall file with the county auditor an affidavit showing the facts herein required, a description of the property, and a certificate from the United States department of veterans affairs, or its successor, certifying to the amount of the disability. The affidavit and certificate must be open for public inspection. (Note: These documents are confidential under N.D.C.C. § 37-18-11 and may not be disclosed to the public.) A person shall thereafter furnish to the assessor or other assessment officials, when requested to do so, any information which is believed will support the claim for credit for any subsequent year.
4. For purposes of this section, and except as otherwise provided in this section, “homestead” has the meaning provided in section 47-18-01 except that it also applies to a person who otherwise qualifies under the provisions of this section whether the person is the head of the family.
5. This section does not reduce the liability of a person for special assessments levied upon property.
Reference: NDCC 57-02-08.8