Arkansas Surviving Spouse Property Tax Exemption Continuation

If your husband or wife was an Arkansas Veteran whose 100% permanent and total rating, or qualifying special monthly compensation award, took your property tax bill to zero, that $0 bill does not have to die with the Veteran. Arkansas Code Section 26-3-306 writes the continuation directly into the statute: the surviving spouse and dependent minor children keep the full exemption on the homestead and personal property. Arkansas even reinstates it if you remarry and that later marriage ends, a protection most states never wrote down.

What it is

Arkansas exempts qualifying disabled Veterans from all state property taxes on the homestead and non-commercial personal property. Our guide to the Arkansas disabled Veteran property tax exemption covers the Veteran-side rules in full. This guide covers what Section 26-3-306 says happens after the Veteran's death, and it says a lot:

• The surviving spouse stays exempt while unmarried. The exemption continues on the homestead and personal property the spouse owns, for as long as the spouse remains unmarried.
• Remarriage pauses it rather than killing it. Under a 2015 change to the statute (Act 1167 of 2015), if the surviving spouse remarries and that subsequent marriage later ends, the exemption is reinstated. In most states, remarriage forfeits a survivor exemption permanently.
• Dependent minor children are covered during their minority. If the children own the property, the exemption protects them until they reach majority.
• A separate track covers line-of-duty deaths. The statute also extends the exemption to the surviving spouse and minor children of a service member who was killed or died within the scope of military duties or is missing in action, and of a Veteran who died from service-connected causes, certified by the VA and tied to entitlement to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. The Veteran did not need to hold the exemption before death for this track.

The scope matches the Veteran's exemption exactly: the homestead, meaning the dwelling you occupy as your principal residence plus up to 40 acres of contiguous land not used for a commercial purpose, and your non-commercial tangible personal property, which in Arkansas includes the personal vehicles counties assess every year.

How Arkansas compares. Alabama's surviving spouse continuation exists only for homes acquired with a VA Specially Adapted Housing grant; the standard Alabama exemption has no statutory continuation for survivors. Arkansas wrote a general statutory continuation, with a reinstatement rule on top. If you are comparing states as a survivor, this is one of the strongest property tax protections in the country.

What it's worth

The stake is the entire property tax bill, continued every year. Our statewide model:

$198,000 median Arkansas home value x 0.64% effective property tax rate = about $1,267 per year kept off your bill.

The honest math. That $1,267 is a statewide median estimate, not your number. Millage rates are set locally, and the personal property tax you avoid on your vehicles stacks on top of the homestead figure. The real value is whatever your parcel and vehicles would have been billed; your county collector can pull last year's figures.

Because the continuation has no expiration while you remain unmarried, a surviving spouse in their 50s or 60s can reasonably expect this to be worth tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime in the home.

Who qualifies (and who doesn't)

You qualify for the continuation if all of the following are true:

• You are the surviving spouse of a Veteran who qualified under Section 26-3-306: service-connected 100% total and permanent disability, or VA special monthly compensation for loss or loss of use of one or more limbs or total blindness in one or both eyes. The line-of-duty, MIA, and service-connected-death track described above qualifies on its own terms.
• You are unmarried. If you remarried and that marriage has since ended, the statute reinstates your eligibility.
• You are an Arkansas resident and you own the property. Pulaski County, for example, states plainly that the Veteran or widow must be listed as owner on the real estate.
• The property is your homestead or non-commercial personal property. Rental, business, and commercial property never qualify.

Dependent minor children qualify on property they own, during their minority, under the same statute.

Who doesn't qualify: a surviving spouse who is currently married to someone else, adult children, non-residents, and anyone claiming rental or business property. Divorced former spouses are not surviving spouses. And do not stretch the facts: a false claim is a violation carrying a fine of $100 to $1,000.

How to claim it

The claim goes to your county collector, not a state office. In some counties, such as Pulaski, the treasurer's office administers it. The statute requires two documents from a survivor, and counties supply the second one.

1. Get the VA letter. For a spouse continuing a deceased Veteran's exemption, the letter must verify the Veteran's qualifying status at death. For the line-of-duty, MIA, or service-connected-death track, you need a VA letter certifying the death and that you are or would be entitled to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. Call the VA at 800-827-1000 or download your documentation from VA.gov.
2. Complete the surviving spouse affidavit. The statute requires a signed affidavit stating your relationship to the Veteran. Counties provide the form; Saline County posts its Surviving Spouse Affidavit for download on the collector's page.
3. Confirm you are listed as owner. Check the deed and your personal property assessment. The exemption attaches to property the qualifying survivor owns.
4. Submit to your county collector. Saline County accepts documents by mail, by email at veterans@salinecollector.org, or in person at 215 N. Main St., Suite 3, Benton. Every county sets its own submission methods, so confirm yours on the collector's page or through the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
5. After that, it should be one and done. Act 876 of 2025 made the VA letter a one-time submission, as county collectors now explain. In exchange, you must notify the collector if your status changes, including remarriage, or if the property's description, ownership, use, or occupancy changes. If you remarry and that marriage later ends, go back to the collector to have the exemption reinstated.

Some county pages still describe the old annual routine. Saline County's page, for instance, says the letter must be turned in annually by October 15. The one-time rule is state law now, but if your county asks for a fresh letter, sending one costs nothing. When in doubt, confirm the procedure with your county collector.

Deadlines

Arkansas property taxes are due October 15 each year, and counties that still run the old routine use that same date as the document deadline, so submit well before your bill is issued. Two timing rules with teeth:

• No back refunds. If you were eligible in past years but never filed, those payments generally cannot be recovered; county collectors treat property taxes as voluntarily paid.
• Report changes promptly. Under Act 876 of 2025, a collector who finds an erroneous exemption must remove it and may claw back up to three years of taxes plus penalties, interest, and costs. Report a remarriage the year it happens.

Related benefits

Losing a qualifying Veteran usually opens more than the property tax question:

• DIC survivor benefits, the VA's monthly tax-free payment to eligible surviving spouses, which is also the entitlement the statute's line-of-duty track keys off.
• The Arkansas disabled Veteran property tax exemption, the Veteran-side rules this continuation is built on.
• Alabama's surviving spouse property tax exemption, a useful contrast showing how narrow survivor continuation is in most states.

Inside the app, the state benefits calculator prices out every Arkansas benefit tied to your situation, not just this one.

What to do next

Survivors leave money unclaimed every year, because nobody hands you a checklist after a loss.

Start your free benefits scan and we will check you against over 4,000 federal and state benefits, each with a dollar value and an official source, including every survivor benefit Arkansas and the VA owe you.