North Dakota Homestead Exemption: Credits, Deadlines and How to Apply

North Dakota has no single homestead exemption that takes a fixed amount off every owner's home. Its broadest program is the Primary Residence Credit, which takes up to $1,600 off the property tax on one primary residence, with no age or income test, under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.9. You apply online with the Office of State Tax Commissioner during the January 1 to April 1 window, and you must apply again every year. Owners 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled with income up to $70,000 can also claim the homestead credit in N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.1 through their local assessor, and disabled veterans have a separate credit under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.8. Narrower homestead exemptions in N.D.C.C. 57-02-08 cover blind owners, owners confined to a wheelchair, paraplegic owners, and veterans who are paraplegic or were awarded VA specially adapted housing.

A different law, N.D.C.C. 47-18-01, protects up to $150,000 of a home's value from most creditors. For other states, see our guide to homestead exemptions by state.

Information last verified on October 8, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers North Dakota's Primary Residence Credit (N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.9 and 57-02-01.2), the homestead credit and renter's refund for seniors and disabled persons (N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.1), the disabled veterans credit (N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.8), the homestead exemptions for specific groups in N.D.C.C. 57-02-08(20), (22) and (26), the special assessment credit (N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.3), and the creditor homestead in chapter 47-18. It does not cover business or agricultural property, local special assessment programs beyond what is stated here, or the law of other states.

Does North Dakota have a homestead exemption?

Not in the form most states use. North Dakota does not exempt a fixed dollar amount of every owner-occupied home. Instead it offers three broad statewide credits, plus narrower homestead exemptions for blind, wheelchair-using and paraplegic owners and some disabled veterans, each with its own rules, office and deadline.

Of the three credits, the homestead credit is the one that carries the word "homestead," but it is limited by age or disability and by income. For most owners, the program that applies is the Primary Residence Credit.

The Primary Residence Credit: up to $1,600

N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.9 sets the credit and its limits. The statute states: "A taxpayer is entitled to a credit against the property tax due on the taxpayer's parcel of primary residential property as provided in this section. The credit: a. Is limited to one thousand six hundred dollars."

The same section adds that the credit "May not reduce the liability for special assessments levied upon any property," "May not exceed the amount of property tax due against the parcel of primary residential property," and "Must be applied to reduce the property tax owed on the parcel of primary residential property after other exemptions, credits, or discounts have been applied." So the credit comes off last, and it can reduce the tax on the home to zero but never pays out more than the tax due.

Who can claim it

The Tax Commissioner's Primary Residence Credit page states: "There are no age restrictions or income limitations for this credit. Only one Primary Residence Credit is available per household."

You must own the dwelling and occupy it as your primary residence as of the assessment date, and an individual may not have more than one primary residence. Ownership includes fee simple title, a life estate, a contract for deed purchaser's interest and a beneficial interest in a qualifying trust. A lease or a mere right to live in the home does not count. The credit covers a house, mobile home, town home, duplex or condominium.

A farm residence that is exempt from tax does not qualify. Living in a nursing home, hospital or care facility does not forfeit the credit as long as the part of the home you lived in is not rented out.

The credit also stacks with the homestead and disabled veterans credits. The Tax Commissioner's page answers: "Yes - If you have been approved for the Homestead or Disabled Veteran's Property Tax Credit and still have a balance due, you can receive an up to $1600 Primary Residence Credit for any remaining property taxes owed."

How and when to apply

You apply to the state, not the county. The Tax Commissioner states: "Application for the primary residence credit must be submitted online at tax.nd.gov/prc during the annual application window from January 1-April 1." There is no paper form: "the application process is online only." For help, the Tax Commissioner's office lists 701-328-7988 and taxprc@nd.gov.

The statute fixes the deadline: "An application for primary residence certification must be filed by April first of each year." For homes taxed as real estate, an application filed during the 2026 window applies to the 2026 tax year, and the Tax Commissioner states the credit appears on the 2026 tax statement mailed in December 2026. For mobile homes, an application filed in the January 1 to April 1, 2026 window applies to the 2027 tax year.

The 2026 window closed on April 1, 2026. As of October 8, 2026, the Tax Commissioner had not published dates for a 2027 window. The statute's April 1 deadline still applies each year, so check the Primary Residence Credit page after the new year for the 2027 opening.

You must reapply every year

The Primary Residence Credit does not renew on its own. Under the statute, a certification "is valid for the entire taxable year for which the application for certification was approved, without regard to any change of ownership of the property which occurs after the application for certification was approved." The next year needs a new application.

The homestead credit for seniors and disabled persons

N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.1 reduces the taxable valuation of a homestead, not the tax bill directly. The statute states: "Any person sixty-five years of age or older or permanently and totally disabled, in the year in which the tax was levied, with an income that does not exceed the limitations of subdivision c is entitled to receive a reduction in the assessment on the taxable valuation on the person's homestead."

How much it reduces

The reduction depends on income:

In the statute's words: "(1) If the person's income is not in excess of forty thousand dollars, a reduction of one hundred percent of the taxable valuation of the person's homestead up to a maximum reduction of nine thousand dollars of taxable valuation. (2) If the person's income is in excess of forty thousand dollars and not in excess of seventy thousand dollars, a reduction of fifty percent of the taxable valuation of the person's homestead up to a maximum reduction of four thousand five hundred dollars of taxable valuation."

The Tax Department describes these maximums as equal to $200,000 and $100,000 of true and full value. The credit does not reduce special assessments: "This subsection does not reduce the liability of any person for special assessments levied upon any property." A separate election under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.3 allows an additional credit for special assessments, claimed with the county auditor by February 1; ask the county auditor for the current cap. This special assessment credit is not forgiven: the amount, plus interest of 6 percent a year from June 1 of the year the installment becomes payable, becomes a state lien on the home. Title cannot pass by sale, death or otherwise until the lien is paid, except that when a home passes to a surviving spouse at death, the lien need not be paid until the property is transferred again.

Who is eligible

You must be 65 or older, or permanently and totally disabled, in the year the tax is levied, and live at the property. Disability is shown by a physician's certificate or a disability determination from the Social Security Administration or another federal or state agency.

Income counts all sources, including the income of your spouse and dependents and Social Security, less unreimbursed medical expenses. The 2026 application is based on 2025 income and medical expenses. One credit is allowed per married couple or dependent household; co-owners who are not spouses share it by ownership percentage.

The credit continues while the owner is confined to a nursing home or care facility, as long as the space is not rented. The Tax Department adds: "The homeowner does not qualify to receive the credit if the homestead is rented while the owner is temporarily absent, or the homestead is a farm structure (farm structures are exempt from taxation)." The credit ends at the end of the taxable year in which the applicant dies.

How and when to apply

The Tax Department's homestead credit page states: "To apply for the Homestead Property Tax Credit, submit your application to your local assessor or county director of tax equalization." Use the 2026 Homestead Credit Application for Senior Citizens and Disabled Persons, SFN 24757. A disability claim also needs the physician's certificate.

The two state sources word the deadline differently:

• The 2026 form says: "Send application to your local assessor prior to April 1, 2026."
• The Tax Department's program page says: "Applications are due before March 31 in the year in which the property is assessed and for which the credit is requested."

They differ by a day. An application filed before March 31 meets both wordings; confirm the date with your assessor.

The state does not say whether the homestead credit renews automatically. The Tax Commissioner issues a new form for each year, so ask your assessor or county director of tax equalization whether you must file again. If you sell your homestead, the Tax Department states: "If the recipient of the credit sells the homestead, the credit may be applied to the recipient's new homestead."

Renter's refund

Seniors and disabled people who rent can claim a refund under the same section, using the same age, disability and $70,000 income rules. The statute caps it: "the refund may not be in excess of six hundred dollars." It equals 20 percent of annual rent minus 4 percent of income, with a minimum of $5. Applications go to the Tax Commissioner, and the Tax Department states: "Applications need to be postmarked by May 31 each year."

Disabled veterans property tax credit

N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.8 gives an eligible veteran or surviving spouse "a credit applied against the first nine thousand dollars of taxable valuation of the homestead owned and occupied by the disabled veteran or surviving spouse equal to the percentage of the disabled veteran's disability compensation rating."

The credit is open to "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 which results in the veteran being paid at the one hundred percent rate as determined by the department of veterans' affairs." The veteran must have been discharged under honorable conditions or retired, and must own and live on the property. There is no income test.

A surviving spouse is eligible, and a surviving spouse receiving VA dependency and indemnity compensation gets the 100 percent credit. When two married disabled veterans share a homestead, their combined credit is capped at 100 percent of $9,000. If a veteran co-owns the home with someone other than a spouse, parent or child, the credit is limited to the veteran's ownership share. Like the other credits, it "does not reduce the liability of a person for special assessments levied upon property."

Apply to your local assessor or county director of tax equalization with VA disability and discharge documents. The Tax Department's veterans credit page states: "The application is due by April 1st of the year in which the property is assessed and for which the credit is requested." First-time claimants also file an affidavit with the county auditor and a VA certificate. After the first year, the statute requires you to furnish supporting information to the assessor when requested, and the Tax Department page states: "Credit is automatically applied for those that qualify."

Exemptions for blind, wheelchair-using and paraplegic owners

N.D.C.C. 57-02-08 also exempts some or all of the value of a home's fixtures, buildings and improvements for certain owners. These are separate from the three credits above.

• Paraplegic or specially adapted housing veterans (subsection 20(a)). The statute covers "A paraplegic disabled veteran of the United States armed forces or any veteran who has been awarded specially adapted housing by the department of veterans' affairs, or the unremarried surviving spouse if such veteran is deceased, for the first one hundred twenty thousand dollars of true and full valuation of the fixtures, buildings, and improvements."
• Owners confined to a wheelchair (subsection 20(b)). This covers a permanently and totally disabled person who is permanently confined to a wheelchair, or the unremarried surviving spouse. The statute defines that as someone who cannot walk with crutches or any other device and never will, as certified by a physician selected by the local governing board. It does not reduce special assessments. Ask the county auditor how much of the value it covers.
• Blind owners (subsection 22). The exemption covers fixtures, buildings and improvements on nonfarmland "up to a taxable valuation of seven thousand two hundred dollars, owned and occupied as a home by a blind person." It also applies to a home owned by the blind person's spouse, or jointly, while the blind person lives there. Blind means totally blind, visual acuity of not more than 20/200 in the better eye with correction, or a visual field no wider than 20 degrees.
• Paraplegic disabled owners (subsection 26). This covers the homestead's fixtures, buildings and improvements for a paraplegic disabled person, or the unremarried surviving spouse, if income from all sources in the prior calendar year did not exceed the income limit for the homestead credit in N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.1.

To claim the subsection 20 or 26 exemption for the first time, you file an affidavit with the county auditor; subsection 26 also requires a certificate from a medical doctor approved by the board of county commissioners. Under subsection 20, "A person thereafter shall furnish to the assessor or other assessment officials when requested to do so any information that is believed will support the claim for exemption for a subsequent year." The Tax Commissioner's exemptions page lists all four. For the blind exemption, ask your assessor or county auditor how to claim it.

Assessment limits and portability

We did not find a homestead assessment-growth cap in chapter 57-02 of the Century Code, the property tax chapter reviewed for this page; ask your assessor whether any other limit applies to your property. Under that chapter, "All primary residential property and nonprimary residential property to be valued at nine percent of assessed value."

The senior and disabled homestead credit can move to a new homestead when you sell, as described above. The Primary Residence Credit has no portability rule because it must be claimed again each year in any case.

Losing a credit and false statements

The 2026 homestead credit application is signed under penalty of law. The form reads: "I declare under the penalties of N.D.C.C. 12.1-11-02, which provides for a Class A misdemeanor for making a false statement in a governmental matter."

We did not find a state rule on back taxes, penalties or a duty to notify the assessor when someone receiving the Primary Residence Credit or homestead credit moves or rents out the home. If your use of the home changes, ask the Tax Commissioner or your assessor how it affects a credit you have claimed.

Is there a property tax measure on the 2026 ballot?

The Secretary of State's analysis of the statewide measure on the November 3, 2026 ballot covers one measure, Constitutional Measure No. 1, which would require a 60 percent vote to pass constitutional amendments. It is not a property tax measure.

The creditor homestead: a different law

North Dakota's creditor homestead protects home value from most judgment creditors. It is a separate law from the property tax credits, and no figure from one applies to the other.

N.D.C.C. 47-18-01 protects the homestead of a married or unmarried person up to a flat value. The statute states: "the total not to exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars in value, over and above liens or encumbrances or both. The homestead shall be exempt from judgment lien and from execution or forced sale, except as otherwise provided in this chapter." There is no acreage limit, but the homestead "may not embrace different lots or tracts of land unless the lots or tracts of land are contiguous."

No filing is needed. A recorded declaration is optional, and N.D.C.C. 47-18-17 states: "A failure to make such declaration shall not impair the homestead right."

The protection has exceptions. A homestead can be sold to satisfy judgments on debts secured by mechanics', construction or laborers' liens for improving it; mortgages signed by both spouses or by an unmarried claimant; purchase-money debts and taxes levied on the property; and other debts only to the extent the value exceeds $150,000 over liens, after a court-appointed appraisal. Proceeds of a sale, up to the cap, stay protected for one year.

Instead of the homestead, a debtor may claim up to $25,000 under N.D.C.C. 28-22-03.1(1), but not both. North Dakota has opted out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions: under N.D.C.C. 28-22-17, "residents of this state are not entitled to the federal exemptions provided in section 522(d) of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978." For how these exemptions work in a bankruptcy case, see North Dakota bankruptcy laws.

Homestead rights at death

North Dakota's probate code has no separate dollar homestead allowance; it refers to "the homestead defined in section 47-18-01." Under N.D.C.C. 30.1-07-01, a surviving spouse also receives up to $15,000 in household items, vehicles and personal effects, plus a reasonable family allowance; see North Dakota probate laws. To find your parcel's assessment record, see North Dakota property records.

Related

• Homestead exemptions by state
• North Dakota bankruptcy laws
• North Dakota probate laws
• North Dakota property records

This article is general legal information about North Dakota law (N.D.C.C. 57-02-08(20), (22) and (26), 57-02-08.1, 57-02-08.3, 57-02-08.8, 57-02-08.9, 57-02-01.2, chapter 47-18 and 28-22-17), verified as of October 8, 2026. It is not tax or legal advice. For your situation, contact your local assessor or county director of tax equalization, the Office of State Tax Commissioner, or a lawyer licensed in North Dakota.

Last updated: October 8, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the homestead exemption in North Dakota?

North Dakota has no flat homestead exemption for every owner. The Primary Residence Credit under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.9 is up to $1,600 a year for any owner-occupier. Owners 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled with income up to $70,000 can reduce taxable valuation by up to $9,000 or $4,500 under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.1. Disabled veterans have a separate credit, and N.D.C.C. 57-02-08 exempts part or all of the home's improvements for blind, wheelchair-using and paraplegic owners and some veterans.

When is the deadline to apply for the Primary Residence Credit in North Dakota?

The application window runs January 1 to April 1, and the statute requires filing by April 1 of each year. The 2026 window has closed; the Tax Commissioner had not published 2027 dates as of October 8, 2026.

Do I have to reapply for the Primary Residence Credit every year?

Yes. A certification is valid only for the taxable year for which it was approved, so you apply online at tax.nd.gov/prc each year.

When is the deadline for the North Dakota senior homestead credit?

The 2026 form (SFN 24757) says to send it to your local assessor prior to April 1, 2026, while the Tax Department page says applications are due before March 31. Filing before March 31 meets both; confirm with your assessor.

What is the income limit for the North Dakota homestead credit?

Income may not exceed $70,000, counting all sources including a spouse and dependents, less unreimbursed medical expenses. Income up to $40,000 gets the 100 percent reduction of up to $9,000 of taxable valuation; $40,001 to $70,000 gets 50 percent, up to $4,500 (N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.1).

Do disabled veterans get a property tax break in North Dakota?

Yes. Under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08.8, veterans with a service-connected rating of 50 percent or more, or individual unemployability paid at the 100 percent rate, get a credit against the first $9,000 of taxable valuation equal to their rating. The application is due April 1 with the local assessor. Separately, a paraplegic disabled veteran or a veteran awarded VA specially adapted housing (or the unremarried surviving spouse) has a homestead exemption for the first $120,000 of true and full valuation of the home's improvements under N.D.C.C. 57-02-08(20).

Does the North Dakota homestead exemption protect my house from creditors?

Partly. N.D.C.C. 47-18-01 protects up to $150,000 of value over liens and encumbrances from most judgment creditors, with no filing required, but it does not protect against mortgages signed by both spouses (or by an unmarried owner), purchase-money debts, improvement liens or taxes levied on the property, as listed in chapter 47-18.