Nebraska Homestead Exemption Explained: What Homeowners Need to Know in 2026
Nebraska’s homestead exemption (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 77-3501 to 77-3529) removes part or all of a home’s value from the tax roll for owners 65 and older and for certain disabled owners and veterans. In 2026 a single owner 65+ with household income up to $37,000.99 qualified for 100%. File with the county assessor after February 1 and on or before June 30.
The state writes the rules and the Department of Revenue checks income; the county assessor takes the form. Nebraska’s other “homestead” law, § 40-101, is not a tax break at all. It shields home equity from judgment creditors and is covered in its own section near the end.
2026 income table from the Department of Revenue
Sections 77-3507 and 77-3508 set the base brackets in 2014 dollars and index them to the Consumer Price Index each year. The department’s “2026 Household Income Table” is marked “Table subject to change” and is “based on 2025 income sources”:
| Relief | Age 65+: single | Age 65+: married or closely related | Disabled/veteran categories: single | Disabled/veteran categories: married or closely related |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | $0 – 37,000.99 | $0 – 43,400.99 | $0 – 41,600.99 | $0 – 47,700.99 |
| 90% | 37,001 – 38,900.99 | 43,401 – 45,800.99 | 41,601 – 43,600.99 | 47,701 – 50,000.99 |
| 80% | 38,901 – 40,800.99 | 45,801 – 48,100.99 | 43,601 – 45,500.99 | 50,001 – 52,400.99 |
| 70% | 40,801 – 42,700.99 | 48,101 – 50,400.99 | 45,501 – 47,400.99 | 52,401 – 54,700.99 |
| 60% | 42,701 – 44,700.99 | 50,401 – 52,800.99 | 47,401 – 49,300.99 | 54,701 – 57,000.99 |
| 50% | 44,701 – 46,600.99 | 52,801 – 55,100.99 | 49,301 – 51,300.99 | 57,001 – 59,400.99 |
| 40% | 46,601 – 48,500.99 | 55,101 – 57,500.99 | 51,301 – 53,200.99 | 59,401 – 61,700.99 |
| 30% | 48,501 – 50,400.99 | 57,501 – 59,800.99 | 53,201 – 55,100.99 | 61,701 – 64,100.99 |
| 20% | 50,401 – 52,400.99 | 59,801 – 62,100.99 | 55,101 – 57,000.99 | 64,101 – 66,400.99 |
| 10% | 52,401 – 54,300.99 | 62,101 – 64,500.99 | 57,001 – 59,000.99 | 66,401 – 68,700.99 |
| 0% | 54,301 and over | 64,501 and over | 59,001 and over | 68,701 and over |
“Household income” under § 77-3504 starts with federal adjusted gross income and adds back four items: Nebraska adjustments that increase it, interest on Nebraska state and local obligations excluded from federal income, Social Security and railroad retirement benefits left out of AGI, and any net operating loss carryforward deducted federally. It covers the claimant, the spouse and every other natural-person owner living in the home. Medical expenses above 4% of that total come off. “Closely related,” in the department’s guide, means a brother, sister or parent who is also an owner-occupant; such households use the married column. The veteran categories 4V, 4S, 5 and 7 have no income test.
How much value comes off
The percentage applies to an “exempt amount” (§ 77-3501.01). For age-based claims that is the lesser of the home’s taxable value or the county’s average assessed value of single-family residential property, with $40,000 as a floor. For the disability categories under § 77-3508 (Form 458 categories 2, 3 and 6) it is 120% of the county average, floor $50,000. Veteran categories 4V, 4S and 7 fall under § 77-3506, where the exempt amount is the home’s full taxable value (§ 77-3501.01(3)); category 5 exempts the value of the VA-assisted home under § 77-3527. A home worth more than the “maximum value” (§ 77-3505.02) loses 10% of the exempt amount for each $2,500 over the line and gets nothing at $20,000 over. The maximum value is 200% of the county average (floor $95,000) for age claims and 225% (floor $110,000) for § 77-3508 disability claims; under § 77-3506.03(3) the reduction does not apply to § 77-3506 veteran exemptions.
Section 77-3506.03(2), last amended by LB 126 (2024), keeps last year’s percentage for a home that received an exemption the previous year while valued below the maximum, crossed the line this year, and is not ineligible for any other reason. That protection does not apply when the rise in value came from improvements. The department’s 2026 county list shows, for example, Douglas County at a $302,282 average and $604,564 age-category maximum, and Lancaster at $333,050 and $666,100.
Categories on Form 458, and the January 1–August 15 rule
The 2026 Form 458 lists seven categories:
- Individuals 65 or older before January 1, 2026.
- Wartime veterans totally disabled by a non-service-connected accident or illness.
- Owners with a permanent physical disability who, on or before January 1, 2026, lost all mobility without a mechanical aid or prosthesis; owners with both arms amputated above the elbow; or owners with a permanent partial disability of both arms over 75%.
- 4V: veterans drawing VA compensation for a 100% service-connected permanent disability, or rated below 100% with an individual-unemployability rating, certified on or before January 1, 2026. 4S: surviving spouses, unremarried or remarried after 57, drawing VA compensation because of marriage to a deceased 4V veteran, the death of any veteran from a service-connected disability, or the death of a serving spouse on active duty.
- Paraplegic or multiple-amputee veterans whose home the VA substantially paid for, and their unremarried surviving spouses.
- Individuals certified on or before January 1, 2026 by the Department of Health and Human Services as having a developmental disability.
- Veterans drawing VA compensation for a 100% service-connected temporary disability certified on or before January 1, 2026, and their surviving spouses on the same remarriage terms.
For categories 2, 4S and 7 the form’s footnote requires that the veteran was discharged or otherwise separated with an honorable or general (under honorable conditions) characterization, and § 77-3506(2)(a) sets the same condition for 4V. Every category requires the applicant to own and occupy the home. Under § 77-3502 a homestead is a residence or mobile home “and the land surrounding it, not exceeding one acre,” occupied by the owner of record “from January 1 through August 15 in each year.” The definition also covers a residence or mobile home on land the owner leases (including occupancy by the surviving spouse and minor children in the year of the owner’s death) and a life-tenancy unit in a not-for-profit dwelling complex. Owner (§ 77-3503) includes a land-contract buyer in possession, a joint tenant or tenant in common, a trust beneficiary with a stated right to occupy or the power to revoke or withdraw the property, and a resident who bought a life tenancy in a unit of a not-for-profit dwelling complex. The deed, trust instrument or contract (or a certification of trust) showing this must be on the public record as of January 1, or a copy must be attached to the application. The department’s guide adds that a home held only by a corporation, partnership or LLC does not qualify.
June 30, and every exception to it
Section 77-3512(1) makes filing the owner’s duty “after February 1 and on or before June 30 of each year, except that”:
- the county board, by majority vote, may extend an applicant’s deadline “to on or before July 20,” but not for someone who got an extension the year before;
- an owner may file late under § 77-3514.01 with documentation of a medical condition that impaired timely filing;
- or with the death certificate of a spouse who died during the exemption year;
- or with proof that VA certification of veteran status arrived after June 30 (added by LB 826, effective April 15, 2026);
- veterans and surviving spouses under § 77-3506(2)(a), (b), (d), (e) or (f) do not refile in later years. LB 803 made that the rule from July 18, 2026; before, a 4V veteran refiled in each year evenly divisible by five.
A late application is good only for the current tax year. It must be filed with the assessor on or before June 30 of the year in which that year’s real estate taxes become delinquent (§ 77-3514.01). Otherwise, § 77-3512(2): failure to file “shall constitute a waiver of the exemption for the year in which the failure occurred.” Age and income categories file Form 458 and a Schedule I income statement every year. The assessor mails a reminder on or before April 1 to prior recipients who must refile (§ 77-3513).
Penalties sit in § 77-3522. A false or fraudulent claim is a Class II misdemeanor with a two-year forfeiture of the exemption, and a false oath is a Class I misdemeanor. An excessive claim caused by the owner’s misstatements, or a 4V veteran’s failure to tell the assessor about a change in status (a new rating, the veteran’s death, or a transfer of the property), can be disallowed, with the unpaid tax becoming a lien plus penalty and interest. An owner who lets the exemption continue after a transfer changed its status also forfeits the exemption on any Nebraska property for the next two years (§ 77-3514). A surviving spouse holding the exemption under § 77-3506(2)(b), (d), (e) or (f) who remarries before age 57 loses it and must notify the assessor within 30 days (§ 77-3506(4)).
§ 40-101: the $120,000 creditor homestead
A different chapter and a different purpose. Each natural person living in Nebraska may exempt “from judgment liens and from execution or forced sale” a homestead worth up to $120,000. LB 1195, approved April 15, 2024, doubled that figure from $60,000. The homestead is up to 160 acres outside an incorporated city or village, or at the owner’s option two contiguous lots inside one. Section 40-103 lists two kinds of judgments that can still reach it:
- “debts secured by mechanics’, laborers’, or vendors’ liens upon the premises”; and
- “debts secured by mortgages or trust deeds upon the premises executed and acknowledged by a claimant.”
Sale proceeds up to the exemption stay protected for six months (§ 40-116). Section 40-104 bars conveying or encumbering a married person’s homestead without an instrument both spouses execute and acknowledge; a conservator or an attorney in fact holding a power to sell real property may act for a spouse.
Nebraska homestead questions
We bought our house in March 2026. Could we claim it for 2026?
No. The homestead must be owned and occupied from January 1 through August 15, and § 77-3515 requires any purchaser or new owner to claim it under § 77-3512 first. If you already applied on your old Nebraska home and buy the new one before August 15, Form 458T moves the exemption. It must be filed on or before August 15, or within 30 days after a notice rejecting the application on the old home (§ 77-3509.01).
Does Social Security count as income?
Yes, including the part excluded from federal AGI (§ 77-3504(3)). The department’s guide: it “must be included whether or not an individual income tax return is filed.”
My sister and I own and live in the house together. Which column?
The married-or-closely-related column. Her income is added to yours, and she files her own Schedule I.
Can a judgment creditor take the house?
Section 40-101 bars execution and forced sale of a homestead worth up to $120,000, except as sections 40-101 to 40-116 provide; § 40-103 lists two kinds of debts that can still reach it.
See also: property tax calculator, moving to Omaha, buying a home, mortgage hub, homestead rules by state. Sources: Nebraska Department of Revenue homestead page, § 77-3512, § 40-101.