Comal County Property Tax Exemptions: Homestead, Over-65, and Veterans

Comal County property tax exemptions can cut thousands of dollars off your annual bill by removing part of your home’s appraised value before tax rates are applied. The biggest is the general residence homestead exemption, which takes $140,000 off the value used for school district taxes. Comal County adds its own 20% local option exemption on top, and homeowners who are 65 or older, disabled, or disabled veterans can stack further reductions. Applications go to the Comal Appraisal District, and the standard deadline is April 30.

General Residence Homestead Exemption

If you own a home in Comal County and live in it as your primary residence, you qualify for the general residence homestead exemption. For school district taxes, it removes $140,000 from your home’s appraised value.¹ A home appraised at $350,000 is taxed by the school district as if it were worth $210,000.

Comal County itself provides an additional 20% local option homestead exemption to all homeowners.² Cities and special districts within the county can adopt their own percentage-based exemptions of up to 20%, with a $5,000 floor. If 20% of your home’s value works out to less than $5,000, you still get the full $5,000 reduction from that taxing unit.¹

To qualify, you must own the property (partial ownership counts), live in it as your principal residence, and not claim a homestead exemption on any other property. Texas law does not require U.S. citizenship, so lawful permanent residents who meet those requirements are eligible. You file once, and the exemption stays in place until you move or no longer qualify.

Over-65 Exemption and Tax Ceiling

The year you turn 65, school districts must grant an additional $60,000 exemption on top of the $140,000 general homestead exemption, for a total school district reduction of $200,000.³ You qualify in the tax year you turn 65, not the following year.

The bigger long-term benefit is the school district tax ceiling. In the first year you qualify for the over-65 exemption, the dollar amount of school tax you owe is locked in as a permanent cap. Your school taxes will not exceed that amount no matter how much your home appreciates.⁴ The ceiling can only fall (if the district lowers its rate) or be adjusted downward when the legislature raises homestead exemption amounts.

Comal County and other local taxing units may offer additional exemptions for homeowners over 65. Amounts vary by taxing unit, so check with the Comal Appraisal District to see what each entity in your area provides.

Transferring the Tax Ceiling When You Move

If you sell your home and buy another in Texas, the ceiling follows you as a percentage rather than a fixed dollar amount. If your ceiling kept your school taxes at $500 on a home that would otherwise have been taxed $2,000, you were paying 25% of the full tax. On the new home, the ceiling is set at 25% of what the school taxes would otherwise be in the first year.⁴ The transfer works across school districts anywhere in the state.

Disability Exemption

Homeowners receiving federal disability benefits under Social Security qualify for the same additional $60,000 school district exemption and the same tax ceiling as over-65 homeowners.³ The ceiling transfer rules for moving to a new home apply the same way.

If you are both disabled and 65 or older, you can receive both exemptions in the same tax year, but not from the same taxing unit. A school district grants you one additional $60,000 exemption, not two. You could receive a disability exemption from one local taxing unit and an over-65 exemption from another if both offer local option exemptions for those categories.

Disabled Veterans Exemptions

Texas provides two separate property tax exemptions for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Which one applies depends on your VA disability rating.

Partial Disability (10% to 99%)

Veterans with a VA disability rating receive a flat dollar reduction in assessed value based on the rating:⁵

10% to 29%: up to $5,000
30% to 49%: up to $7,500
50% to 69%: up to $10,000
70% or higher: up to $12,000

A disabled veteran who is 65 or older with a rating of at least 10%, or who is totally blind or has lost the use of one or more limbs, qualifies for the $12,000 exemption regardless of rating percentage.⁵ Unlike the homestead exemption, this one can be applied to any property the veteran owns and designates, not just a primary residence.

Total Disability (100%)

Veterans who receive 100% disability compensation from the VA for a service-connected disability, or who have a determination of individual unemployability, qualify for a complete exemption of their residence homestead’s total appraised value.⁶ The result is zero property tax on the home.

Surviving Spouses

The surviving spouse of a 100% disabled veteran can continue receiving the total exemption on the same homestead, as long as the spouse has not remarried. If the surviving spouse moves, the exemption transfers as a fixed dollar amount equal to what it was worth on the previous property.⁶

Surviving spouses and unmarried children under 18 of veterans with partial disability ratings also qualify. The surviving spouse receives the same dollar amount the veteran had at the time of death, and the amount for eligible children is divided equally among them.⁵

Agricultural Use Valuation

Comal County has a lot of ranch and farm land, and property used primarily for agriculture can be appraised on productive capacity rather than market value. It is commonly called an “ag exemption,” though technically it is a special appraisal method. The tax difference can be enormous, especially as land values in the New Braunfels corridor keep climbing.

To qualify, the land must have been used principally for agriculture in at least five of the preceding seven years, and the current use must meet the degree of intensity typical for the area.⁷ Qualifying uses include cultivating crops, raising livestock, and beekeeping (minimum five acres and six hives). The Comal Appraisal District sets intensity standards for each type of operation. Hobby farming and backyard gardens generally do not qualify.

One warning: if you take land out of agricultural use, the county imposes a rollback tax covering the previous three years, equal to the difference between what you would have paid at full market value and what you actually paid under the agricultural appraisal.⁷ That bill can be substantial.

How and When to Apply

All homestead-related exemptions go through the Comal Appraisal District on Form 50-114, the Application for Residence Homestead Exemption.⁸ The single form covers the general homestead, over-65, disability, and disabled veteran exemptions. Agricultural use has a separate form (50-129).

File in person or by mail at the Comal Appraisal District office, 900 S. Seguin Ave., New Braunfels, TX 78130. The district also runs an online taxpayer portal at comalad.org.⁹

What to Include

For any homestead exemption, include a copy of your Texas driver’s license or state-issued ID showing the same address as the property you are claiming.⁸ If the address on your ID does not match, update it before filing. The form also asks for your name as it appears on the deed and the date you began occupying the home.

For a disability exemption, include a current award letter from the Social Security Administration showing the date your disability began and your benefit status. Disabled veterans need a current VA letter stating the service-connected disability rating percentage, because the rating determines which tier applies.

Deadlines and Late Filing

The standard deadline is April 30 of the tax year you want the exemption to apply.¹⁰ The same April 30 date applies to agricultural applications, and a late agricultural filing that is ultimately approved carries a 10% penalty.⁷

Miss the deadline and you can still file a late homestead application up to two years after the original deadline. Veterans with a 100% disability rating have up to five years.¹⁰ Late filing can produce retroactive exemptions for prior years you missed, so apply even if April 30 is long past.

Expect a response from the Comal Appraisal District within about 90 days. An approved exemption takes effect for the current tax year. A denial notice explains why and outlines your right to protest.

If Your Exemption Is Denied

You can protest to the Appraisal Review Board if the Comal Appraisal District denies an exemption in whole or in part, or if you disagree with your property’s appraised value.¹¹ The process is free; no appraisal district or review board can charge a filing fee.

For a denied exemption, you present documentation proving you meet the eligibility requirements. For an appraised value dispute, you present comparable sales data or other evidence the valuation is too high. The board issues a written decision, which you can appeal to district court.

Penalties for Improperly Claiming a Homestead

Claiming a homestead exemption on a property that is not your primary residence, or holding two homestead exemptions in the same year, is expensive. If the Comal Appraisal District finds an improperly claimed exemption, you owe back taxes for every year it was wrongly applied, plus a penalty of 50% of the unpaid tax.¹² Interest accrues at 1% per month, and if the matter goes to collections, attorney fees of up to 20% can be added. The district audits exemption records, so treating a rental or second home as a homestead rarely ends well.

1
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead
2
Comal Appraisal District. Exemptions – Comal Appraisal District
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of Elderly or Disabled
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.22 – Disabled Veterans
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.131 – Residence Homestead of 100 Percent or Totally Disabled Veteran
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Comal Appraisal District. Open Space Guidelines and Standards
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application
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Comal Appraisal District. Comal Appraisal District – Official Site
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemptions
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 41.41 – Right to Protest Before Appraisal Review Board
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Exemption Related Tax Bills