How to Complete and File Texas Form 50-126: Tax Deferral Affidavit

Texas Form 50-126 is the tax deferral affidavit that lets a homeowner who is 65 or older, disabled, or a disabled veteran postpone property tax collection on their residence homestead.¹ Once you file the notarized one-page form with your county appraisal district, no taxing unit can sue you for delinquent taxes or sell the property at a tax sale for as long as you own and live in it.² The taxes are not erased. A lien stays on the property and interest keeps running at 5% a year, but the threat of foreclosure goes away.

Who Can File

You must own and occupy the property as your principal residence, and you must fall into one of these categories:

Age 65 or older. No disability paperwork required.
Disabled, meaning you qualify to receive disability benefits under the federal Social Security disability insurance program (OASDI). Disability determinations from other programs do not automatically count.³
Disabled veteran qualified for the exemption under Tax Code Section 11.22.
Unmarried surviving spouse, or unmarried surviving child under 18, of a disabled veteran who qualified under Section 11.22.¹

A residence homestead can be a house, a mobile home, or a separately occupied portion of a structure, together with up to 20 acres, so long as it is your principal residence.⁴ An heir property owner who has qualified the property as a homestead is treated as the sole owner for deferral purposes.²

Filling Out the Form

Form 50-126 has two sections. Section 1 is for the homeowner filing on their own behalf. Section 2 is only for a surviving spouse continuing a deferral their late spouse already had in place.

Section 1: Homeowner Affidavit

Enter the state and county where you are signing. Print your full legal name as it appears on the deed, then check the box for your qualifying category. Give the street address and, ideally, the legal description of the home. You can find the legal description on your deed or a prior tax bill; including both leaves no room for confusion in the appraisal district’s records. Sign and add your date of birth.¹

The affidavit must be notarized. Sign it in front of a notary, who will fill in the date, signature, commission expiration, and printed name. Do not sign in advance. Banks, UPS stores, and county clerk offices commonly offer notary services.

Section 2: Surviving Spouse Affidavit

If your spouse had an active deferral and has died, use Section 2 instead of starting fresh. Print your name, your late spouse’s name, and the date of death. You must confirm you were 55 or older when your spouse died. Add the property address or legal description, sign, and have the affidavit notarized.¹ The deferral then continues under the same terms as long as you own and occupy the home as your homestead.

Where and When to File

File the affidavit with the chief appraiser of the appraisal district in the county where the property sits.² Do not send it to the Texas Comptroller. The Comptroller publishes the form but does not process it.¹ A directory of appraisal districts is on the Comptroller’s property tax site.⁵

There is no fixed deadline within the tax year. You can file even after your taxes have gone delinquent, and collection stops as of the filing date. Any penalties and interest that built up before you filed stay on the books, but no new penalties accrue while the deferral is in force.² Filing before penalties attach saves money.

What Happens After You File

Once the appraisal district processes the affidavit, collection stops. No taxing unit can sue you for delinquent taxes on the property, and no one can sell it at a tax sale for as long as you own and occupy it as your homestead.² The chief appraiser notifies each participating taxing unit, so you do not need to contact them individually.

This is a pause, not forgiveness. Three things keep going in the background:

The tax lien remains on the property, and each deferred year adds to it.
Interest accrues at 5% per year on the deferred balance, which is lower than the standard delinquent tax rate.²
New annual tax bills keep coming; the deferral covers them too, but the balance grows every year.

Over time, the balance can grow substantially. Defer $5,000 in annual taxes for ten years and the total owed, principal plus compounded interest, will be well above $50,000. The lien is settled when the property is sold or ownership changes.

Stopping a Pending Lawsuit or Tax Sale

The affidavit works even after a taxing unit has taken action. The statute sets out two separate procedures.

For a pending collection lawsuit, file the affidavit with the court hearing the case. If the taxing unit does not file a controverting affidavit, or if the court finds after a hearing that you qualify, the suit is paused. Collection cannot resume until the 181st day after the tax collector delivers a delinquency notice following the date you no longer qualify.²

For a scheduled tax sale, deliver the affidavit no later than the fifth day before the sale to three people: the chief appraiser, the tax collector or their attorney, and the officer charged with selling the property. Once delivered, the sale cannot go forward.² That five-day cutoff is strict. Act fast if you learn a sale has been set.

Check With Your Mortgage Lender First

If your home carries a mortgage, talk to the lender before filing. The tax lien for deferred taxes is superior to the mortgage lien, so the tax debt gets paid first out of any sale.⁶ Some lenders view that as a threat to their collateral and do not allow deferrals.

A lender that objects may treat the deferral as a default. Common responses include paying the taxes on your behalf and raising your monthly payment, demanding immediate reimbursement, or moving to foreclose. Even if the lender forecloses, it takes the property subject to the tax lien, so the deferred taxes still get paid.⁶ Owners who hold the home free and clear avoid this problem.

When the Deferral Ends

The deferral runs as long as you own and occupy the home as your principal residence. It ends when you move out, sell, or transfer ownership. Death also ends it, unless a qualifying surviving spouse continues it under Section 2.

Collection does not restart the moment the deferral ends. The tax collector must first deliver a notice of delinquency, and taxing units cannot sue or sell the property until the 181st day after that notice.² The additional collection penalty under Section 33.07 also cannot be imposed until the 181st day after the deferral period expires.⁷ That roughly six-month window gives you or your heirs time to pay off the balance or sell the property in an orderly way.

A Word on the Sworn Statement

Form 50-126 is a sworn legal document. A false statement, such as claiming a home you do not actually live in or misrepresenting a disability, can be prosecuted under Texas Penal Code Section 37.10 as a Class A misdemeanor or a state jail felony.¹

1
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Tax Deferral Affidavit Age 65 or Older or Disabled Homeowner
2
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 33.06 – Deferred Collection of Taxes on Residence Homestead of Elderly or Disabled Person or Disabled Veteran
3
Office of the Texas Governor. Tax Exemptions
4
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.13 – Residence Homestead
5
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Forms
6
Denton County. What Is a Property Tax Deferral
7
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Penalty Tax Bills