Montgomery County, TX Homestead Exemption: Savings, Caps, Deadlines

A Montgomery County TX homestead exemption lowers the taxable value of your primary residence by at least $140,000 for school district taxes, with further reductions from the county, hospital district, and Lone Star College. You apply once through the Montgomery Central Appraisal District (MCAD), and the exemption stays in place year after year as long as the home remains your principal residence. Seniors, disabled homeowners, and 100 percent disabled veterans qualify for larger reductions, and a separate rule caps how fast your appraised value can rise.

How Much You Save

The general residence homestead exemption removes $140,000 from your home’s appraised value for school district tax purposes.¹ If your home is appraised at $350,000, the school district taxes you on $210,000.

The savings don’t stop at the schoolhouse. Any taxing entity in Texas can adopt its own local homestead exemption of up to 20 percent of appraised value, with a $5,000 floor.² Counties that collect farm-to-market or flood control taxes must add another $3,000 exemption.¹ Most Montgomery County properties sit inside several overlapping taxing units, including the county, a school district, the Montgomery County Hospital District, and Lone Star College, so the exemption chips away at each line of your bill.

The 10 Percent Appraisal Cap

Once your exemption is on file, state law limits how fast MCAD can raise your appraised value. Starting January 1 of the year after you first qualify, the appraised value used for taxation cannot rise more than 10 percent above the prior year’s appraised value, plus the market value of any new construction or additions.³

The district still records the home’s full market value, but your tax bill is calculated on the capped figure as long as you or your surviving spouse keeps the exemption. In a fast-rising neighborhood, that gap can grow substantially over time. Ordinary maintenance and repairs don’t count as new improvements, so a new roof or fresh paint won’t reset the cap.³

Who Qualifies

You must be an individual (not a corporation or LLC), and the home must be your principal residence. The property can include up to 20 acres used in connection with the residence.² Spouses who own together are treated as a single unit. Partial owners generally qualify for an exemption scaled to their ownership share. People who inherit a home without a formal will can still qualify under Texas heirship property rules if they occupy the home as their primary residence.

Homes Held in a Trust

A home titled in a trust can still qualify, but the trust document has to do specific things. The agreement, will, or court order must give the occupant the right to use the home as a principal residence rent-free, except for taxes and specified costs, either for life, for a term, or until the trust is revoked. The instrument transferring the home into the trust must also be recorded in the county’s real property records with a legal description sufficient to identify the property.² If your trust doesn’t contain that language, amend it before applying.

Extra Exemptions for Seniors and Disabled Homeowners

Homeowners who are 65 or older or who meet the Social Security Administration’s definition of disability get an additional $60,000 off appraised value for school district taxes, bringing the school district exemption to $200,000. Other taxing entities may offer additional exemptions of at least $3,000 for seniors and disabled residents.² You cannot stack the over-65 and disability exemptions. Pick whichever saves more.

The School Tax Ceiling

This is the big one for seniors. Once you qualify for the over-65 or disability exemption, your school district taxes are frozen at the dollar amount imposed in the first year you qualified. Even if your home’s value or the school tax rate climbs later, your school tax bill stays at or below that ceiling.⁴

The ceiling travels with you. Sell and buy a new home anywhere in Texas, and the school district at the new address calculates a proportional ceiling based on what you were paying relative to what you would have paid without the freeze.⁴

Surviving Spouses

If an over-65 homeowner dies, a surviving spouse who was at least 55 on the date of death keeps the exemption and the school tax ceiling on the same property, without having to independently reach age 65.²

Proving Disability

You qualify if you meet the Social Security Administration’s standard: a medically determinable physical or mental condition that prevents substantial work and is expected to last at least 12 continuous months or result in death. If you already receive Social Security disability benefits, include your disability determination letter. Otherwise, submit a physician’s statement verifying you meet the same standard. Missing documentation is the most common reason disability applications are denied.

100 Percent Disabled Veterans

Veterans rated 100 percent service-connected disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or rated individually unemployable, pay no property tax on their homestead. The entire appraised value is exempt, with no dollar cap.⁵

A surviving spouse who has not remarried keeps the full exemption on the same home after the veteran’s death. If that spouse later moves, the new homestead receives an exemption equal to the dollar amount that was exempt on the former property.⁵

How to Apply

Use Texas Comptroller Form 50-114, available on the MCAD website or the Comptroller’s site.⁶ Check the box for each exemption you’re claiming (general, over-65, disability, disabled veteran) and list the date you began occupying the home as your principal residence.

You must include a copy of your Texas driver’s license or state-issued ID, and the address on the ID must match the property address.⁷ If you’ve recently moved, update your license first. The form also asks for the social security numbers of all owners (kept confidential under state law), the acquisition date, and whether you receive a homestead exemption on any other property.

MCAD accepts applications through its online portal, which handles scanned documents and electronic signatures and issues an immediate confirmation. By mail, send the packet to 109 Gladstell, Conroe, Texas 77301, or P.O. Box 2233, Conroe, Texas 77305.⁸ Certified mail gives you proof of delivery. Approval or denial generally appears on the notice of appraised value mailed in the spring.

Deadlines and Late Applications

Applications for the current tax year are due before May 1. The filing window opens January 1.⁷

Missing the deadline isn’t fatal. Texas allows late applications up to two years after the date the taxes on the homestead would have become delinquent. If a late application is approved after you’ve already paid, the tax collector must refund the overcharge within 60 days of being notified by the chief appraiser. No separate refund request is required.⁹

Mid-Year Purchases

Buy a home after January 1, and if the previous owner didn’t have a homestead exemption for that tax year, you can apply right away and receive a prorated exemption for the portion of the year you own the property.¹⁰ You must apply before the first anniversary of your purchase date. Update your driver’s license to the new address soon after closing, since MCAD can’t approve the exemption without matching ID.

If Your Application Is Denied

You can protest a denied exemption before the Montgomery County Appraisal Review Board (ARB). State law specifically lists denial of a partial exemption as a protest ground.¹¹

File using Form 50-132, the Property Owner’s Notice of Protest, or any written notice that identifies the property and explains the disagreement. The deadline is generally May 15 or 30 days after MCAD mails the notice, whichever is later. Before the formal hearing, request an informal meeting with the appraisal district. Most exemption denials come down to a simple documentation gap, like a missing ID copy or an address mismatch, and a short conversation often resolves it. If the ARB rules against you, the next step is an appeal to the state district court in Montgomery County, which involves filing fees and often legal representation.¹²

1
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions
2
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.13 – Residence Homestead
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 23.23 – Limitation on Appraised Value of Residence Homestead
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.26 – Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of Elderly or Disabled
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.131 – Residence Homestead of 100 Percent or Totally Disabled Veteran
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.43 – Application for Exemption
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Montgomery Central Appraisal District. MCAD Official Site
9
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.431
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 11.42 – Exemption Qualification Date
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 41.41 – Right of Protest
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Appraisal Protests and Appeals