If you’re 65 or older and own your home in Tarrant County, the over-65 exemption reduces the taxable value of your primary residence by $200,000 for school district taxes and permanently caps your school tax bill at the amount you owed in your first qualifying year. You claim it by filing Form 50-114 with the Tarrant Appraisal District.1Tarrant Appraisal District. Tarrant Appraisal District
How Much Comes Off Your Taxable Value
The $200,000 figure is two exemptions stacked. Every Texas homeowner gets a $140,000 general homestead exemption from school district taxes under Section 11.13(b). At 65, Section 11.13(c) adds another $60,000 on top.2State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead On a home appraised at $350,000, only $150,000 is subject to school district taxes.
Other taxing units in Tarrant County — the county itself, cities, the hospital district, community college districts — can adopt their own optional over-65 exemptions. The minimum optional amount is $3,000, and many jurisdictions set higher figures.2State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead Each unit decides on its own, so the total benefit depends on where in the county your home sits. You can look up the exemptions that apply to your specific parcel through TAD’s property search or by calling the district office.
The School District Tax Ceiling
Qualifying for the over-65 exemption also freezes your school district taxes. The district cannot bill you more than it did in the first year you qualified, regardless of how much your appraised value climbs afterward.3State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School District Tax The appraisal district still values your property at market each year, but if the resulting tax exceeds the ceiling, you pay the ceiling.
The ceiling rises only if you add improvements to the home, and only by the value of the new construction. Market appreciation and rate changes don’t push it up. If the school district’s rate drops enough that your calculated tax falls below the ceiling, you pay the lower amount and that lower figure becomes your new ceiling going forward.3State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School District Tax
One boundary worth knowing: the freeze applies only to school district taxes. County, city, and other local levies are not automatically capped, though some taxing units adopt their own optional ceilings.
Who Qualifies
Three conditions have to be met. You must be 65 or older at some point during the tax year, you must own the property, and it must be your primary residence.4Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions The exemption covers the whole tax year even if your birthday falls in December. You cannot claim a homestead exemption on any other property, in Texas or elsewhere.
When a home has multiple owners who are not married to each other, the application asks for each person’s ownership share. Only the owner who is 65 or older receives the over-65 portion, though each co-owner living in the home can claim their proportional share of the general homestead exemption.2State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead
How to Apply
The application is Form 50-114, the state’s Residence Homestead Exemption Application.5Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 50-114 – Residence Homestead Exemption Application You’ll fill in your name, date of birth, property account number (it’s on your tax statement), and driver’s license or state ID number. Attach a copy of your Texas driver’s license or state ID.
The address on your ID should match the property address. If it doesn’t, you don’t have to update your ID before applying. The form has a box that lets you ask the chief appraiser to waive the matching requirement, and checking it is enough.5Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 50-114 – Residence Homestead Exemption Application People assume a mismatch is an automatic rejection. It isn’t, as long as you use the waiver.
TAD accepts the application three ways: online through the portal at tad.org, which returns a confirmation number; by mail to the Tarrant Appraisal District office in Fort Worth; or in person.6Tarrant Appraisal District. Homestead Exemption Filing online is the fastest way to confirm your paperwork arrived. Processing usually shows up on your property record within 30 to 60 days. Check your annual Notice of Appraised Value for the over-65 line, and if it isn’t there, call TAD rather than waiting for a tax bill to reveal the problem.
Deadlines and Late Applications
The standard filing window runs January 1 through April 30 of the year you want the exemption to take effect.7Tarrant County. Important Dates Missing April 30 doesn’t cost you the exemption. Texas allows a late application up to two years after the delinquency date of the taxes for that homestead.8State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.431 – Late Application for Residence Homestead Exemption
If a late application is approved and you already paid taxes without the exemption, the tax collector must refund the difference within 60 days of being notified by the chief appraiser. No separate refund request is needed.8State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.431 – Late Application for Residence Homestead Exemption So if you turn 65 mid-year, file as soon as you qualify. The exemption applies to the full year in which you turned 65, even retroactively.
Moving to a New Home in Texas
If you sell and buy another home in Texas, your school tax ceiling can follow you. It does not move as a flat dollar amount. It moves as a ratio: the percentage your frozen taxes represented compared to what you would have owed without the ceiling is applied to the new home’s tax calculation.3State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School District Tax If your old ceiling saved you 40 percent on school taxes, you get roughly that same percentage reduction at the new address.
Two steps are required. Request a Tax Ceiling Certificate from the appraisal district where the old home is located. Then file a new Form 50-114 for the new home, check the box for transferring a tax limitation, and list your prior address.5Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 50-114 – Residence Homestead Exemption Application The transfer isn’t automatic. Skip either step and your ceiling resets to the current-year taxes on the new house.
Surviving Spouse
When a homeowner receiving the over-65 exemption dies, the surviving spouse can keep both the exemption and the school tax ceiling if the spouse was at least 55 at the time of death.4Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions The surviving spouse doesn’t have to be 65. Age 55 is the only threshold.
The spouse must continue living in the same homestead and cannot claim a homestead exemption on any other property. When those conditions hold, the ceiling remains locked at the same amount that applied at the date of death. Contact TAD promptly to have the records updated after a death so the exemption stays in place uninterrupted.
Property Tax Deferral as a Separate Option
Aside from the exemption, Texas lets homeowners 65 and older postpone paying property taxes on their primary residence entirely. A deferral doesn’t erase the taxes. It pauses collection, blocks lawsuits over unpaid taxes, and stops a tax sale for as long as you live in the home.9State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 33.06 – Deferred Collection of Taxes on Residence Homestead
Deferred taxes accrue interest at 5 percent per year, which is lower than the standard delinquent-tax rate but still compounds over time.10Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 50-126 – Tax Deferral Affidavit A tax lien stays on the property, and any penalties that accrued before you filed the deferral are preserved. Once you move out, sell, or die, the deferred balance plus interest comes due within about six months.
To defer, file an affidavit (Form 50-126) with the TAD chief appraiser stating you’re 65 or older and that the property is your homestead.9State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 33.06 – Deferred Collection of Taxes on Residence Homestead It fits seniors on tight fixed incomes who need cash-flow relief and expect a future sale of the home to cover the accumulated tax. It’s a poor fit if heirs will inherit the house and can’t absorb the balance.