Texas Business Personal Property Tax: Rendition, Exemptions, Deadlines

The Texas business personal property tax is an annual local property tax on the tangible items your business uses to earn income: equipment, furniture, machinery, vehicles, tools, and inventory sitting on your shelves on January 1. Starting with the 2026 tax year, a $125,000 per-location exemption replaces the old $2,500 threshold, which means many small businesses now owe nothing and no longer have to file a rendition at all.¹ The tax funds school districts, counties, cities, and special districts, and every owner of business property in Texas should know where they stand under the new rules.

What Property Is Taxed

Any tangible item a business uses to generate income is taxable. That covers desks, computers, machinery, tools, display fixtures, work vehicles, and point-of-sale equipment. Inventory counts too: raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods on hand as of January 1.²

January 1 is the snapshot date. Whatever taxable property you own, manage, or control on that date sets your liability for the whole year.³ Equipment you buy on January 2 doesn’t show up on this year’s roll. Something you sold on December 30 is gone from it.

Intangibles are excluded entirely. Goodwill, brand value, patents, accounts receivable, and downloadable software are not subject to this tax.⁴ Household goods, personal vehicles not used for business, and hobby equipment are also off the business rolls. The business-versus-personal line matters. A laptop at home used for streaming isn’t taxable. The same laptop at your office, used for invoicing, is.

The $125,000 Exemption

Texas voters approved Proposition 9 in 2025, and the implementing legislation (HB 9) took effect January 1, 2026. It replaced the $2,500 exemption with a $125,000 exemption per location per taxing unit.¹ If the total appraised value of your business personal property at a single location within a taxing unit is $125,000 or less, you owe nothing on that property to that taxing unit.

The exemption is measured per location. A business with $100,000 of equipment at one site and $80,000 at another can be fully exempt at both. All taxable property within the same location in a taxing unit combines to test the $125,000 threshold. Leased property works differently: the $125,000 applies to the total appraised value of all leased property you own within a taxing unit, regardless of how many sites it sits at.⁵

A restaurant with $90,000 in kitchen equipment, furniture, and POS systems at one location likely owes no business personal property tax for 2026. Under the old $2,500 rule, that same restaurant would have owed tax on nearly the entire value.

Whether You Have to File a Rendition

Under Section 22.01 of the Tax Code, anyone who owns or manages tangible personal property used for income production on January 1 has been required to file a rendition with the local appraisal district. The 2026 change raises the filing floor too. You’re now only required to render if, in your opinion, the total market value of your business personal property at a location exceeds $125,000 in at least one taxing unit.⁶

If you’re confident everything at every location falls under that mark, you’re not required to file. Filing voluntarily can still be a good idea, since it prevents the appraisal district from assigning a higher value on its own without your input.

Leased Equipment

If you lease copiers, restaurant ovens, medical devices, or similar items, you still report them on your rendition under Section 4 of the form. Listing leased equipment tells the district you’re the user, not the owner. The leasing company usually bears the tax liability, but the person who controls the property on January 1 is responsible for reporting it.⁶

Consigned or Fiduciary Property

If you manage or control someone else’s property as a fiduciary, such as consigned inventory or property held in trust, you must render it and list the name and address of each owner on the form.⁷ A consignment shop with $200,000 of other people’s goods on January 1 can’t ignore them just because it doesn’t hold title.

How to Complete Form 50-144

The rendition is filed on Form 50-144, Business Personal Property Rendition of Taxable Property, available from your county appraisal district or the Texas Comptroller.⁷ Before you sit down with it, gather:

The business name and the physical address where the property sits (not your mailing address). Each location may need its own rendition.
A description of every category of taxable property, clear enough that someone else could identify it.
The total cost of inventory held for sale as of January 1.
Either a good-faith estimate of market value, or the original cost and year of acquisition for each asset.

Texas gives you the choice on valuation. You can report what the property would sell for in an open-market transaction, or report the original purchase price and year and let the appraisal district apply depreciation.⁸ Most businesses use cost-and-year because it’s simpler and ties directly to invoices and receipts.

How Depreciation Is Applied

When you report original cost and year, the appraisal district applies a depreciation factor based on the asset’s useful-life category. The Texas Comptroller publishes annual depreciation schedules that assign a multiplier to each combination of asset life and age. A five-year-life asset purchased in 2024 might carry a 0.70 factor for 2026, giving it a taxable value of 70% of original cost.⁹ Individual districts develop their own schedules based on local conditions, so factors can differ from the Comptroller’s table. Keep acquisition records for every asset so you can check that the right depreciation was applied.

Deadlines, Extensions, and Penalties

The rendition is due after January 1 and no later than April 15. If April 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.¹⁰ You can submit by mail, hand delivery, or through your appraisal district’s online portal.

A written request filed before April 15 automatically extends the deadline to May 15. For good cause, the chief appraiser can grant another 15 days beyond that.¹¹

Missing the deadline is expensive. The chief appraiser must impose a penalty equal to 10% of the total taxes owed on the property for that year. If a court later finds you filed a false rendition intending fraud, or that you destroyed or altered records to influence an appraisal proceeding, the penalty jumps to an additional 50% of the total taxes on that property. The fraud penalty requires a court finding and takes into account your compliance history and the size and sophistication of your business.¹²

After You File

Notice of Appraised Value

After the district processes your rendition, you’ll get a Notice of Appraised Value in the mail showing the district’s determination. If you supplied cost-and-year data, the district’s depreciation schedule has already been applied. If the value looks higher than your property is worth, you can protest.

Protesting

You can protest the appraised value, unequal appraisal against similar properties, an exemption denial, or the inclusion of your property on the rolls. The deadline to file a written notice of protest with the Appraisal Review Board is May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal district mailed the notice, whichever is later. The 30-day clock runs from the mailing date, not the date it reaches you.¹³ Many districts offer an informal conference before the formal ARB hearing, and a surprising share of disputes resolve there.

Paying the Tax

Whether or not you protest, taxes are due when the bill arrives and delinquent if not paid before February 1 of the following year.¹⁴ For the 2026 tax year, that puts the payment deadline at January 31, 2027. After that, penalties and interest start to accrue. By July, a delinquent account can face up to 12% in total penalties plus interest, and collection attorney fees on top of that.³ Active-duty military members can pay delinquent taxes without penalty or interest within 60 days of discharge, return to the state, or return from active duty.

Other Exemptions Worth Knowing

Freeport

The Freeport exemption under Section 11.251 covers tangible personal property acquired in or imported into Texas and shipped out of state within 175 days.¹⁵ It applies to goods, raw materials, merchandise, and aircraft parts used by certified air carriers. Oil, gas, and petroleum products don’t qualify. Local taxing units can vote to tax Freeport goods anyway, so the exemption doesn’t apply uniformly statewide.¹⁶

Goods-in-Transit

The goods-in-transit exemption under Section 11.253 is similar but requires the goods to be stored at a public warehouse the owner does not own or control, and shipped to another location (in or out of state) within 175 days.¹⁷ Oil, gas, petroleum products, and dealer inventories of motor vehicles, boats, and heavy equipment are excluded. Taxing units can elect to tax these goods too. Claiming it takes Form 50-758 filed with the appraisal district.¹⁶

Pollution Control Equipment

Equipment installed to control air, water, or land pollution can qualify for exemption, but the process runs through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. TCEQ’s executive director determines what proportion of the equipment qualifies and issues a determination letter, which the chief appraiser must accept as conclusive. Either side can appeal the TCEQ determination within 20 days. Plan ahead: TCEQ has up to a year to process the application after it’s declared administratively complete.

Chapter 312 Abatements

Cities, counties, and special districts can negotiate tax abatement agreements to attract or retain businesses. Under Chapter 312, a taxing unit can exempt increases in the value of business personal property for up to 10 years. These are individually negotiated and common in economic development deals for manufacturing plants, distribution centers, and data centers. School districts can’t enter Chapter 312 agreements, so the school district portion of your bill isn’t reduced through this route.¹⁸

1
Ballotpedia. Texas Proposition 9, Authorize $125,000 Tax Exemption for Tangible Property Used for Income Production Amendment (2025)
2
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Law Deadlines
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State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 11.02 – Intangible Personal Property
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State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 11.145 – Income-Producing Tangible Personal Property
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State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 22.01 – Rendition Generally
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Business Personal Property Rendition of Taxable Property
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Williamson Central Appraisal District. What is a Rendition for Business Personal Property?
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. 2026 Business Personal Property Depreciation Schedule
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas Businesses: April 15 is Deadline for Filing Property Tax Renditions
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State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 22.23 – Deadline for Filing Rendition Statements and Property Reports
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State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 22.29 – Penalty for Fraud or Intent to Evade Tax
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Appraisal Protests and Appeals
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State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 31.02 – Delinquency Date
15
State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 11.251 – Tangible Personal Property Exempt
16
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The Freeport and Goods in Transit Exemptions
17
State of Texas. Texas Code Tax Code 11.253 – Tangible Personal Property in Transit
18
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Abatement Act Chapter 312 Overview