Texas Property Tax Exemptions: Homestead, Veterans, and Seniors

Texas property tax exemptions can take a large bite out of your annual bill, starting with a $140,000 residence homestead exemption that any owner-occupier can claim against school district taxes. Seniors, disabled homeowners, disabled veterans, surviving spouses of first responders, and heirs who inherited a family home all qualify for additional reductions, and some situations wipe the tax bill out entirely. You claim any of them by filing Form 50-114 with your county appraisal district, generally by April 30.

The General Residence Homestead Exemption

If you own your home and live in it as your primary residence on January 1 of the tax year, you can take $140,000 off the taxable value for school district purposes.¹ There’s no income test and no age requirement. The property can be a house, a condo, or a manufactured home, and the exemption covers up to 20 acres of land used along with the residence. Homes held in a qualifying trust still count, as long as the trust gives you the right to occupy the property as your principal residence rent-free.²

Cities, counties, and other local taxing units may adopt their own homestead exemption on top of the school district reduction, worth up to 20 percent of your home’s appraised value. If 20 percent works out to less than $5,000, you get $5,000 as a floor.² Not every taxing unit offers it, so check with your appraisal district to see which local exemptions apply to your address.

The 10 Percent Appraisal Cap

Once your homestead exemption is active, your appraised value for tax purposes can’t climb by more than 10 percent per year, no matter what the market does. The cap starts on January 1 of the tax year after you first qualify.³ Buy in March 2025 and file that year, and the cap begins protecting you on January 1, 2026.

The cap covers the land and existing structures. New construction, like a garage or an addition, gets added on top of the capped value at market rate. Routine maintenance and repairs don’t count as new improvements.³ In a fast-rising market, this cap is often worth more than the dollar-amount exemption.

Extra Exemptions for Seniors and Disabled Homeowners

Homeowners who are 65 or older, or who meet the Social Security Administration’s standard for disability, qualify for an additional $60,000 off school district taxes on top of the $140,000 general exemption.¹ That brings the school district reduction to $200,000. Proof of disability generally comes from an SSA award letter or similar documentation.⁴

You can combine the general homestead exemption with either the over-65 or the disability exemption, but not both of the latter two at once. If you qualify for both, the over-65 exemption usually comes out ahead because it carries a school tax ceiling.⁴

The School Tax Ceiling

Qualifying for the over-65 or disability exemption freezes your school district taxes at the amount owed in the first year you were eligible. Rising rates and rising values don’t lift the ceiling. Improvements beyond routine upkeep do: when you add value to the home, the rate applies to the added portion and your ceiling resets higher.⁵

A surviving spouse who was at least 55 at the time of the other spouse’s death inherits the ceiling on the same home, as long as the survivor keeps living there.⁶

Moving Without Losing the Ceiling

If you sell your home and buy a new one in Texas, you can transfer a proportional ceiling to the new address. The transfer is based on the percentage of savings you had at the old property, not a dollar figure. A 40 percent reduction at the previous address becomes a 40 percent reduction at the new one.⁶

To claim it, file Form 50-114 at the new address, note the previous address, and check the box for transferring a tax ceiling. If the old home was in another county, request a Tax Ceiling Certificate from that county’s appraisal district first.

Disabled Veteran Exemptions

Veterans with a service-connected disability rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs qualify for an exemption on one property they designate, scaled to the rating:⁷

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

Veterans rated at 100 percent disability, or classified as unemployable due to a service-connected condition, pay no property tax at all on their primary residence. The total exemption passes to the surviving spouse as long as the spouse doesn’t remarry, and the spouse can carry it to a new primary residence.⁸

Surviving Spouses of First Responders

The surviving spouse of a first responder killed or fatally injured in the line of duty qualifies for a total exemption from property taxes on their primary residence. You must have been married to the first responder at the time of death, meet the eligible survivor definition in Chapter 615 of the Government Code, and not have remarried.⁹

The exemption is portable. If you move, the dollar amount from the last year at the previous property carries over to the new home. The chief appraiser at the former county’s appraisal district will issue a written certificate documenting the amount.⁹

Heir Property: Inheriting a Home Without a Deed

Plenty of Texans live in a family home they inherited without probate or a recorded deed. The homestead exemption is still available. If you inherited through a will, a transfer-on-death deed, or intestacy, the appraisal district cannot require a recorded deed or an affidavit of heirship as a condition of granting the exemption.¹⁰

You file the standard Form 50-114 along with a notarized Form 50-114-A affidavit establishing your ownership interest, a copy of the previous owner’s death certificate, and your most recent utility bill for the property. Any related court records, such as a probated will, go in too. When other heirs also live in the home, each co-occupant submits a separate notarized affidavit authorizing you to file on behalf of the property.¹⁰

Temporary Disaster Exemption

When the governor declares a disaster area, homeowners whose property sustained significant damage can claim a temporary exemption on improvements, including manufactured homes used as a dwelling. The chief appraiser assigns a damage level, and the exemption scales with it:¹¹

Level I (15% to under 30% damage): 15 percent exemption
Level II (30% to under 60% damage): 30 percent exemption
Level III (60% to under 100% damage): 60 percent exemption
Level IV (total loss): 100 percent exemption

Apply within 105 days of the governor’s declaration. The relief is prorated by the days remaining in the tax year after the declaration and expires on January 1 of the first year the property is reappraised.¹¹

Deferral: An Alternative When Paying Is a Hardship

Homeowners who are 65 or older, disabled, or qualified disabled veterans can defer every dollar of property tax on their primary residence by filing an affidavit with the chief appraiser.¹² During a deferral, a tax lien stays on the property and interest accrues at 5 percent per year, well under the standard delinquent rate, with no penalties.¹³ No taxing unit can sue or schedule a tax sale while the deferral is in effect.

The deferred taxes and accrued interest come due 181 days after you move out or transfer ownership.¹² This can keep someone on a fixed income in their home, but years of deferred taxes with interest can build into a sizable balance for the estate or a future buyer to settle.

How to Apply

All of these exemptions use the same form: the Residence Homestead Exemption Application, Form 50-114, available from the Texas Comptroller or your county appraisal district.¹⁴ You file it with the chief appraiser in the county where the property sits.

What You’ll Need

Every applicant submits a copy of a Texas driver’s license or state-issued ID, and the address on the ID must match the property address. You’ll also need the property account number from a prior tax statement and your ownership percentage if the home has multiple owners.

Supporting documents depend on the exemption:

Over-65: proof of age, such as a driver’s license showing your date of birth.
Disability: an SSA disability award letter or physician documentation.
Disabled veteran: a VA disability award letter stating the rating percentage.
Heir property: the previous owner’s death certificate, a recent utility bill, and the notarized Form 50-114-A.
Trust-held property: a copy of the trust agreement or a certification of trust showing the property and your right to occupy it.

Deadlines

The standard deadline is April 30 of the tax year you’re claiming. The chief appraiser can extend that by up to 60 days for good cause. Miss it entirely and you still have options: under Section 11.431, the chief appraiser must accept a late homestead application generally up to about two years after the original delinquency date for that year’s taxes.¹⁵ If you’ve already paid, the collector issues a refund for the exempt portion.

Disaster exemption applications are due 105 days from the declaration. Over-65 and disability exemption applications are due no later than one year after you first qualify.¹⁶

After You File

The chief appraiser must send written notice of approval, modification, or denial no later than 90 days after you’ve turned in all the required information.¹⁷ Once approved, the exemption rolls over each year as long as you own and occupy the home. You don’t need to reapply. Most districts accept online submissions; mail works too. Keep copies of everything.

Penalties for a False Claim

Claiming an exemption you don’t qualify for triggers back taxes plus a 50 percent penalty on the unpaid amount. This hits specific scenarios: claiming a homestead on a property that isn’t your principal residence while holding exemptions on two or more other homes, claiming the over-65 exemption under 65, or claiming a surviving spouse exemption when you were under 55 at the time of your spouse’s death. Interest also accrues at 1 percent per month on the delinquent taxes.

The 50 percent penalty doesn’t apply if the appraisal district granted the exemption on its own without an application from you, or if you notified the chief appraiser about the disqualifying change before the taxes became delinquent. If circumstances change, tell the appraisal district rather than waiting for them to catch it.

If Your Exemption Is Denied

A denial or modification notice from the chief appraiser must explain your right to protest. You can take the decision to your county’s appraisal review board, an independent panel that hears disputes between property owners and the appraisal district.¹⁷ Protests can address exemption denials, appraised value, and other chief appraiser actions that affect you as a property owner.

Bring copies of everything you submitted with your application, plus any additional evidence of eligibility. Most homeowners handle the hearing without an attorney. If the board rules against you, the next step is district court, which typically does involve legal representation and filing fees.

1
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 11.13 – Residence Homestead
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 23.23 – Limitation on Appraised Value of Residence Homestead
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Office of the Texas Governor. Tax Exemptions
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 11.26 – Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of Elderly or Disabled
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions – Section 11.261
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions – Section 11.22
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions – Section 11.131
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 11.134 – Residence Homestead of Surviving Spouse of First Responder Killed in Line of Duty
10
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Affidavits Form 50-114-A
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Taxes in Disaster Areas and During Droughts
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 33.06 – Deferred Collection of Taxes on Residence Homestead of Elderly or Disabled Person or Disabled Veteran
13
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. 2025 and 2026 Penalty and Interest Chart
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application
15
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions – Section 11.431
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions – Section 11.43
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code – Taxable Property and Exemptions – Section 11.45