Texas Homestead Exemption: Amount, How to Apply, and Late Filing
The Texas residence homestead exemption removes part of your home's value from taxation. School districts must give a $140,000 exemption on a residence homestead, and any taxing unit (city, county, special district) can adopt a local-option exemption of up to 20 percent of the appraised value, with a minimum of $5,000 (Texas Comptroller). Owners age 65 or older and disabled owners get an additional $60,000 school district exemption. You apply with your county appraisal district, generally before May 1 (Texas Comptroller).
Texas has no state property tax. Property tax is set and collected locally, so the exemption lowers the taxable value that your school district, city, county and other units each apply their rates to (Texas Comptroller).
What the exemption is worth
The Comptroller gives this example. If your home is appraised at $300,000 and you qualify for the $140,000 school district exemption, you pay school taxes as if the home were worth $160,000. Units that adopt the optional exemption can take off up to another 20 percent (Texas Comptroller).
Counties that collect farm-to-market or flood control taxes must also give a $3,000 residence homestead exemption for those taxes (Texas Comptroller). Local-option amounts differ by city, county and district, and your appraisal district or tax office lists what each unit near you offers.
Who qualifies
To get the general residence homestead exemption you must:
- have an ownership interest in the property,
- use it as your principal residence, and
- state that you do not claim a homestead exemption on another residence, in Texas or elsewhere.
(Texas Comptroller). Eligibility for most exemptions is set by your qualifications on January 1 of the tax year (Tax Code 11.42). If you buy after January 1, the Comptroller says you may receive the exemption for the applicable portion of the year as soon as you qualify, provided the previous owner did not receive the same exemption that year.
Age 65 or older, disabled owners and veterans
- Age 65 or older or disabled: school districts must give an additional $60,000 exemption, and any taxing unit may adopt a local-option exemption of at least $3,000. A surviving spouse age 55 or older may qualify for a deceased spouse's age-65 exemption in some circumstances. Disability means the definition used for Social Security disability benefits; other programs do not automatically qualify you (Texas Comptroller).
- School tax limit: a school district may not raise the total tax on the home of an owner who is 65 or older or disabled above the amount it imposed in the first year the owner qualified, with the exceptions in the statute (Tax Code 11.26).
- Disabled veterans: a veteran awarded 100 percent disability compensation for a service-connected disability, with a Department of Veterans Affairs rating of 100 percent disabled or individual unemployability, gets a total exemption on their residence homestead, and it can extend to a surviving spouse who has not remarried. Other disabled-veteran exemptions are partial and depend on the disability rating (Texas Comptroller).
How to apply
- Get Form 50-114, the Residence Homestead Exemption Application, from your appraisal district's website or the Comptroller. File it with the appraisal district in the county where the home is located, not with the Comptroller.
- Fill in the owner details. The form asks for each owner's name, birth date, and a driver's license, personal ID certificate or Social Security number, plus the date you acquired the home and the date you began living in it.
- Say whether you are transferring an exemption or tax limit from a previous residence.
- File it before May 1. The Comptroller gives "before May 1" as the general deadline for exemption applications (Texas Comptroller).
The appraisal district's chief appraiser decides whether the property qualifies.
Missed the deadline? You may still be able to claim it
The chief appraiser must accept and decide a late residence homestead application if it is filed no later than two years after the delinquency date for the taxes on the homestead. If a late application is approved, the collector deducts the exempted amount from an unpaid bill or refunds taxes already paid (Tax Code 11.431). Form 50-114 has a checkbox for a late application and asks which tax years it covers (Form 50-114).
The 10% homestead cap
Once you have the exemption, a second protection starts. The appraisal district generally cannot raise your homestead's appraised value more than 10 percent a year over the prior year's appraised value, plus the value of new improvements. The cap takes effect January 1 of the tax year after the first year you qualify (Tax Code 23.23). Your notice may show both market value and the lower capped value.
When the exemption is denied or missing
If the district denies, reduces or cancels an exemption, you can protest it. Texas's protest form has a box for "Exemption was denied, modified or canceled" (Form 50-132). The deadline is the usual protest deadline: May 15, or 30 days after the district mails your notice, whichever is later. Our Texas property tax protest guide walks through the steps, and your county's page is on the Texas hub.
Next steps
- Check that the exemption shows on your latest appraisal notice.
- Run the free over-assessment check to see whether your appraised value also looks high compared with recent sales.
- If you want the evidence and documents prepared for a protest, the $50 Appeal Case does that. You review, sign and file it yourself, and we are not attorneys or a tax firm.
Quick answers
How much is the Texas homestead exemption?
School districts must give $140,000 off the appraised value of a residence homestead. Owners age 65 or older or disabled get an additional $60,000 school district exemption, and local units can add their own (Texas Comptroller).
When is the deadline to apply?
The Comptroller gives "before May 1" as the general deadline for exemption applications. Late applications for a residence homestead are accepted up to two years after the tax delinquency date (Tax Code 11.431).
Can I have a homestead exemption on two houses?
No. You must state that you do not claim a residence homestead exemption on another home in or outside Texas (Texas Comptroller).
Is there a state property tax in Texas?
No. Property tax in Texas is locally assessed and administered (Texas Comptroller).
Does the homestead exemption lower my appraised value?
It lowers your taxable value, not the appraisal. The appraised value on your notice is separate, and you can still protest it if you think it is too high.
Texas guides: Texas hub, Harris County, Dallas County, Tarrant County, Travis County, Bexar County.
