Texas Homestead Exemption and Over-65 Tax Ceiling: How to Apply

Texas homeowners get their largest property tax reductions through the residence homestead exemption, and owners who are 65 or older or disabled can add a further exemption and a school tax ceiling. None of it is automatic for a new owner. You apply once to the county appraisal district, and the result shows up on every later tax bill. This guide covers the application, the amounts written into the Tax Code, the tax ceiling, and the related protections that are often missed.

Who qualifies

Tax Code Section 11.13 (opens in a new tab) defines a residence homestead as a house, condominium unit or mobile home, with up to 20 acres of land used with it. It must be owned by an individual, directly or through a qualifying trust, and occupied as that owner’s principal residence. You can claim only one homestead, and the application asks you to state that you are not claiming a homestead exemption anywhere else in Texas or in another state. Renting out or using part of the home for business does not cancel the exemption. That portion of the value, however, is not covered.

Eligibility is generally determined as of January 1. If you buy after January 1, Section 11.42(f) allows the general exemption for the rest of that year once you qualify, as long as the previous owner did not receive the same exemption that year. The age 65 or older and disabled exemptions work differently. They take effect on January 1 of the year you qualify and cover that whole year. A homeowner who turns 65 in November is treated as 65 for the entire tax year.

Form 50-114 and the documents to attach

Apply on the Comptroller’s Form 50-114, Residence Homestead Exemption Application (opens in a new tab), or through your appraisal district’s online system if it offers one. File it with the appraisal district for the county where the home is located, not with the Comptroller. Section 11.43(d) sets the normal deadline as before May 1. The form describes the filing period as January 1 through April 30 of the year you are applying for.

• Identification: attach a copy of each owner’s Texas driver’s license or state ID card. Under Section 11.43(n), the address on it must match the homestead address, so update your license after you move. Residents of facilities that provide care related to health, infirmity or aging, and participants in the attorney general’s address confidentiality program, are exempt from the ID requirement. The chief appraiser can waive the address match for active-duty service members and their spouses.
• Heir property: if you inherited the home and are not named on a recorded deed, the form requires an ownership affidavit (Form 50-114-A), the prior owner’s death certificate, a recent utility bill, and any related court record citation.
• Manufactured homes: a statement of ownership from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, a purchase document, or a qualifying affidavit.
• Age 65 or disability: check the right box in Section 1. Disability means qualifying for Social Security disability insurance benefits under the federal definition, so keep your award letter ready if the district asks for it.

If the chief appraiser asks for more information, you have 30 days to answer or the application is denied. Once granted, the exemption continues without annual refiling. The chief appraiser can require a new application only after notifying you of a specific reason to believe you no longer qualify. You must tell the district in writing before May 1 of the year after you stop qualifying, for example after a move.

If you already have the general homestead exemption, the 65-or-older exemption can be added automatically the year you turn 65. Under Section 11.43(m), that happens when your birth date is in the district’s records or in Department of Public Safety data. Confirm it on your next notice of appraised value rather than assuming it happened.

Exemption amounts in the Tax Code

The two school amounts reflect amendments to Section 11.13 that took effect November 4, 2025, and they match the Comptroller’s exemptions page (opens in a new tab). Local option amounts vary by city, county and special district, and some units adopt none. Your notice of appraised value lists the exemptions each taxing unit applied. A person who is both 65 or older and disabled cannot receive both exemptions from the same taxing unit, but may receive one from one unit and the other from a different unit.

The school tax ceiling, or “freeze”

Section 11.26 limits the school district tax on the homestead of an owner who is 65 or older or disabled to the amount imposed in the first year the owner qualified. The ceiling is not permanent at a fixed dollar figure. For 2024 and later years, the statute recalculates it downward when the state lowers the school district’s maximum compressed tax rate or when the homestead exemptions increase. It can go up only when you add improvements, such as an addition, and only by the tax on the new improvement’s value. Ordinary repairs and work required by government rules do not raise it.

Counties, cities and junior college districts can adopt their own ceiling for the same owners under Section 11.261. Many have, but not all, so check your notice or ask the appraisal district. A surviving spouse who was 55 or older when the qualifying owner died keeps the school ceiling if the home was and remains the spouse’s homestead. Section 11.13(q) also lets that spouse keep a local 65-or-older exemption.

Moving a ceiling to a new home

A ceiling can follow you to another Texas homestead in proportion. Under Section 11.26(g), the new home’s school tax is limited to the tax it would otherwise carry in the first year, multiplied by the share of the full tax you actually paid on the old home in its last year. Ask the former home’s appraisal district for a certificate showing those figures (Form 50-272, School Tax Ceiling Certificate). Then answer “yes” to “transferring a tax limitation” on the new home’s Form 50-114. The forms are on the Comptroller’s property tax forms page (opens in a new tab).

Late applications

Section 11.43(k) says a person who becomes eligible for the 65-or-older or disabled exemption should apply within a year of qualifying. Missing a deadline does not always end the claim, though. Section 11.431 requires the chief appraiser to accept a late homestead application filed no later than two years after the delinquency date for that year’s taxes. Form 50-114 states that this includes the 65-or-older and disabled exemptions. Check the “late application” box and list each tax year. If the year’s taxes were already paid, the collector refunds the tax on the exempted amount without a separate refund request.

The 10 percent homestead cap

Tax Code Section 23.23 (opens in a new tab) limits how much a homestead’s appraised value, which taxes are based on, can rise. The appraised value cannot exceed the lesser of market value or last year’s appraised value plus 10 percent, plus the market value of any new improvements. The cap begins on January 1 of the year after you first qualify the home for a homestead exemption. A buyer therefore usually pays on full market value in the first year. The cap ends when neither the owner, nor the owner’s spouse or surviving spouse, qualifies for the exemption. The district still records market value, which is why your notice shows two numbers.

Hypothetical worked example

These figures are invented for illustration, and the 1.0 percent school rate is not any district’s actual rate. A 67-year-old owner’s home was appraised at $300,000 last year, and the district now puts market value at $360,000 with no new improvements. The cap limits appraised value to $300,000 + $30,000 = $330,000. For school taxes, subtract the $140,000 general exemption and the $60,000 age exemption: $330,000 − $200,000 = $130,000 taxable. At an assumed 1.0 percent rate, that is $1,300. If the owner’s school tax ceiling is lower than $1,300, the ceiling amount is what gets billed. City and county taxes use their own exemptions and rates.

Deferring taxes instead of paying them

Under Tax Code Section 33.06 (opens in a new tab), an owner who is 65 or older, disabled, or eligible for certain disabled veteran exemptions can defer collection of taxes on a homestead the owner occupies. To do so, file an affidavit with the appraisal district (Form 50-126, Tax Deferral Affidavit). The taxes are not forgiven. The lien stays, and interest accrues at 5 percent a year instead of the regular delinquency rate, without new penalties. Taxing units cannot sue or sell while the deferral lasts. The deferral ends after the owner stops owning and occupying the home, or after a surviving spouse who was 55 or older at the death does. Collection can resume 181 days after the collector then sends a delinquency notice. Heirs inherit the deferred balance, so discuss it with family. See our guide for heirs.

Mistakes to avoid

• Leaving an old address on your driver’s license, which blocks approval.
• Assuming the seller’s exemption carries over. It ends with the change in ownership, and you must apply yourself.
• Not checking whether your city or county has adopted its own over-65 exemption or ceiling.
• Selling and buying without requesting the ceiling certificate for the old home.

Find your appraisal district through the Texas county directory, for example Harris County or Travis County. For how other states structure similar relief, compare our homestead exemption overview and senior tax relief guide.

Sources reviewed October 13, 2026. This summarizes Texas Tax Code Sections 11.13, 11.26, 11.42, 11.43, 11.431, 23.23 and 33.06 and Comptroller forms; local option exemptions and ceilings vary by taxing unit, and disabled veteran exemptions are not covered here.