Texas homestead exemption and the 10% cap
The $140,000 school exemption, over-65 and disability exemptions, the 10% yearly cap and tax ceilings, and how to apply.
If the home is your primary residence, the homestead exemption usually saves more than any protest, and it limits how fast your taxable value can grow. Check that it's on your record every year: our area pages show how many homes have no homestead exemption on file.
What it's worth
- School districts: $140,000 off the value school taxes are charged on (raised from $100,000 by the 2025 constitutional amendment). A $400,000 home pays school tax as if it were worth $260,000.
- Age 65 or older, or disabled: another $60,000 off school taxes. If you're both over 65 and disabled, you get one of the two.
- Cities, counties and other units may offer their own exemption, up to 20% of the value (at least $5,000), and their own over-65 exemption. Amounts vary; your notice lists them.
- Disabled veterans get $5,000 to $12,000 by disability rating, and a 100% disabled veteran's homestead is fully exempt.
The 10% cap
Once a home has been your homestead for a full year, its appraised value for taxes can't rise more than 10% a year (plus the value of new improvements), whatever happens to the market value (Tax Code §23.23). In a fast-rising market the capped value can sit well below market value. Two things follow:
- A protest that lowers the market value only lowers this year's taxes if the new market value falls below the capped value. Our verdicts account for this and say so when the cap already covers the difference.
- It's still often worth protesting a capped home: next year's cap is figured from this year's value, so a lower value now slows how fast your taxes can rise later.
Over-65 and disability tax ceilings
With an over-65 or disability exemption, your school taxes are frozen at the amount of the first year you qualified (they can go down, not up, except for new improvements). Many cities and counties offer the same ceiling. For frozen units, a lower value doesn't lower the bill, which is why our savings estimates leave them out.
How to apply
- File Comptroller Form 50-114, Application for Residence Homestead Exemption, with your county's appraisal district, usually online, with a copy of your Texas driver's license showing the home's address.
- The usual deadline is April 30, but late applications are accepted for past years too (generally up to two years after the taxes became delinquent), and the district refunds the difference.
- Bought this year? You can get the exemption for the part of the year after you move in, if the previous owner didn't have it.
- You apply once; it stays until you move or the district asks you to reapply.