Texas Homestead Exemption: How to Apply and What It Saves You (2026)

TL;DR: The Texas homestead exemption removes part of a home's value from property taxes. After the November 2025 vote, school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value, up from $100,000, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). Applying is free with Form 50-114 and your county appraisal district — the filing deadline for most owners is April 30.

Photo by Irene Rego on Unsplash

Key Takeaways

• School districts in Texas must exempt $140,000 of a qualifying homestead's value from school taxes, per the Texas Comptroller's Property Tax Exemptions guide (read October 2026).
• Texas voters approved the increase from $100,000 in the November 2025 constitutional amendment election, as reported by the Texas Tribune (November 2025).
• The application is Form 50-114, filed with your county appraisal district; the general filing deadline is before May 1, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).
• Homeowners who are 65 or older or who meet Social Security disability standards get an extra $60,000 school-district exemption, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).
• A homestead also caps how much your appraised value can rise each year at 10 percent for most taxing units, per Texas Tax Code Section 23.23 as summarized by the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).

Last Updated: October 2026

Table of Contents

• What Is the Texas Homestead Exemption?
• What Changed After the November 2025 Vote?
• Who Qualifies for the Homestead Exemption?
• How Do You Apply for the Homestead Exemption?
• How Much Does the Homestead Exemption Save You?
• What About Homeowners Who Are 65 or Older or Disabled?
• What Does the Homestead Exemption Have to Do With Buying or Selling a Home?
• FAQ: Texas Homestead Exemption

What Is the Texas Homestead Exemption?

The homestead exemption is a slice of your home's value that taxing units cannot tax. Texas has no state property tax; property taxes are set and collected locally by school districts, cities, counties, and other taxing units, per the Texas Comptroller's Property Tax Exemptions guide (read October 2026). A partial exemption like the homestead removes a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of your home's appraised value before the tax rate is applied.

A property owner must apply for the exemption in most circumstances. Applications are filed with the appraisal district in the county where the property sits, and the chief appraiser — not your real estate agent, not your lender — decides whether the property qualifies. The general deadline for filing an exemption application is before May 1, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).

Tax Code Section 11.13(b) requires school districts to provide a $140,000 exemption on a residence homestead, and Tax Code Section 11.13(n) lets any taxing unit adopt a local option residence homestead exemption of up to 20 percent of a property's appraised value, with a floor of $5,000, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). In practice, many Travis County taxing units have adopted some form of local option exemption — the Travis Central Appraisal District publishes a list of taxing entities and the exemptions each has adopted (read October 2026).

If this is your first year as a homeowner, the timing detail that surprises people: if the property is acquired after January 1, the general residence homestead exemption can apply to the portion of the tax year after the exemption qualifies, if the previous owner did not receive the same exemption that year, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).

What Changed After the November 2025 Vote?

Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2025 that raised the mandated school-district homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000, as reported by the Texas Tribune (November 2025). The measure appeared on the ballot following Senate Bill 4 and Senate Joint Resolution 2, which the Texas Senate passed unanimously in February 2025, per the Office of the Texas Lieutenant Governor (February 2025).

The same election raised the additional exemption for homeowners who are 65 or older or disabled to $60,000, per the Texas Comptroller's Property Tax Exemptions guide (read October 2026). That additional school-district exemption stacks on top of the general $140,000 — it does not replace it.

Property tax bills in Texas mail in October and are due by January 31 of the following year, per the Travis County Tax Office (read October 2026). If your October 2026 bill looks different from last year's, the exemption increase approved in November 2025 is one of the reasons.

Who Qualifies for the Homestead Exemption?

Qualification rules come from state law, and the appraisal district applies them case by case. To qualify for the general residence homestead exemption, you must meet three conditions, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026):

• You have an ownership interest in the property.
• You use the property as your principal residence.
• You do not claim a homestead exemption on another residence in or outside Texas.

The exemption is about how you use the home, not about immigration status or citizenship. A homeowner with an ITIN who owns and occupies a home as a principal residence can apply — the form asks about ownership and occupancy, not about status. If you have questions about your own situation, the appraisal district is the authority that answers them.

One property, one exemption. You cannot claim a homestead exemption on a rental house while living somewhere else, and you cannot claim exemptions on two homes in the same year even if both are in Texas. The chief appraiser reviews applications and can deny one that does not qualify; if that happens, the appraisal district notifies you and you get an opportunity to protest the decision, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026).

How Do You Apply for the Homestead Exemption?

Applying is free. The form is Form 50-114, Application for Residence Homestead Exemption, published by the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). There is no fee to file it, and no one needs to be paid to file it for you.

Here is the process step by step:

1. Confirm your county. Applications go to the appraisal district in the county where the property is located, not to the state and not to your lender, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).
2. Get the form. Download Form 50-114 from the Texas Comptroller or from your county appraisal district's forms page.
3. Fill it out honestly and completely. The form includes a statement that you do not claim an exemption on another residence homestead in or outside Texas, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).
4. Attach the required documents. This usually includes a copy of your driver's license or state ID showing the homestead address — requirements vary by county, so check your district's instructions.
5. File before the deadline. The general deadline for filing an exemption application is before May 1, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). If you are filing late for a year you already qualified in some other way, ask the district about late options for age 65 or disabled exemptions.
6. Wait for the decision. In Travis County, action on an application occurs within 90 days from the date it is received, and you are notified if you do not qualify, with the chance to protest, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026).

In Travis County, applications can be submitted by mail, online, or at the district's office at 850 East Anderson Lane, Austin, TX 78752, and the district runs an Exemption Helpline at (512) 873-1560 during business hours, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026).

Watch out for mail scams. Some companies send official-looking letters offering to "file" your homestead exemption for a fee. The exemption is free, the form is public, and the county does not charge for it. If a letter asks for money to file Form 50-114, it is not from the appraisal district.

How Much Does the Homestead Exemption Save You?

The honest answer is: it depends on your home's appraised value and on the tax rates your local taxing units adopt, which change every year. What the exemption does is fixed by law; what it saves in dollars is not.

The mechanics work like this, using the Comptroller's own example (read October 2026): a home appraised at $300,000 with the $140,000 school-district exemption is taxed by the school district as if it were worth $160,000. That is arithmetic, not a promise — the dollar impact on any home depends on its appraised value, its taxing units, and the rates each unit adopts that year. School taxes are typically the largest share of a Texas property tax bill, which is why the school-district number is the one that matters most.

To that, taxing units can add local option exemptions. Tax Code Section 11.13(n) allows any taxing unit to adopt a residence homestead exemption of up to 20 percent of appraised value, and it cannot be less than $5,000, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). Which units near you adopted which exemptions is published — in Travis County, the Travis Central Appraisal District posts a list of taxing entities and their exemptions (read October 2026).

Exemption layer	Amount	Who provides it	Source
General residence homestead (school district)	$140,000 of appraised value	Every Texas school district (mandatory)	Texas Comptroller, Property Tax Exemptions guide, read October 2026
Additional 65-or-older / disabled (school district)	$60,000 of appraised value	Every Texas school district (mandatory, if the owner qualifies)	Texas Comptroller, read October 2026
Local option homestead	Up to 20 percent of appraised value, minimum $5,000	Adopted voluntarily by a taxing unit	Texas Comptroller, read October 2026
County farm-to-market / flood control	$3,000 of appraised value	Qualifying counties (mandatory)	Texas Comptroller, read October 2026

The second benefit is the appraisal cap. Once a home qualifies as your homestead, its appraised value for taxing units other than school districts generally cannot rise more than 10 percent per year, per Texas Tax Code Section 23.23 as summarized by the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). In a market like Austin's, where the Austin Board of REALTORS® (Unlock MLS) reported a median sale price of $412,000 in September 2026 (down 6.4 percent year over year, per Unlock MLS data reported in the Austin market report for September 2026), the cap is what keeps a fast-appreciating neighborhood from translating one-to-one into a tax shock.

The third benefit is procedural: a homestead in Texas also changes what creditors can do with the property under state homestead law, and it affects how your home is handled after a death in the family. Those are legal questions, and a real estate agent is not the right professional to answer them — a Texas-licensed attorney is.

Photo by Carlos Delgado on Unsplash

What About Homeowners Who Are 65 or Older or Disabled?

Two extra protections exist for homeowners who are 65 or older or who meet the Social Security Administration's disability standards.

Extra exemption amount. Tax Code Section 11.13(c) requires school districts to provide an additional $60,000 residence homestead exemption for persons age 65 or older or disabled, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). To qualify for the age-based exemption, the individual must be 65 or older, have an ownership interest, and live in the home as their principal residence.

School tax ceiling. The age-65 exemption also establishes a tax ceiling — a freeze — on school taxes: as long as you do not add improvements like a garage or pool, your school taxes will not rise above the ceiling, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026). Counties, cities, and junior colleges may adopt their own ceilings locally.

Portability of the ceiling. If you are an over-65 homeowner and you buy or move into a different home in Texas, you can transfer the same percentage of tax paid to a new qualified homestead — a ceiling transfer, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026).

Surviving spouses. If a homeowner claiming this exemption passes away and their spouse is 55 or older and continues to own the home, the spouse can keep the exemptions and the tax ceiling, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026).

Documentation. The over-65 application needs proof of age, such as a copy of the front of a Texas driver's license or ID card; the disability exemption needs documentation like a disability determination from the Social Security Administration, per the Travis Central Appraisal District (read October 2026). A disabled veteran exemption is separate, with amounts set by the disability rating issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).

What Does the Homestead Exemption Have to Do With Buying or Selling a Home?

If you just bought a home in the Austin metro, the exemption is your first October-to-do item after closing. Once you own the home and occupy it as your principal residence, file Form 50-114 with your county appraisal district. Do not wait until your first tax bill arrives to discover the previous owner's exemption expired with the sale.

If you are house hunting, the exemption is one of the numbers to fold into your budget thinking — but not one anyone can quote in advance. Property tax estimates, tax rates, and exemption outcomes depend on the county appraisal district's appraised value and on the rates each taxing unit adopts, which change annually. What I can tell you as your agent is how the process works, what the deadlines are, and where to file. What I cannot tell you is what your home will appraise for or what your exact tax bill will be — that is the appraisal district's call, made after you own the home.

If you are selling, know that the exemption does not transfer to the buyer automatically. The buyer files their own application for the year they qualify.

This post touches taxes, which sit outside a real estate agent's license. For tax questions specific to a household, a licensed tax professional or tax attorney is the right professional; for exemption questions, the county appraisal district is the authority. I am the real estate agent in this story — the person who helps with buying and selling, and who points to the right specialist for everything else.

If you want to keep unpacking what property taxes mean for your move, I wrote a full guide on how property taxes work in Texas and one on protesting your property taxes. Thinking about the bigger picture of buying? Start with the first-time buyer guide or book a free consultation.

FAQ: Texas Homestead Exemption

How much is the Texas homestead exemption in 2026? School districts must exempt $140,000 of a qualifying homestead's appraised value, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). Homeowners who are 65 or older or disabled get an additional $60,000 school-district exemption on top of that.

What is the deadline to file the homestead exemption? The general deadline for filing an exemption application is before May 1, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). Applications can be filed starting January 1.

Is there a fee to apply? No. Form 50-114 is free, and filing with the county appraisal district is free, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). Companies that charge to file it are not affiliated with the county.

Can I apply if I am not a U.S. citizen? The application asks about ownership and principal-residence occupancy, not immigration status. A homeowner with an ITIN who owns and occupies the home as a principal residence can apply — the chief appraiser decides qualification case by case, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).

Do I need to reapply every year? No. Once granted, the general residence homestead exemption stays in place as long as you own and occupy the home. You re-file when you move, buy a different home, or change how the property is used, per the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026).

Does the exemption cap how much my taxes can go up? It caps appraised value, not tax rates: the appraised value for taxing units other than school districts generally cannot rise more than 10 percent per year on a homestead, per Texas Tax Code Section 23.23 as summarized by the Texas Comptroller (read October 2026). If a taxing unit raises its rate, the exemption does not stop that.

About the Author Sully Ruiz is a Texas-licensed real estate sales agent (TREC #0742907). Her sponsoring broker is Keller Williams Austin NW. She works with buyers and sellers in Austin and Central Texas, in English and Spanish — as their real estate agent, not their lender. Book a free consultation →

"Market data is for informational purposes only and is subject to change. Sources are believed to be reliable but are not guaranteed. Contact Sully Ruiz for a personalized market analysis."

Sources

• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — Property Tax Exemptions
• Texas Comptroller — Form 50-114, Application for Residence Homestead Exemption
• Travis Central Appraisal District — Homestead Exemptions
• Texas Tribune — Voters OK property tax breaks for Texas homeowners, businesses (November 2025)
• Office of the Texas Lieutenant Governor — Statement on SB 4 and SJR 2 (February 2025)
• Ballotpedia — Texas Proposition 13, Increase Homestead Property Tax Exemption Amendment (2025)