Texas Senior Property Tax Relief for Homeowners 65+

A Texas homeowner 65 or older can cap the school property taxes on their home, and if money gets tight, defer their property taxes entirely.1 The extra $60,000 school exemption and the deferral are not age-only: an adult homeowner who is disabled qualifies for both without waiting until 65.1 That makes staying in the home affordable when a fixed income won't stretch to cover a rising tax bill. This guide to Texas senior property tax relief covers the three tools, who qualifies, and the exact forms to file.

These benefits don't apply automatically. You have to claim them with your county appraisal district.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• The Age-65 School Homestead Exemption
• The Over-65 School Tax Freeze
• The Over-65 Tax Deferral
• Local-Option Over-65 Exemptions
• Three Tools at a Glance
• How to Apply
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Next Steps

The Age-65 School Homestead Exemption

Texas property taxes are charged by local taxing units: school districts, counties, cities, and special districts. School taxes are usually the biggest line on the bill. That's where the largest senior break lives.

Every homeowner who lives in their home gets a residence homestead exemption on school taxes. That general exemption is $140,000 of the home's appraised value.1 The school district figures your tax on the value above that amount, not the full value.

Homeowners who are 65 or older (or disabled) get an additional $60,000 exemption on school taxes, on top of the general one.1 The two stack, so both come off before the school tax is calculated.

The disabled branch is not a smaller version of the senior one. Texas Tax Code Section 11.13(c) entitles an adult who is disabled, or who is 65 or older, to the same additional $60,000 school-district exemption, so a disabled homeowner under 65 gets the identical break.1 One limit applies: a homeowner who qualifies for both the age-65-or-older exemption and the disabled-person exemption from the same taxing unit has to choose one of the two, not both, though they may hold one of them from each of two different taxing units.1

The authority for both exemptions is Texas Tax Code Section 11.13(b) and (c).1

A simple way to see it: if your home is appraised at $300,000 and you qualify, whether by being 65 or older or by being disabled, the $140,000 general exemption and the $60,000 senior-or-disabled exemption both come off before your school district figures the tax.1 The county and city still tax more of the value, but school taxes are where the senior relief concentrates.

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts publishes the current exemption amounts and the forms. Your county appraisal district is who you actually file with.

The Over-65 School Tax Freeze

This is the tool that protects you over the long run. Texas calls it the over-65 school tax ceiling, and most people call it the tax freeze.

Here's how it works. In the first tax year your home qualifies for the age-65-or-disabled exemption, the school district calculates the tax on it. That amount becomes your ceiling.1 From then on, your school-district tax bill cannot go higher, even if your home's value climbs or the tax rate rises. The authority is Tax Code Section 11.26.

Read that anchor year carefully, because it is the one most people get wrong. The ceiling is set by the first year that homestead qualified, not by the year you turned 65.1 If you turned 65 in a rental and bought the house at 70, your ceiling is the school tax on that house in its first qualifying year, not anything tied to your 65th birthday. If you already held a ceiling on a previous Texas homestead, the transfer rule below is what carries over instead.

There's one exception. If you make significant improvements to the home, like adding a room or a pool, the value of that new construction can raise the ceiling.1 Normal repairs and maintenance don't.

The ceiling is not a fixed number forever, either. Since the 2024 tax year, Tax Code Section 11.26(a-10) has recomputed it each year against your school district's maximum compressed rate, so when that rate compresses, the ceiling is lowered rather than left where it was.1 Check the ceiling figure on your tax statement each year rather than assuming it is still the number you were first given.

If you move, you don't lose the benefit. The ceiling moves to your new Texas homestead as a proportion, not a dollar amount: the new school district applies the same ratio of limited to unlimited tax that applied to your old home. You carry it with a written certificate from the chief appraiser of the appraisal district where your former home was located (Form 50-311).1

For most seniors, the freeze matters more than the exemption over time. Home values in Texas have risen fast. Without the ceiling, a senior on a fixed income would watch their school tax bill climb every year. The freeze stops that cold.

The Over-65 Tax Deferral

The exemption and the freeze lower your bill. The deferral lets you stop paying it.

Under Tax Code Section 33.06, a homeowner who is 65 or older (or disabled) can postpone all property taxes on their homestead for as long as they own and live in the home.1 Not just school taxes. All of them, including county and city.

Here too, age is not the only door. The Comptroller's deferral guidance lists four groups who may sign the deferral affidavit: people age 65 or older; people disabled as defined by law; qualified disabled veterans, their unmarried surviving spouses, or their unmarried children under age 18 if there is no surviving spouse; and unmarried surviving spouses of U.S. armed service members killed on active duty and their unmarried children under age 18.1 A disabled homeowner under 65 defers on the same terms as a homeowner over 65: same affidavit, same 5 percent interest, same lien. And a disabled veteran's unmarried surviving spouse, or the unmarried surviving spouse of a service member killed on active duty, qualifies in their own right, not through anyone's age. A disabled veteran has other Texas benefits beyond this deferral: our guide to Texas disabled veteran benefits by VA rating sorts them, the veteran's own property tax exemptions included, by the rating that unlocks each one.

This is a postponement, not forgiveness. The taxes are deferred but not cancelled as long as you own and live in the home, and they accumulate interest at 5 percent a year.1 The tax lien stays on the property. All the deferred taxes and interest become due when you no longer own and live in the home.1 Selling it triggers that, not just dying, so the balance usually comes out of the sale proceeds or the estate. The deferral does carry over to a surviving spouse who was at least 55 years old when the deferring spouse died.1 If the debt is still unpaid once it comes due, penalties can be imposed and the taxing units can take legal action to collect it.1 There is a window first: once the owner no longer owns and lives in the home, a taxing unit cannot sue to collect or force a tax sale until the 181st day after the tax collector delivers a notice of delinquency. That clock runs from the delinquency notice, not from the date of death or the closing, so an executor should watch for the notice rather than count from the funeral.1

While the deferral is in place, no penalties run on the delinquent taxes, and the bill you cannot pay this year stops being a bill you have to find the money for.1 That makes it a real safety valve for a homeowner who's house-rich but cash-poor, the kind of homeowner trying to stay in their home rather than sell it for care. If a taxing unit has already started collection action against you, ask your appraisal district what filing the affidavit changes in your case.

Two things to weigh before you defer:

• Interest adds up. At 5 percent a year, a deferred balance grows year over year. Heirs inherit that debt against the home.
• It can affect a mortgage. If you still have a mortgage, your lender may require taxes to be paid through escrow. Read your loan terms or call the lender first.

To start a deferral, file an affidavit (Form 50-126) with your county appraisal district.1 You can file it any time, even on taxes already past due. No new penalties run on those delinquent taxes during the deferral period, but a deferral does not cancel penalties that were already due.1

Local-Option Over-65 Exemptions

The state sets the school-tax rules. Beyond that, any local taxing unit, your county, city, or a special district, may adopt its own over-65 exemption.

If a unit offers one, it has to be at least $3,000 of value.1 Many offer more. These are optional, so what you get depends entirely on where you live. A senior in one county may get a generous local exemption while a neighbor one county over gets only the state minimum.

You claim local-option exemptions on the same form as the school exemption (Form 50-114). Your appraisal district applies whichever ones your taxing units have adopted. Call the district or check its website to see exactly which exemptions your address qualifies for.

Three Tools at a Glance

How to Apply for Texas Senior Property Tax Relief

All of this runs through your county appraisal district, not the tax assessor and not the state. The appraisal district decides exemptions; the tax office just sends the bill.

Follow these steps.

A few timing points worth knowing:

• The over-65 exemption applies for the entire year you turn 65, even if your birthday is in December.1
• You generally have up to two years after the delinquency date to file a late exemption application and still get it.1 Don't wait, but a missed year isn't always lost.
• You only file the exemption once. It carries forward as long as you own and live in the home, though the district may ask you to reconfirm periodically.

If property taxes are one piece of a larger question about paying for care, our guide to paying for senior care in Texas covers Medicaid, VA benefits, and private-pay options alongside home equity.

Next Steps

Start with the form. The exemption and freeze are the foundation, and they cost you nothing to claim.

• File Form 50-114 with your county appraisal district the year you turn 65, or as soon as you qualify as a disabled homeowner.1
• Check your next tax statement to confirm the over-65 exemption and the school tax ceiling are applied.
• Consider Form 50-126 only if your tax bill is more than you can pay and deferring it makes sense for your situation.
• Ask your district which local-option over-65 exemptions your county and city have adopted.

If selling or borrowing against the home is on the table, weigh it against the deferral. A reverse mortgage for senior care and the over-65 deferral both tap home equity, but they work very differently and carry different costs.

Learn More

Find personalized help lowering or deferring your Texas property taxes at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.