Texas Over-65 and Disability Property Tax Exemptions

Who qualifies

You need to own the home and live in it as your principal residence, the same as for the general homestead exemption. On top of that, you must be 65 or older, or disabled. "Disabled" means you're under a disability for purposes of Social Security disability insurance benefits (Tax Code §11.13(m)).

If you're both 65 or older and disabled, you can't take both the age and the disability exemption from the same taxing unit in the same year. You can choose either one (§11.13(h)).

How much it's worth

Starting with the 2025 tax year, school districts must give an additional $60,000 exemption to homeowners who are 65 or older or disabled (Tax Code §11.13(c)). That's on top of the $140,000 general school exemption, for $200,000 in all from school district taxes. Cities, counties, and other taxing units may add their own exemption of at least $3,000 (§11.13(d), (e)).

Additional 65+ or disabled exemptions in Travis County for 2026, from TCAD's listing:

Local amounts are adopted each year. Check TCAD's current listing for your taxing units.

The school tax ceiling

Once you qualify, your school district can't raise the total school tax on your homestead above the amount it imposed in the first year you qualified (Tax Code §11.26(a)). That's the ceiling, sometimes called the freeze. It can go down. When the state lowers school tax rates or raises the homestead exemptions, the ceiling is recalculated downward (§11.26(a-10)).

The ceiling can go up for one reason: improvements you make, such as an addition. Repairs and improvements required by government rules don't count (§11.26(b)).

Counties, cities, and junior college districts may adopt their own ceiling for 65+ and disabled homeowners (§11.261). Not all have. Your appraisal district can tell you which of your taxing units have one.

Moving the ceiling to a new home

If you move to a new Texas homestead and qualify for the same exemption there, the school tax ceiling moves with you as a percentage. Your new school taxes are limited to the same share of the full tax that you paid on the old home (Tax Code §11.26(g)). For example, if your ceiling meant you paid 60% of the full school tax on your old home, you'd pay 60% of the full school tax on the new one in its first year.

Ask the appraisal district where your old home is for a ceiling transfer certificate (§11.26(h)), and give it to the appraisal district for the new home.

Surviving spouses

If a homeowner who had the 65+ exemption dies, the surviving spouse can keep the exemption and the school tax ceiling if the spouse was 55 or older at the time of death, and the home was and remains the spouse's homestead (Tax Code §11.13(q), §11.26(i)). If the district learns of the death, the spouse's exemption can be applied without a new application (§11.43(m-2)).

How and when to apply

1. Use Form 50-114, the Residence Homestead Exemption Application. Check "Person Age 65 or Older (or Surviving Spouse)" or "Disabled Person" in Section 1.
2. Attach a copy of your Texas driver's license or state ID showing the home's address. If you're applying for the disability exemption, include proof of your disability, such as a Social Security award letter.
3. File it with your appraisal district. In Travis County, that's TCAD, online, by mail, or in person.

Timing. The 65+ exemption takes effect on January 1 of the year you turn 65 and covers that whole year (Tax Code §11.42(c)). You don't have to wait until the January after your birthday. Apply no later than one year after the date you qualified (§11.43(k)).

If you already have the general homestead exemption and the district has your birth date, it should add the 65+ exemption automatically the year you turn 65 (§11.43(m)). Check your notice of appraised value to make sure it did.

Missed it? A late application for a homestead exemption, including 65+ and disabled, can be filed up to two years after the delinquency date for that year's taxes, and the overpaid tax is refunded (§11.431). See claiming a missed exemption for past years.

Installments and deferral

• Quarterly installments. If you have the 65+ or disabled exemption, you can pay your homestead taxes in four equal installments without penalty or interest. Pay the first installment before the delinquency date (usually February 1) with a notice that you'll pay the rest in installments. The others are due before April 1, June 1, and August 1 (Tax Code §31.031).
• Deferral. If you're 65 or older or disabled, you can defer paying taxes on your homestead for as long as you own and live in it by filing an affidavit with the appraisal district (§33.06). The taxes aren't forgiven. A lien stays on the home, and interest accrues at 5% a year. The taxes become due after you no longer own and live in the home.