If you're 65 or older, or you meet Social Security's definition of disabled, and you own and live in your Texas home, you can get an extra school district homestead exemption on top of the regular one, plus a ceiling on your school taxes. As of the Comptroller's January 2026 guide, school districts must give a $140,000 general homestead exemption and an additional $60,000 for owners who are 65 or older or disabled. Cities, counties and other taxing units can add their own local exemptions and their own tax ceilings, but they don't have to. You apply once through your appraisal district, and the savings show up in your tax bill and, if you have a mortgage, eventually in your escrow payment.
What you get
- The additional school exemption. School districts must offer an extra $60,000 residence homestead exemption to owners 65 or older or disabled (Tax Code Sec. 11.13(c)). It stacks on top of the $140,000 general school homestead exemption under Sec. 11.13(b).
- Local option exemptions. Any taxing unit, including a city, county, school district or special district, can choose to offer an age 65 or disabled exemption of at least $3,000 (Sec. 11.13(d)). Whether yours does, and how much, is set locally each year.
- The school tax ceiling. Once you receive the age 65 or disabled exemption, your school district taxes on that homestead are generally capped at the amount you paid in the first year you qualified. People call it a "freeze." It isn't an exemption and doesn't change your appraised value; it limits the school tax amount (Sec. 11.26). Major improvements, like adding a room or a pool, can raise the ceiling.
- Optional local ceilings. Counties, cities and junior college districts can adopt their own tax ceiling for 65 and older or disabled homeowners, either by vote of the governing body or by petition and election (Sec. 11.261). If yours hasn't, those taxes aren't frozen.
These dollar amounts are set by the Legislature and Texas voters, and they've changed several times in recent years. Check the Comptroller's current exemptions page or your appraisal district before you rely on a figure.
Who qualifies
- Age 65 or older. You must be 65 or older, have an ownership interest in the home, and live in it as your principal residence.
- Disabled. You must meet the definition of disabled used for Social Security disability insurance benefits. Disability benefits from another program don't automatically qualify you, and your appraisal district may ask for documents (Sec. 11.13(m)). This isn't the same test as a VA disability rating. Disabled veterans have their own exemptions; see disabled veteran property tax exemptions.
- Both? If you're 65 or older and disabled, you can't get both exemptions from the same taxing unit. You pick one per unit (Sec. 11.13(h)).
- Surviving spouses. A surviving spouse who was 55 or older when the qualifying spouse died, and who lives in and owns the home, can keep the local age 65 exemption and the school tax ceiling (Sec. 11.13(q), 11.26(i)).
Timing: you don't have to wait for January 1
Most exemptions are based on your situation on January 1. This one isn't. If you turn 65 or become disabled during the year, you qualify for the whole tax year as if you'd qualified on January 1 (Comptroller publication 96-1740, citing Tax Code Sec. 11.42(c)). If you just bought the home, you can also get the general homestead exemption for the part of the year you own it, as long as the seller didn't already receive the same exemption for that year.
The general filing deadline for exemptions is before May 1, but late-filing rules exist for some homestead exemptions. If you missed it, ask your appraisal district what still applies to you rather than assuming the year is lost.
How to apply in Tarrant County
- Use the state form, Form 50-114, Application for Residence Homestead Exemption. Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) also posts a version for over 65, disabled, and 100 percent disabled veteran applicants on its forms page (TAD exemptions and forms).
- Include a copy of your Texas driver's license or state ID. The address on it must match the home, with limited exceptions (Sec. 11.43(j)).
- If you're applying as disabled, include the documents your appraisal district asks for.
- Watch your mail. The chief appraiser has to act within 90 days, and if more information is needed, you'll get a written request with a deadline to respond (Sec. 11.45).
- Check your next notice of appraised value and tax statement to make sure the exemption shows up.
In Dallas, Johnson, Parker or another county, the process is the same state form filed with that county's appraisal district. For the general homestead filing steps, see how to file the Texas homestead exemption.
Moving to a new home
Your school tax ceiling can move with you, but not as a dollar amount. When you buy and move into a new Texas homestead, you can transfer the percentage of school tax paid based on your ceiling (Sec. 11.26(a), (g)). Appraisal districts typically ask for a tax ceiling certificate from your old appraisal district. Local ceilings from a city or county can also transfer within that same taxing unit.
What doesn't transfer is the seller's ceiling. If you buy from a 70-year-old seller whose school taxes are frozen, that ceiling ends with them. Your taxes start over based on your own exemptions.
What this means for your mortgage
- Your escrow catches up later. If your taxes are paid through an escrow account, your servicer updates the payment at its annual escrow analysis, usually after the new tax bill shows the exemption. The drop isn't instant. See escrow analysis.
- Buying at 64 or 65. When I estimate taxes for a purchase, I use the exemptions you'll actually be entitled to, not the seller's. If you'll turn 65 after closing, we don't count the extra exemption or a ceiling yet. Your payment may go down later once it's on the bill, but I won't quote it that way up front.
- Tax deferral. Texans 65 or older or disabled can defer property taxes on their homestead by filing an affidavit with the appraisal district, and TAD posts that affidavit with its forms. Deferred taxes don't go away, and most mortgage documents require taxes to be paid, so talk to your servicer before you file one.
- Your loan terms don't change. An exemption lowers your taxes, not your loan.
Fictional example
This example is made up to show how the pieces fit.
Gloria in Benbrook turns 65 in August. She's had the general homestead exemption for years. She files Form 50-114 with TAD that fall, and because she qualified during the year, the additional $60,000 school exemption and the school tax ceiling apply to that entire tax year. Her school district taxes are now capped at that year's amount unless she makes a major improvement. Her city hasn't adopted a ceiling, so her city taxes can still go up. Her mortgage escrow payment changes after her servicer runs its next annual analysis, not the day her exemption is approved.
Common mistakes and myths
- "The freeze covers all my property taxes." The required ceiling is only for school taxes. Cities, counties and junior colleges have their own, only if they adopted one.
- "It's automatic when I turn 65." You have to apply.
- "The age exemption replaces my homestead exemption." It's in addition to it.
- "I'll inherit the seller's frozen taxes." No. Ceilings belong to the owner, not the house.
- "Any disability counts." The test is Social Security's disability definition, not a VA rating, a doctor's note, or another program's benefits.
- "My payment drops right away." Escrow adjusts at the next analysis.
Next step
Turning 65, buying your next home, or wondering how a tax ceiling transfer affects a move? Let me look at your taxes and escrow with you before you buy or refinance. Schedule a call, or when you're ready, start an application.
Related questions
Sources
Links checked Oct 21, 2026.
- Texas Comptroller, Property Tax Exemptions page (Residence Homestead; Age 65 or Older or Disabled Persons), citing Tax Code Sec. 11.13(b), (c), (d), (n): https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/
- Texas Comptroller, Texas Property Tax Exemptions, publication 96-1740 (January 2026), citing Tax Code Sec. 11.13(h), (m), (q), 11.26, 11.261, 11.42(c), 11.43, 11.45: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/docs/96-1740.pdf
- Texas Comptroller, Form 50-114, Application for Residence Homestead Exemption: https://comptroller.texas.gov/forms/50-114.pdf
- Tarrant Appraisal District, exemptions and forms (including the over 65/disabled homestead application and tax deferral affidavit): https://www.tad.org/exemptions
About the author: McKade Lively, NMLS 2704474, American Pacific Mortgage Corporation dba True North Home Loans, NMLS 1850.
Equal Housing Opportunity.
Last reviewed: Oct 2026