Property Tax Breaks for Seniors in Texas (2026)

Updated August 23, 2026. Quick answer: Texas runs both an exemption and a freeze — the two most common programme types, stacked. At age 65+, Tax Code section 11.13(c) requires school districts to grant an additional $60,000 residence homestead exemption on top of the general one. There is also an optional deferral, which behaves like every other state’s deferral: a debt against the house, not a discount.

What Texas offers

• Additional homestead exemption — age 65+ or disabled. Texas school districts must grant an additional $60,000 exemption on top of the general homestead exemption (raised to $100,000 statewide in 2023, with further increases since approved by voters — confirm the current combined total with your appraisal district, since this figure has moved more than once recently). File Form 50-114.
• School tax ceiling (the freeze) — once you qualify for the over-65 exemption, your school district tax bill is frozen at the dollar amount you paid in your qualifying year. City, county, and special-district portions of your bill are not frozen and can still rise.
• Optional deferral — file a tax deferral affidavit to postpone payment entirely while you own and occupy the home; deferred amounts accrue interest at 5% annually and become due on sale or death, exactly like every other state’s deferral.

The freeze only covers one line on your bill

Texans often describe their property taxes as “frozen” once they turn 65 — that’s only true for the school-district portion. City, county, and special-district taxes (often close to half the total bill) are not covered by the ceiling and can still increase every year. And the deferral option, while available, carries the same lien-against-the-house mechanics as any other state’s deferral — see the trap explained in detail below. How deferral liens work.

How to apply

County appraisal district; file Form 50-114 (exemption) or the deferral affidavit separately.

Two things to check before you count on it

• Thresholds move. Age and income limits are reset by legislatures and are frequently indexed. Every figure above carries the year we confirmed it; confirm the current one before you budget around it.
• Your county may add its own. Statewide programmes are the floor. Counties and municipalities frequently run additional exemptions, and those are where a lot of real money sits.

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, read 2026-08-10.

Compare all states: property-tax relief for seniors by state. What the programme types mean: freeze vs exemption vs circuit-breaker. The rest of the picture in this state: Texas Retirement Taxes.

Program classifications and thresholds are read from each state’s own revenue department, comptroller or statute, at the source linked on the state page. Dollar and income thresholds change most years and are labelled with the year we confirmed them — check the current figure with the state or your county before relying on it. General information, not tax advice.

Disabled Veteran Property Tax Relief in Texas: $5,000-$12,000 Bands or Full Homestead Exemption

Tex. Tax Code §§ 11.22, 11.131 is the primary authority for this state-specific rule.

• Texas fully exempts the residence homestead of a veteran awarded 100% disability compensation with a 100% rating or individual unemployability.
• The separate partial-value schedule starts at a 10% rating and rises from $5,000 to $12,000 of assessed value.

Before applying, match the rating letter, ownership, occupancy, survivor status, and filing timing in your records to the controlling text; confirm current filing instructions with the administering agency.

Compare veteran property-tax mechanisms across jurisdictions, then verify this state rule in the official source.