The Texas Homestead Exemption: The Easiest Money You'll Save All Year

• You own the home (including many trusts and life estates) and it's your principal residence.
• You can only have one homestead at a time.
• You'll need a Texas driver's license or ID with the home's address on it.

Rental properties and second homes don't qualify. Sorry, lake house.

For the 2026 tax year:

• $140,000 off your home's value for school district taxes
• An extra $60,000 off school taxes if you're 65+ or disabled, plus a school tax ceiling (your school taxes generally won't rise above the amount in the year you qualified, with some exceptions for improvements)
• Many cities and counties offer their own optional homestead exemptions on top
• A 10% cap: your homestead's taxable value can't go up more than 10% a year (not counting new improvements)

On a typical DFW school tax rate, the school exemption alone saves many families a four-figure amount each year.

1. Go to your county appraisal district website (Dallas CAD, Tarrant AD, Collin CAD, Denton CAD and so on).
2. Fill in the residence homestead exemption application (Comptroller form 50-114). Many districts let you file online.
3. Attach a copy of your Texas driver's license or ID showing the home's address.
4. Submit. That's it. No fee.

Beware of letters offering to file it "for you" for a fee. It's free to do yourself.

You generally file once, and it stays in place while you live there. If you missed it, Texas lets you file late, typically up to two years after the tax delinquency date, and get a refund of the difference for those years.