We’ll file your homestead exemption. Free.
No school tax on the first $140,000 of your home’s value, if one form is filed by April 30. A lot of new buyers never file it. We file it for you at no charge.
Exemption figures are $140,000 × each county's levy-weighted school tax rate, from the Comptroller's ISD rates file. Local exemptions can add to them.
What it does
One form. Four things.
Form 50-114, filed once with your appraisal district. It stays on the property until the house is sold.
- 01
It takes $140,000 off the value your school district taxes.
If you own your home and live in it, the school district taxes you on your value minus $140,000. School taxes are the biggest line on most Texas bills, so this is the largest single break an ordinary homeowner can get.
- 02
It can start the year you buy.
Since 2022, a buyer can claim it for the part of the year they owned the house, as long as the previous owner wasn't already claiming it that year. Whether that applies to your house depends on the county record, which we check before we file.
- 03
It caps how fast your taxable value can rise.
Once it's on file, the value you're taxed on cannot go up more than 10% a year, not counting new construction, no matter what the market does. The cap starts the year after you first qualify and resets when the house is sold. Worth nothing in a quiet year, and a great deal in a year like 2021.
- 04
There's more if you're 65 or older, disabled, or a veteran.
Owners 65 and older or disabled get another $60,000 off, and their school taxes stop rising. A veteran rated 100% disabled pays no property tax on the home at all. We ask three questions when you sign up so nothing gets left on the table.
The one thing that trips everybody up
Your driver’s license has to show this address.
The county checks the address on your license against the property. If you just moved, it doesn’t match yet, and the application comes back rejected with very little explanation.
You can change it online with DPS in a few minutes, no office visit. Do that first. If you’ve signed up with us, we watch for it and file the moment it matches. Your protest is not affected either way.
County math
What it’s worth where you live.
$140,000 times your county’s school tax rate. The rate is the only thing that changes.
- Travis County
- $1,340
- Harris County
- $1,403
- Tarrant County
- $1,508
- Bexar County
- $1,438
- Fort Bend County
- $1,531
- and 249 more
- All 254 counties →
If you bought this year, file now rather than waiting for January. If you missed it in a previous year, you can usually still claim it, up to two years back. Tell us when you bought and we’ll work out what you’re owed.
To be straight about it
You can do this yourself, for nothing.
It’s Form 50-114, it goes to your county appraisal district, and it costs nothing to file. Plenty of people handle it themselves. The reason we do it is that a lot of new buyers never get around to it, it’s worth about $845 to about $1,743 a year, and the deadline passes quietly. If you’d rather do it yourself, do it. Just check your license address first.