Free, even if you never protest with us
We'll file your homestead exemption. Free.
It's worth about $1,300 a year to the average Texas homeowner, and more in the counties with the highest school rates. There's no charge for this, whether or not you ever protest with us.
What it actually is
If you own your home and live in it, Texas takes $140,000 off the value your school district taxes you on. School taxes are the biggest line on most Texas tax bills, so this is the largest single break available to an ordinary homeowner.
Two things almost nobody tells you.
Benefit one
You don’t have to wait until January.
This used to be the rule, and a lot of people still believe it. Since 2021, if you buy a home during the year you can claim the exemption straight away, for the part of the year you owned it. It is prorated from the day you qualify.
Whether you get part of it this year depends on the exemption history of the property, so we check the county record first and tell you what applies to your house rather than guessing. Either way we file it, and either way it is free.
Benefit two
It caps how fast your value can rise.
With a homestead exemption on file, the taxable value of your home cannot go up more than 10% a year, no matter what the market does. That protection starts the year after you qualify, and it stays with you for as long as you live there.
In an ordinary year this is worth nothing, because values don’t climb that fast. In a year like 2021, when parts of Texas jumped 20%, it is worth a great deal. Think of it as insurance you get for free by filing one form.
One caveat worth knowing, because we would rather you hear it from us: the cap resets when a house is sold. The year you buy, your value is set from the market, so the 10% limit protects you from the year after that onward.
One thing trips almost everybody up.
The address on your driver’s license has to match the property. If you just moved, it doesn’t yet, and the county will reject the application without telling you why in any useful detail.
You can change it online with DPS. No office visit. Do that first, then we file. If you’ve signed up with us, we’ll watch for it and file the moment it matches.
What it’s worth where you live
| Fort Bend County | $1,531 |
| Tarrant County | $1,508 |
| Bexar County | $1,438 |
| Harris County | $1,403 |
| Travis County | $1,340 |
| … and 249 more | |
Calculated from each county’s school tax rate. Local exemptions can add to this.
The deadline is April 30.
If you bought this year, file now rather than waiting for January. Depending on the property’s exemption history you may qualify for part of this year as well as all of next, and we check that against the county record before we file.
If you missed it in a previous year you can usually still go back and claim it. Tell us when you bought and we will work out what you are owed.
You can do this yourself, for nothing.
We want to be straight about that. 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 roughly $1,300 a year, and the deadline passes quietly. If you’d rather do it yourself, do it, just check your license address first.