Arkansas Property Tax Exemption for Seniors: Freeze and Credits

The Arkansas property tax exemption for seniors is really an assessment freeze: once you turn sixty-five, the county locks in the assessed value of your primary home so your property tax bill stops rising with future reappraisals. The freeze is written into Amendment 79 of the Arkansas Constitution and carried out through Arkansas Code 26-26-1124. It is not automatic. You have to apply for it through your county assessor.¹

What the Freeze Actually Does

Your county assessor locks your homestead’s assessed value at the figure on your sixty-fifth birthday. From that point on, property taxes on the home are calculated against that frozen number, no matter how much comparable houses in your neighborhood get reassessed for. If market values later fall and the county reassesses your home below the frozen figure, you get the lower number instead. The freeze can only help you.¹

If you were already sixty-five when you bought or built the home after January 1, 2001, the lock-in date is the date of purchase or construction rather than your birthday.

Who Qualifies

Two things have to be true. You must be sixty-five or older, and the property has to be your homestead used as your principal place of residence. The freeze takes effect on your birthday itself, not at the start of the next tax year, so the assessed value on that date becomes your baseline.²

A vacation home, a rental, or a second residence does not qualify. If you own more than one property, only the one where you actually live can receive the freeze.¹

Arkansans who are disabled qualify on the same terms, regardless of age, under a separate statutory definition tied to federal disability standards.³

How to Apply

File with your county assessor’s office. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration confirms that eligible homeowners have to apply through the county to receive the freeze.⁴

Bring proof of age (a driver’s license or birth certificate), proof of ownership (your deed), and proof that the address is your principal residence. Requirements vary a little by county, so a quick phone call before you go saves a wasted trip. Once the freeze is on your parcel, you generally don’t have to reapply each year as long as the home stays your principal residence.

Joint Ownership

If your home is jointly owned and at least one owner qualifies, every co-owner on the deed gets the benefit. The whole homestead receives the frozen assessed value.¹

This matters for couples with an age gap. If one spouse is sixty-five and the other is younger, the younger spouse still gets the frozen assessment. The same rule applies to any joint ownership where at least one person on the title has hit the age threshold.²

When the Frozen Value Can Change

The freeze does not cover substantial improvements. If you renovate or expand the home in a way that raises its assessed value by at least twenty-five percent, the county can reassess the improved portion at current value.¹

Routine maintenance and minor repairs don’t trigger anything. Necessary repairs after a natural disaster generally don’t count either, unless you use materials significantly higher in quality than what the home originally had. Rebuilding a storm-damaged roof with equivalent materials is safe. Gutting the house and upgrading everything is not.

Nursing Homes and Time Away

Moving into a nursing home does not disqualify you, as long as you have not established a new principal residence somewhere else. The Arkansas Constitution addresses this directly, so an extended care stay will not cost you the freeze.²

The same reasoning covers travel, out-of-town medical treatment, or an extended stay with family. What the county cares about is whether the property is still your primary home and whether you intend to return.

The Homestead Tax Credit on Top

Separate from the freeze, Arkansas gives every homeowner an annual credit against property taxes on their homestead. Amendment 79 sets a floor of $300, and the legislature has raised it over time.²

For 2026, the credit is worth up to $600, applied straight against the property taxes owed on your primary residence. It cannot exceed your actual bill, so if you owe less than $600 in property tax, the credit just zeroes you out rather than producing a refund. You apply through your county assessor, and it stacks with the assessment freeze if you qualify for both.

Disabled Veterans: A Broader Exemption

Arkansas also provides a much broader exemption for qualifying disabled veterans under Arkansas Code 26-3-306. Veterans awarded special monthly compensation by the VA for loss or loss of use of a limb, total blindness in one or both eyes, or a service-connected one hundred percent total and permanent disability are exempt from all state taxes on their homestead and personal property.⁵

The exemption also reaches surviving spouses and minor dependent children of qualifying veterans, families of service members killed in the line of duty or listed as missing in action, and veterans who died from service-connected causes as certified by the VA. You must be an Arkansas citizen and resident to claim it. A veteran claiming this exemption cannot also claim the homestead tax credit, but since the exemption wipes out the state tax on the property, the credit would have nothing to apply against anyway.⁵

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-26-1124 – Property Tax Relief for Persons Disabled or More Than Sixty-Five Years of Age
2
Justia. Arkansas Constitution Amendment 79
3
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-26-1120 – Disabled Persons
4
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Property Tax Relief
5
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-3-306 – Disabled Veterans