If you are 65 or older, own your home in Dallas County, and live in it as your primary residence, the Dallas County over-65 property tax exemption removes $160,000 from your home’s appraised value for school district taxes and locks in a ceiling on what the school district can ever charge you. That $160,000 figure combines the $100,000 general homestead exemption every Texas homeowner gets with an additional $60,000 that kicks in the day you turn 65. Other taxing units in the county may offer their own over-65 exemptions on top of that.
How Much the Exemption Takes Off Your Bill
The savings stack. The general homestead exemption removes $100,000 of appraised value from school district taxes. The over-65 exemption adds another $60,000, for a combined $160,000 school district exemption.1State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead On a home appraised at $350,000, the school district can only tax you on $190,000.
Dallas County, the City of Dallas, Dallas College, and other local taxing units may offer their own optional over-65 exemptions. State law requires any optional over-65 exemption to be at least $3,000, and most local entities in Dallas County set theirs higher than the minimum.1State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead Amounts change, so check the Dallas Central Appraisal District’s exemption page for the current figure from each unit that taxes your property.
Who Qualifies
Three things: you must be at least 65, own the property (or hold a qualifying ownership interest such as stock in a cooperative housing corporation), and occupy it as your primary residence.2Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Exemptions Primary residence means the home where you actually live for most of the year.
The over-65 portion takes effect the day you turn 65, not on January 1 of the following year. You get prorated savings during your birthday year.
Homes held in a living trust still qualify as long as you’re a trustor or beneficiary of a qualifying trust and you live in the property.3Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application The application has a section for trust-owned property where you enter the trust details.
Over-65 vs. Disabled Person Exemption
If you qualify for both the over-65 exemption and the disabled person exemption, you have to pick one for school district taxes. You cannot receive both.4Office of the Texas Governor. Tax Exemptions The exemption amounts are usually identical, but the choice affects how your school tax ceiling gets calculated, so compare before you file.
How to Apply Through DCAD
File the Residence Homestead Exemption Application, Form 50-114, with the Dallas Central Appraisal District.3Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application One form covers both the general homestead exemption and the over-65 exemption. Check the box in the “Age 65 or Older” section and enter your date of birth.
Have these ready:
- Your property account number, which appears on any prior tax statement or on the DCAD website when you search by address.
- A copy of your Texas driver’s license or state-issued ID. The address on the ID should match the property address. If it doesn’t, the form has a waiver request section where you can ask the chief appraiser to waive that requirement.3Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Residence Homestead Exemption Application
- Your name written on the application exactly as it appears on the deed.
DCAD accepts applications through its online filing portal at dallascad.org, which generates a confirmation receipt when your documents upload.5Dallas Central Appraisal District. Online Forms Keep the receipt. You can also mail the form and ID copies to DCAD. There’s no filing fee. Processing usually takes 30 to 90 days, and you’ll get written notice when the exemption is approved or if DCAD needs more from you.
Deadlines and Late Applications
The standard homestead application deadline is April 30 of the tax year. Seniors get a wider window: you can file for the over-65 exemption up to two years after you first became eligible.6Fort Bend Central Appraisal District. What Is the Deadline to File for an Exemption If you turned 65 in March 2024 and haven’t filed, you have until March 2026.
A late application can produce a corrected tax bill at the lower assessed value, and sometimes a refund for prior years you overpaid. If you or a family member missed the original window, check whether the two-year period is still open before assuming the chance is gone.
The School Tax Ceiling
The exemption’s most valuable feature is often the one seniors notice last. Once you qualify, the school district sets a ceiling: your school taxes cannot exceed what you owed in the first year you qualified, no matter how much your home’s market value climbs afterward.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of Elderly or Disabled In a county where appraisals have been rising fast, the ceiling can save thousands a year against what neighbors pay on similar homes.
The ceiling can move down but not up. If you qualified partway through the first year and your school taxes the following year come out lower than the qualifying year, the ceiling resets to that lower amount.8Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Opinion No. KP-0470 – Calculation of the Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of the Elderly or Disabled Under Texas Tax Code Section 11.26 It can also drop when the legislature raises the general exemption.
Taking Your Ceiling to a New Home
The ceiling follows you if you move anywhere in Texas, but it travels as a percentage rather than a flat dollar amount.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of Elderly or Disabled The appraisal district takes what you actually paid under the ceiling, divides it by what you would have paid without it, and applies that percentage to the new home’s school taxes.
Say your ceiling held school taxes at $1,000 on your old home when you would otherwise have owed $4,000. That’s 25%. If school taxes on your new home would normally run $2,000, your transferred ceiling comes out to $500. The relative savings carry over even when the dollar amounts don’t, which makes downsizing or moving school districts less costly than many seniors expect.
Surviving Spouse Protections
If a homeowner with the over-65 exemption dies, the surviving spouse can keep both the exemption and the school tax ceiling. Three conditions have to be met: the surviving spouse was at least 55 when the qualifying spouse died, the property was their residence at the time of death, and it stays their residence going forward.1State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.13 – Residence Homestead The surviving spouse gets the same exemption amount and the same frozen ceiling.
Portability extends here too. A qualifying surviving spouse who later moves can transfer the ceiling percentage to a new home the same way the original homeowner could.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.26 – Limitation of School Tax on Homesteads of Elderly or Disabled Many families don’t know this protection exists, and it prevents the loss of a tax ceiling from compounding the loss of a spouse.
Deferral If You Still Can’t Pay
Even with the exemption and the ceiling, some fixed-income seniors can’t cover the remaining bill. Texas offers a separate option: you can defer all property tax collection on your homestead for as long as you own and occupy it. You need to be 65 or older and file an affidavit with the appraisal district.
During the deferral, no taxing unit can sue you for delinquent taxes or foreclose to collect them. Taxes accrue as a lien against the property along with 5% annual interest, and the full balance comes due 181 days after you no longer own or live in the home. No additional penalties pile up in the meantime. It’s a last resort, not a first choice, because the interest adds up and the bill eventually lands on your estate or your heirs. For homeowners who would otherwise lose the home to a tax sale, it buys real time.