Most homeowners in Texas are familiar with the homestead exemption afforded by Texas law. This exemption provides a property tax break for an owner’s primary residence. Historically, this homestead exemption was “set it and forget it” for most. Once you applied and qualified for the exemption, it remained in place until you sold or transferred your home. But a recent 2023 Texas law changes that. Texas homeowners are now required to verify their homestead exemptions every five years, or they risk losing it.
The new law requires every county appraisal district in Texas to verify homestead exemptions at least once every five years. If a homeowner receives a verification notice and doesn’t complete the reapplication by the deadline, they could lose their homestead exemption and pay more in property taxes. The good news – the application process is fairly quick and easy. The bad news – many homeowners aren’t aware of this new law and are starting to lose their exemption for failure to reapply.
Many appraisal districts sent out letters in December notifying homeowners that they must reapply for their homestead exemption within 30 days. Those that don’t meet the reapplication deadline will have their homestead exemptions removed and will be taxed at the full appraised or market value of their home, meaning they will pay more in property taxes. Even if a homeowner reapplies after the deadline, the homestead exemption could take months to get approved and may not go back into effect until the subsequent tax year.
To avoid this, homeowners can and should check the status of their homestead exemption by going to their county’s appraisal district website and doing a quick property search. Also, don’t ignore any kind of mail you get from the appraisal district. Read it carefully and if you have any questions, call the appraisal district for clarification and instructions.
For a list of all county appraisal district websites, visit https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/county-directory/.