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You are here: Home / Archives for homestead tax exemption

homestead tax exemption

Homestead Tax Exemption for 2016

January 7, 2016 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Homestead

It’s time to file for your homestead tax exemption. If you’ve already filed, you don’t need to file for it again, but if you bought a home in 2015 and lived in the house on January 1, 2016, you’ll want to get that homestead tax exemption! You have until April 30th to apply for your exemption, but it’s best to get it out of the way and be done with it. You must use your home as your primary residence and cannot claim multiple exemptions on different properties – you only get one homestead. In order to claim your homestead, you’ll need to fill out an Application for Residential Homestead Exemption (PDF) and file it with your local appraisal district. Make sure you have updated your driver’s license with your new address as well, as you’ll need a copy of that to file along with the application. Once you have the form completed and all the necessary items (see the form for full details), you’ll need to send everything off to your local appraisal district (done by county here in Texas). If you need to look up where to send it, you can visit the Texas Comptroller’s website for the appraisal district directory. Once there, just locate your county and click on the link to find all the mailing information for your local appraisal district.

Once you have a homestead tax exemption, it gives you a $25,000 exemption (they raised it from $15,000 in 2015) on the assessed value of your home. Let’s say the tax assessed value of your home is $200,000. With a homestead tax exemption, you will be taxed on the home as if it were assessed at $175,000 ($200,000 minus the $25,000 exemption).

If you receive letters in the mail telling you that they will file this claim for you, throw them in the trash! Filing your homestead exemption is free and you should not pay anyone to do it for you. Many of the letters you’ll see in the mail will look official and make it look like you need to pay someone in order to claim the exemption. This is simply not true. File the forms yourself (they’re not even that hard to fill out) and file for free. If you need some assistance, contact your real estate agent and they’ll be happy to help.

There are also some other exemptions you may be eligible for (and they are all applied for on the same application): disabled person exemption, age 65 or older exemption (also may apply to a surviving spouse), 100% disabled veterans exemption (also may apply to a surviving spouse), donated residence homestead of partially disabled veteran exemption (also may apply to a surviving spouse), and surviving spouse of member of armed forces killed in action exemption. See the application for more details on each of these.

image courtesy of psyberartist

Filed Under: Homeowner Tips Tagged With: property taxes, homestead tax exemption

Get Your Homestead Tax Exemption

January 2, 2014 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Texas House

You Can Now File Your Homestead Tax Exemption

It wasn’t all that long ago when we mentioned getting your paperwork in order for things like the Homestead Tax Exemption and now that we have moved into 2014, it’s time to file. If you bought a home in 2013 and you were living in that home on January 1, 2014, you may now apply for your Homestead Tax Exemption and a break on your property taxes. Remember, the home must be your primary residence and you may not claim homestead on multiple homes.

How does the Homestead Tax Exemeption work?

Let’s say you own a house that the local appraisal district has given a tax valuation of $100,000. The property tax you pay is calculated based off of this $100,000. If you were given a $15,000 exemption (the value on the homestead tax exemption was raised to $25,000 in 2015), your new property tax bill would be calculated based on a tax valuation of $85,000 ($100,000 tax valuation minus the $15,000 exemption = the new tax valuation of $85,000).

You must live in the home as of January 1, 2014. Many people forget to file for a homestead tax exemption because they may have bought a house on January 2, 2013, but were not eligible to file until 2014.

To file for your exemption, you must fill out the Application for Residential Homestead Exemption (PDF file) and send it to your local appraisal district. Be sure to read the form carefully and provide all the items requested when filing the form. You may also use this form to claim a Age 65 or Older/Disabled Exemption and a 100% Disabled Veteran Exemption.

Watch out for scams!

It is completely free to file for your Homestead Tax Exemption. You will more than likely receive mail now or in the near future telling you to file and asking for money to do so. While there are legitimate companies that will file this form for you for a fee, they are totally unnecessary as it is free to file. Many of these letters are deceiving and look very official, but we can’t stress it enough – filing a Homestead Tax Exemption is free and you should not pay anyone to file it for you. These companies more or less will charge you (we’ve seen the fee as high as $65) to basically put a stamp on your completed form for you. Please don’t fall for it! If you need assistance with the form, please contact your real estate agent and they should be more than happy to help.

image courtesy of mookielove

Filed Under: Homeowner Tips Tagged With: property tax, homestead tax exemption, form

Reminder to file your Homestead Tax Exemption

January 1, 2013 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Forget-Me-Not

Well it’s January 1st and as I promised, here’s your reminder to file your homestead tax exemption for 2013. If you bought a home in 2012 or have never filed for a homestead tax exemption in Texas, now is the time to get it done! Remember, you must live in and occupy the home on January 1st, 2013 (so if you don’t close on your home until January 2, 2013, you’ll have to wait until Janury 2014!), but if you meet that requirement, it’s time to get your paperwork in order and sent into your local appraisal district. Here’s the original post, “Don’t forget your Homestead Tax Exemption!,” to learn all about the homestead tax exemption and to download the form necessary to file.

image courtesy of Takashi(aes256)

Filed Under: Buying a Home Tagged With: property tax, homestead, homestead tax exemption, how to file

Don’t forget your Homestead Tax Exemption!

December 19, 2012 by khproperties 1 Comment

Homestead Tax Exemption

It’s time to start thinking about property taxes and property tax reduction options such as your homestead tax exemption. If you bought a home in the past year or have never filed for your homestead tax exemption, the time is approaching. If you live in your home on January 1st, 2013, you can apply for a homestead tax exemption. The home must be your primary residence (ie, you can’t claim multiple homestead tax exemptions for multiple properties), but as long as you live in the home on that date, you can file to receive this break on your property tax.

Here’s how it works.

The homestead tax exemption lowers the taxable value of your home. If you have a house that has a appraisal district tax valuation of $100,000 and you get a $15,000 exemption (the value on the homestead tax exemption was raised to $25,000 in 2015), the property tax you pay is based on a value of $85,000 ($100,000 minus $15,000), effectively lowering the tax owed to the country each year.

You must reside in the home on January 1st of the year you apply. This is why we remind clients at the end of the year, because they may have bought the home on January 2, 2012, but have not been eligible to apply until the following year (on January 1, 2013 in this case).

In order to claim the homestead tax exemption, you must fill out the Application for Residential Homestead Exemption (PDF file) and sent into your local appraisal district. Be sure to fill out the form completely and read the instructions carefully – there are several items that you are required to furnsh in addition to the completed form.

Be aware of scams.

If you’ve bought a home in the past year, you’ll probably get some mail from companies who will offer to file this paperwork for you and make sure you get your homestead tax exemption. Do not use these companies or send them any money. Filing your homestead tax exemption is free and these companies simply take your forms and drop them off at the appraisal district – something you can do just as easily for the cost that they will charge you. Many of the letters are rather deceiving in the way they’re written, making you think you need to pay their fee in order to receive the exemption. So please, be aware and contact your agent if you need help filing the form, they’ll be happy to do it (or you need a new agent).

PS I’ll remind everyone about this on January 1st as well – just wanted to be sure the information got out there.

image courtesy of chefranden

Filed Under: Buying a Home Tagged With: property tax, homestead, homestead tax exemption, how to file

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