Texas Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

Tax Code section 11.22 exempts a fixed dollar amount of appraised value for a veteran with a service-connected disability. The amount is set by a schedule keyed to the disability rating: 10% to 29%: $5,000 30% to 49%: $7,500 50% to 69%: $10,000 70% and above: $12,000 Two other paths reach the top amount without regard to the schedule. A veteran who is 65 or older and has a disability rating of at least 10% gets $12,000. So does a veteran who is totally blind in one or both eyes, or who has lost the use of one or more limbs. Those two paths are statutory, not rating-percentage tests. The most useful and most often missed feature of this exemption is that it does not have to be a homestead. Section 11.22 applies to any one property the veteran owns in Texas. A veteran who cannot claim a homestead exemption, or who owns raw land or a second property, can still put this exemption somewhere. The exemption survives the veteran. An unmarried surviving spouse takes the amount the veteran was entitled to at death. If there is no surviving spouse, the veteran's surviving children who are under 18 and unmarried split that amount equally. A separate subsection gives the surviving spouse of a service member who dies on active duty a $5,000 exemption on one property, with eligible children splitting that $5,000 if there is no spouse. File form 50-135 with the county appraisal district, not the state. The general exemption deadline is before May 1. Section 11.439 is the escape hatch for anyone who filed late: the chief appraiser has to accept a disabled veteran application under 11.22, 11.131, or 11.132 filed up to five years after the delinquency date for the taxes on the property, and has to refund tax already paid on the exempted value. That five-year window does not extend to a surviving spouse. This exemption is much smaller than the total homestead exemption under section 11.131. A veteran rated 100% or awarded individual unemployability should read that entry first. The two are not stacked on the same homestead, but a veteran who takes the total exemption on a homestead can still be worth checking against 11.22 for a second property.