Texas Property Tax Exemption for a Donated Homestead
When a charity donates a home to a partially disabled veteran, or sells it for no more than half its market value, the homestead is exempt by the same percentage as the disability rating. A 60% rating means 60% of the appraised value comes off.
Also called: property tax, 11.132, donated home, charitable organization, form 50-114, percentage exemption.
Tax Code section 11.132 covers a home a charitable organization gave to a disabled veteran. The exemption is a percentage of appraised value, and the percentage is the veteran's disability rating. A veteran rated 40% gets 40% of the appraised value exempted. The section applies to a veteran whose rating is less than 100 percent, because a veteran at 100 percent already reaches a total exemption under section 11.131.
The donation test has two forms. The charitable organization can transfer the home at no cost to the veteran, or it can transfer it for a price that does not exceed 50 percent of the good faith estimate of the home's market value. The second form is what makes this reachable for the programs that ask a veteran to carry a small share of the cost.
An unmarried surviving spouse keeps the same percentage exemption as long as the property remains the surviving spouse's residence homestead. As with section 11.131, a surviving spouse who later moves carries over the dollar amount received on the old homestead rather than the percentage, and the chief appraiser has to supply the figures in writing. Remarriage ends it.
File form 50-114 with the county appraisal district. Section 11.439 lets the veteran file up to five years after the delinquency date. A surviving spouse has a shorter window: the Comptroller states two years after the delinquency date.
This is a narrow benefit that matters a great deal to the people it reaches. It is worth checking whenever a veteran received a home through a builder or nonprofit program rather than buying it.
Thresholds
Thresholds for Texas Property Tax Exemption for a Donated Homestead
Gate
Rule
Service-connected rating below 100%
The exemption percentage equals the disability rating percentage, so the rating both opens the benefit and sets its size. A veteran rated 100% is covered by section 11.131 instead, which exempts the whole value.
The home was donated by a charitable organization
The home has to come from a charitable organization at no cost, or at a price no greater than 50 percent of the good faith estimate of its market value. No rating satisfies this part, and the rating filter does not test it.
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Disclaimer
VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.