Do I have to re-apply for the Texas homestead exemption every year?

Generally no, though districts have begun periodic reviews and each county page records what that district says about it. Moving house always ends it — the new home needs its own application.

What if the property is in a trust or an LLC?

This is the single most common rejection reason across our Texas county records. A qualifying trust can be fine; an LLC generally is not, because the exemption follows an individual's residence. Ask the district before filing rather than after.

How does the Texas homestead exemption deadline work?

Texas's homestead exemption deadline is April 30, but 1 of the 15 Texas counties on this site publish a different rule in their own words — so the county page, not the state date, is the one to act on.

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public AccountsVerified 2026-08-04

The general deadline for filing an exemption application is before May 1.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — its own words, read 2026-08-04

The date is state law; the office is not

Texas sets one filing date in the Tax Code and every appraisal district applies it. That makes Texas the easiest of our five county states to summarise and the easiest to get wrong in one specific way: the date is uniform, but the office, the form number and the online route are not. There are 254 appraisal districts and no two of their websites agree on where the application lives.

Each of our Texas county pages was read from that district's own site rather than copied down from the state rule, and the differences between them are the reason the pages exist at all.

The late-filing window is the part people miss

Texas is unusual in publishing a real remedy for a missed deadline rather than simply rolling the application to the following year. Several districts state the window on their own pages, and where they do, our county page quotes them. It is worth reading before you assume a missed year is gone.

Nobody may charge you to file

Harris County's appraisal district says on its own site that there is no charge for a homeowner to file their own homestead exemption application, and the Texas Attorney General has issued a consumer warning about companies that solicit fees for it. If a letter arrives that looks like a form and asks for money, that is the thing the warning is about.

The counties that do not follow the Texas rule

Harris County — April 30 (HCAD describes this as a "soft deadline")

More about Texas

Do I have to re-apply for the Texas homestead exemption every year?: Generally no, though districts have begun periodic reviews and each county page records what that district says about it. Moving house always ends it — the new home needs its own application.
What if the property is in a trust or an LLC?: This is the single most common rejection reason across our Texas county records. A qualifying trust can be fine; an LLC generally is not, because the exemption follows an individual's residence. Ask the district before filing rather than after.

Texas counties on this site

What this site is

HomesteadDeadlines is not a government website and is not affiliated with any appraisal district, assessor’s office or county tax office.

Applying for a homestead exemption with your county is free. We do not file it for you, we do not charge you anything, and we never ask you to pay to apply.

Deadlines and eligibility are set by Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and are governed by its current notices. This page was verified on 2026-08-04.