Bexar County Over-65 and Disability Exemptions: Cutting a San Antonio Tax Bill
If you own your home in Bexar County and you're 65 or older, or you get Social Security disability benefits, the Bexar Central Appraisal District (BCAD) can take a big piece of your home's value off the tax rolls and freeze your school, city and college taxes. If the bill is still more than you can pay, a separate affidavit lets you put off paying it. Here's how each form works, what to send with it, and how the county tax office lets you spread out what's left.
AT A GLANCE
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Two offices, four tools
Most of the confusion comes from mixing up the two offices. BCAD sets your home's value and decides exemptions. It doesn't send bills or take payments. The Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office sends the bill in October and collects the money.
Tool | What it does | Where it's handled | Form or step |
|---|---|---|---|
Over-65 or Disabled Person exemption | Lowers taxable value and sets a tax ceiling | BCAD | Form 50-114, or apply online |
Tax ceiling transfer | Carries your freeze to a new home as a percentage | BCAD | "Transferring a tax limitation" section of Form 50-114 |
Tax deferral | Postpones collection of homestead taxes while you live there | BCAD (affidavit), tax office (account) | Form 50-126, notarized |
4-payment or 10-month plan | Spreads the bill out without penalty or interest | Bexar County Tax Office | Pay the first installment on time |
Step one: the exemption itself
Under Texas Tax Code Section 11.13, every school district must give a $140,000 exemption on a residence homestead, and an additional $60,000 for homeowners who are 65 or older or disabled. Any taxing unit can also adopt a local-option exemption for 65+ and disabled owners, which can't be less than $3,000. The Texas Comptroller's example: with a $140,000 exemption, a home appraised at $300,000 pays school taxes as if it were worth $160,000. The extra $60,000 for 65+ or disabled owners comes off on top of that.
Who qualifies
Exemption | You must | Proof BCAD asks for |
|---|---|---|
Age 65 or older | Own the home, live in it as your main home, and be 65 | Texas driver's license or ID showing the property address |
Disabled person | Own and live in the home, and receive disability benefits from the Social Security Administration's Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program | The license or ID, plus a current SSA letter confirming your disability benefits |
Surviving spouse | Have been 55 or older when your spouse died, if your spouse was getting the exemption | Contact BCAD about the documents for your situation |
You can't get both the over-65 and the disabled person exemption from the same taxing unit. If you qualify for both, BCAD can switch you to whichever is better. Its notices list "a Disabled Person Exemption being replaced with an Over-65 Exemption" as a common reason a notice says your exemption changed.
Timing when you turn 65
You don't have to wait for the new year. BCAD says you can apply any time during the year you turn 65, and the exemption applies to that whole year. If BCAD already has your date of birth on file, it may add the exemption without an application. Check your next notice or call 210-242-2432 to be sure.
Most homestead exemption applications are due between January 1 and April 30. If you miss that window, Form 50-114 allows a late application up to two years after the delinquency date. Disabled veterans get up to five years for the 100% disabled veteran exemption. If you qualified but never applied, it's worth asking BCAD about the past two years.
How to apply
Online: go to bcad.org, click Online Services, and create a login. Upload your Texas driver's license or ID card showing the property address. Disabled person applicants also upload the SSA benefits letter.
On paper: download Form 50-114 from bcad.org under Forms, or call BCAD and ask them to mail one.
Send it with your documents through help.bcad.org, by mail to PO Box 830248, San Antonio, TX 78283-0248, by fax to 210-242-2454 or 210-242-2453, or in person at 411 N. Frio St. The office is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Answer any follow-up. If BCAD asks for more information, the form gives you 30 days to reply. The chief appraiser can extend that once, by up to 15 days.
Give it time. BCAD says a pending application can take about 60 to 90 days to process. After approval, the Tax Office still has to get the update before your bill changes.
"Remember that there is never a fee to apply for exemptions or for any appraisal district services." (Bexar Central Appraisal District)
If a company offers to file your homestead or over-65 exemption for a fee, you can do it yourself for free.
The tax ceiling: what freezes and what doesn't
Once you have the over-65 or disabled person exemption, your school district taxes on the home stop going up. BCAD says the ceiling also covers other taxing units that adopted one, "such as the City of San Antonio and the Alamo College District." The Bexar County Tax Office's FAQ lists all school districts, the Flood Control Fund, Alamo Community College, Bexar County, the City of San Antonio, and the cities of Shavano Park, Leon Valley, Live Oak, Alamo Heights, Balcones Heights, Castle Hills, Elmendorf, Olmos Park and Helotes.
Two things can still raise a frozen bill:
Significant improvements, such as adding a garage or more living space. The tax on the new value gets added.
Taxing units without a ceiling, such as some special districts. Those lines on your bill can still rise.
The ceiling is separate from the homestead cap, which limits how much BCAD can raise your home's assessed value. It can rise at most 10% a year, plus new improvements, starting the year after you first qualify for a homestead exemption. BCAD's example is a $300,000 assessed value that can't go above $330,000 the next year.
Moving? Take the freeze with you
A ceiling can move to a new homestead, but as a percentage, not a dollar amount. BCAD's example: if your frozen school tax was $1,000 when it would otherwise have been $2,000, you were saving 50%. At a new home where the school tax would be $3,000, you'd pay $1,500.
To transfer it, fill in the "transferring a tax limitation" part of Form 50-114 and give your previous address and move-in date. If the old home was in another Texas county, get a Tax Ceiling Certificate from that county's appraisal district and include it.
Step two, if you still can't pay: deferral
A deferral doesn't cancel the tax. It stops the county from collecting it while you own and live in the home. Under Tax Code Section 33.06, Form 50-126 is open to homeowners who are:
65 or older
disabled, as Tax Code Section 11.13(m) defines it
disabled veterans, or their unmarried surviving spouses, who qualify under Section 11.22
in some cases, a veteran's surviving child under 18. A guardian signs for a minor.
Things to know before you sign:
Interest. A tax lien stays on the home, and the deferred taxes build up 5% interest a year. Penalties and interest owed from before you file are kept, but filing stops new ones.
Lawsuits and foreclosure. BCAD says filing the affidavit stops pending tax foreclosure sales and collection suits. Form 50-126 warns that it doesn't protect you from foreclosure on a mortgage or other loans.
When it ends. The deferral lasts until the home stops being your homestead. A surviving spouse who is 55 or older can keep it going by filing Section 2 of the same form. Otherwise, the Tax Office FAQ says the back taxes and interest are due on the 181st day after the owner no longer owns or lives in the home.
Signing. The affidavit must be sworn before a notary, and you can't sign it before you actually turn 65. BCAD staff will notarize it for free if you bring it in person.
Deferral makes sense for someone who wants to stay in the home and accepts that the debt will be settled when the home is sold or passes to heirs. If you have relatives who expect to inherit, talk it over with them first, because the balance keeps growing.
Step three: spreading out the bill
If you could pay the bill over time, the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector has two plans for homestead owners with an over-65, disabled person or disabled veteran exemption. Neither charges penalty or interest if you stay on schedule.
Plan | Payments | Key dates |
|---|---|---|
4-payment plan | Four equal payments | January 31, March 31, May 31 and July 31. At least a quarter of the bill is due by January 31 to join. |
10-month plan | Ten equal payments | Monthly from October through July. You can still join in November by paying 20% down, covering October and November. |
The Tax Office's calendar warns that a late quarterly payment gets a 6% penalty the first month plus 1% interest a month until it's paid. You can still join the 4-payment plan in February, but with a 7% late fee on the first payment. Bills that aren't on a plan are due by January 31 and become delinquent on February 1. Call the Tax Office at 210-335-2251 with payment questions.
Before you call
☐ Your Texas driver's license or ID card with the home's address on it
☐ Your account or property ID from a BCAD notice or tax bill
☐ For a disabled person exemption: a current SSA letter confirming your disability benefits
☐ If the deed isn't in your name: a death certificate and affidavit of heirship, or Form 50-114-A for heir property
☐ If the home is in a trust: the trust certificate. For a mobile home: the TDHCA Statement of Ownership.
☐ If you're transferring a freeze from another county: a Tax Ceiling Certificate from that appraisal district
☐ For a deferral: Form 50-126, unsigned until you're in front of a notary
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
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More help in San Antonio
Related guides
Official sources
Last checked: October 23, 2026. Exemption amounts come from the Texas Comptroller. Bexar procedures come from BCAD's help center articles and its copies of Forms 50-114 and 50-126. Payment plans come from the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector's pages. BCAD doesn't list each taxing unit's local-option exemption amount on these pages, so check your notice of appraised value for those.
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