The Over-65 and Disabled Tax Ceiling in Bexar County: What Actually Gets Frozen

The "senior freeze" you hear about at the BCAD counter is really two different things layered on top of the homestead exemption: an extra exemption amount, and a tax ceiling that caps what you pay going forward. They come from different sections of the Texas Tax Code, they apply to different taxing units, and they do not all kick in automatically. If you qualify and file correctly, your school-district tax bill stops growing in dollars even as values keep climbing — and in Bexar County and the City of San Antonio, your county and city bills are capped too.

Here is how the pieces actually fit together, who qualifies, and where people lose money by filing the wrong form or filing late.

Exemption vs. ceiling — they are not the same thing

When a Bexar homeowner turns 65 (or qualifies as disabled under Social Security standards), two separate benefits attach to the homestead:

• An additional exemption amount. Under Texas Tax Code § 11.13(c), school districts must give an extra $10,000 exemption on top of the general residence homestead exemption (which the Texas Legislature and voters raised to $100,000 for school M&O in 2023 under Prop 4). Counties, cities, and special districts may adopt their own additional over-65 or disabled exemptions — and several in Bexar have.
• A tax ceiling — the "freeze." Under § 11.26, school-district taxes on your homestead are capped at the dollar amount you paid the year you first qualified for the over-65 or disabled exemption. Under § 11.261, counties, cities, and junior colleges may adopt the same ceiling by election. Bexar County and the City of San Antonio have both adopted the ceiling. The hospital district (University Health) and the Alamo Colleges have their own rules — check the current BCAD exemption roll for your account before assuming.

The exemption lowers your taxable value. The ceiling caps the actual tax dollars. You can get both, and most qualifying homeowners do.

Who qualifies, and when the clock starts

Over-65

You must own and occupy the home as your principal residence, and you (not a spouse, not a co-owner) must be 65 or older. The exemption applies for the full tax year in which you turn 65 — you do not have to wait until the next January. File as soon as you hit the birthday; BCAD will prorate back to January 1 of that year.

Disabled

"Disabled" for § 11.13(c) purposes means you meet the definition for disability insurance benefits under the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program — in practice, an SSDI award letter is the cleanest proof. A VA service-connected disability rating is a different benefit (the disabled-veteran exemption under § 11.22) and stacks separately.

You cannot double up on school taxes

If you qualify as both over-65 and disabled, you pick one for school-district purposes. Most people take over-65 because the ceiling established at 65 travels with them; the disabled ceiling resets if the disability status ends. For county and city purposes, both exemptions may exist but the ceiling is still one ceiling per homestead.

How the school-district ceiling actually works

Say you turned 65 in 2023 and your 2023 NEISD tax bill, after the general and over-65 exemptions, came to $2,400. That $2,400 is now your ceiling. In 2024, 2025, and beyond, your NEISD tax cannot exceed $2,400 even if your appraised value jumps, rates change, or both — unless you make substantial improvements (a pool, an addition, a new garage). Ordinary repairs and maintenance do not raise the ceiling. A new roof does not. Adding 600 square feet does.

This matters in Bexar because so many neighborhoods — Stone Oak (78258, NEISD), Alamo Ranch (78253, NISD), Helotes (78023, NISD) — have seen appraised values climb faster than rate compression has offset. A homeowner on a ceiling pays what they paid years ago while the neighbor next door absorbs the full increase.

The Bexar County and City of San Antonio ceilings

Both Bexar County and the City of San Antonio have adopted the optional § 11.261 ceiling for over-65 and disabled homesteads. That means your county general-fund tax and your city tax are also capped at the amount set in your qualifying year. If you live inside the City of San Antonio limits — most of 78201 through 78258, plus annexed areas — you get three ceilings: school, county, city. If you live in Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, Olmos Park, Leon Valley, Castle Hills, Live Oak, Universal City, Converse, Schertz (Bexar portion), Cibolo, Helotes, or Shavano Park, confirm your specific city's adoption with BCAD; the smaller municipalities do not all participate, and some that do adopted the ceiling in different years.

Special districts — MUDs, emergency services districts, the San Antonio River Authority, University Health, Alamo Colleges — each set their own policy. Alamo Colleges, for example, has long offered an additional over-65 exemption. Look at the "Exemptions" line on your BCAD account detail page; it lists every taxing unit and what it has granted on your parcel.

Filing — Form 50-114 and the supporting proof

The application is the same form you used for the general homestead: Comptroller Form 50-114, Application for Residence Homestead Exemption. Check the over-65 or disabled box, attach proof (Texas driver's license or ID matching the property address plus date of birth for over-65; SSDI award letter for disabled), and submit to BCAD — online at bcad.org, by mail to 411 N. Frio, or in person.

Key deadline realities:

• You may file up to two years after the delinquency date (§ 11.431 for homestead, § 11.439 for late over-65 and disabled). If you turned 65 in 2022 and never filed, you can still go back and claim 2022, 2023, and 2024 — and BCAD will issue refunds or credits against outstanding balances.
• The exemption is not automatic when your driver's license shows a 65th birthday. BCAD does not cross-check DPS records for you. File the form.
• The ceiling starts the year you first qualify and file, so filing the year you turn 65 — not waiting — locks in a lower baseline.

The surviving-spouse and portability rules people miss

Surviving spouse, age 55+

If the qualifying spouse dies, the surviving spouse keeps the over-65 ceiling on the same homestead if the survivor was 55 or older at the date of death and the home remains the survivor's residence homestead (§ 11.26(i) for schools, § 11.261(i) for local-option). Under 55, the ceiling is lost. The surviving spouse of a disabled homeowner does not inherit the disabled ceiling — a frequent and expensive surprise.

Moving within Texas

The ceiling is tied to the home, not the person, but you can port a percentage to a new homestead. Under § 11.26(g)–(h), when you move, BCAD calculates what percentage of the "would-be" tax you were paying at the old house, and applies that percentage to the new house's first-year tax to set a new ceiling. Request a Tax Ceiling Certificate from the district where your old homestead was located and file it with the new district. This is how a senior can downsize from a $600,000 Stone Oak home to a $350,000 patio home in Boerne without losing the benefit of the freeze.

The § 33.06 tax deferral — a different tool

Separate from the exemption and the ceiling, § 33.06 lets an over-65 or disabled homeowner defer all property taxes on the homestead for as long as they own and occupy it. Interest accrues at 5% annually (lowered from 8% by the Legislature in 2021), and no foreclosure for delinquent taxes can proceed while the deferral is in place. The taxes and accrued interest become due 181 days after the home is sold or the owner no longer occupies it.

This is a real option for a fixed-income senior facing a tax bill they cannot cover even with the ceiling. File Form 50-126, Tax Deferral Affidavit with BCAD. It is not free money — the lien remains, and heirs inherit the balance — but it stops the bleeding.

What most people get wrong

• Assuming the ceiling freezes the appraised value. It does not. BCAD will keep raising your value. You still protest if the value is wrong — the ceiling only caps dollars for ceiling-adopting units, and the appraisal still drives exemptions, insurance, and any non-ceiling taxing unit.
• Waiting until next January to apply. File in the month you turn 65. The exemption and ceiling apply to the full tax year.
• Letting a spouse under 55 lose the ceiling by inaction. If the qualifying spouse is ill, the surviving-spouse rule is tied to age at date of death. Plan around it; in some cases the younger spouse should be on title and file for the homestead exemption early so a general homestead continues even if the ceiling lapses.
• Not requesting the ceiling certificate when moving. Sellers close, move to the new home, and never file the portability paperwork. The new district cannot give you what it does not see.
• Confusing the disabled-person exemption with the disabled-veteran exemption. Different statutes (§ 11.13(c) vs § 11.22 and § 11.131 for 100% service-connected). A 100% VA-rated veteran gets a total homestead exemption from all taxing units — a far bigger benefit than the disabled-person ceiling.
• Thinking the ceiling follows you into a major remodel. Substantial improvements re-raise the ceiling by the tax on the new improvement. A kitchen refresh is fine; a 600-square-foot addition is not.

Where to go next

Pull your BCAD account detail at bcad.org and read the exemption line for every taxing unit. If an exemption is missing, file Form 50-114. If a ceiling year looks wrong, call BCAD's exemptions desk — they will correct documented errors without a formal protest. For deferral, ceiling-transfer, or surviving-spouse questions where real dollars are on the table, talk to a Texas property-tax consultant or a real estate attorney; this is not the place to guess.

If the freeze math is what is finally making a downsize feasible, browse current listings at /rentals, list your current home FSBO at /list-your-home, or find a Bexar-savvy agent at /agents who understands how to price around a ported ceiling.