San Antonio Homestead Exemption: Filing With the Bexar Central Appraisal District, and What Each Unit Takes Off

In Bexar County, you claim your homestead exemption from the Bexar Central Appraisal District (BCAD), which until January 1, 2026 was called the Bexar Appraisal District [1]. One application covers every taxing unit on your bill, and each unit then applies its own exemptions, which in San Antonio are unusually generous: the city, the county and University Health all take 20% off a homestead’s value [3][4].

What each unit takes off a San Antonio homestead

The exemptions are set unit by unit. These are the amounts on the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector’s official 2026 list for a home in the City of San Antonio and San Antonio ISD [4]:

A few things stand out:

• School districts differ. Every district must give $140,000, plus $60,000 at 65 or disabled [2]. On the county’s list, Northside ISD gives $73,330 at 65 or disabled, and North East ISD gives $73,330 at 65 [4]. Check your own district’s row on the list.
• The City of San Antonio exempts 20% of the market value of a homestead, and $85,000 for owners who are 65 or older or disabled [3].
• The county’s road and flood fund is the one place a flat $3,000 exemption applies; state law allows it for a county’s farm-to-market road or flood control tax [2][4].

To see what these do to a bill, use the calculator in our San Antonio property tax rates guide.

Who qualifies

You must own the home and live in it as your principal residence, and you can’t claim a homestead exemption on any other property, in Texas or elsewhere [5]. If you buy after January 1, you can get the exemption for the rest of that year right away, as long as the previous owner didn’t get the same exemption for that year [2][5].

How to file

1. Update your Texas driver’s license or state ID to the home’s address. A copy of each owner’s ID is required, and the address must match the home [5]. Residents of care facilities and people in the Attorney General’s address confidentiality program are exempt from this; active-duty military members and spouses can ask BCAD to waive the address match [5].
2. Get Form 50-114 from bcad.org’s Forms page (there’s a Spanish version, 50-114-S) or from the Texas Comptroller [2][6].
3. File online if you can. BCAD’s Online Services Portal takes homestead exemption filings. To register, you need the Owner/Agent ID and PIN printed at the top of an appraisal notice, from this year or an earlier one [7].
4. Or file on paper with BCAD at 411 N. Frio St., or by mail to P.O. Box 830248, San Antonio, TX 78283-0248 [2]. Don’t send it to the Comptroller [5].
5. Answer any follow-up. If BCAD asks for more information, you have 30 days to respond or the application is denied [5].

Once BCAD grants the exemption, you don’t reapply every year unless it asks you to [5]. If you stop qualifying, for example because you moved, you must tell BCAD in writing before May 1 of the next year [5].

At 65, or if you’re disabled

• The 65-or-older exemption counts from January 1 of the year you turn 65 [5]. If you already have a homestead exemption and BCAD has your birth date, you don’t have to apply for it [5].
• The disabled person exemption follows the Social Security disability definition [5].
• You can’t get both from the same taxing unit in the same year [5].
• A surviving spouse who was at least 55 when the spouse died can keep the 65-or-older exemption if the home stays their homestead [5].

A tax ceiling , often called a freeze, applies once you qualify. The county’s 2026 list shows one for every school district, and for the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, the road and flood fund and Alamo Colleges [4]. University Health and the River Authority don’t list one [4].

Veterans and surviving spouses

BCAD lists these on its 2026 notice and on Form 50-114 [2][5]:

• A veteran with a 100% VA disability rating or individual unemployability is exempt on the total appraised value of the homestead; an unremarried surviving spouse can keep it.
• Veterans rated 10% to 90% get a partial exemption based on the rating; BCAD uses Form 50-135 for it [6].
• Unremarried surviving spouses of service members killed in the line of duty, first responders killed in the line of duty, and veterans who died of certain toxic-exposure conditions get a 100% exemption on the homestead.

Missed the deadline?

The deadline is generally April 30 [5]. You can still file a late application for the general, 65-or-older or disabled exemption up to two years after the filing deadline. Disabled veterans can file up to five years after the delinquency date, and their surviving spouses up to two years [5].

If you’re 65 or older, disabled or a disabled veteran and can’t pay, BCAD also takes tax deferral affidavits; see Bexar County property tax due dates and payment plans.