What happens to your Texas homestead exemption if you own a home in another state?

You can hold a residence homestead exemption on only one home. Texas Tax Code 11.13(h) states that "A person may not receive an exemption under this section for more than one residence homestead in the same year," and the Texas application requires you to state that you claim no homestead exemption on another residence homestead inside or outside Texas.

That single sentence is the whole answer, and it catches people constantly — most often someone who moves to Dallas–Fort Worth under a start date, a season or a contract, buys here, and keeps the house in the state they came from. Below is what the statute and the appraisal districts actually say, so the decision gets made on the record rather than on assumption.

How many homestead exemptions can you have at once?

One. The bar is in Tax Code 11.13(h), quoted above. Dallas Central Appraisal District puts the same rule in plainer words on its exemptions page: to qualify "you must own and reside in your home on January 1 of the year application is made and cannot claim a homestead exemption on any other property."

This is not a Texas-only-versus-Texas rule. It reaches across state lines, which is the part people miss.

What does Texas count as your principal residence?

Occupancy, not ownership. Tax Code 11.13(j)(1) defines a residence homestead as a structure that is owned by one or more individuals, "is designed or adapted for human residence," "is used as a residence," and — subparagraph (D) — "is occupied as the individual's principal residence by an owner," by an owner's surviving spouse holding a life estate, or by a qualifying trust's trustor or beneficiary.

Nothing in that definition turns on which home cost more, which you have owned longer, or which state issued your driver's license. Tarrant Appraisal District states the same test on its homestead exemption page: the property "is occupied by the owner(s) as their principal residence."

What does the application actually make you say?

It makes you say it in writing. Tax Code 11.43(j) sets out what a residence homestead application must contain, and paragraph (2) requires the application to "state that the applicant does not claim an exemption under that section on another residence homestead in this state or claim a residence homestead exemption on a residence homestead outside this state."

The Texas Comptroller's property tax exemptions page summarises the same requirement: "An applicant is required to state that he or she does not claim an exemption on another residence homestead in or outside of Texas." Paragraph (3) of 11.43(j) requires you to state that each fact in the application is true, paragraph (4) requires a copy of your driver's license or state ID, and paragraph (6) requires your signature. Dallas CAD adds the consequence in its own words: "It is a crime to make false statements on a homestead application or to file on more than one property."

When is the Texas application due, and who do you file it with?

Before May 1, with the appraisal district in the county where the property is located. Tax Code 11.43(d) requires a person claiming an exemption whose eligibility is determined by their qualifications on January 1 to "file a completed exemption application form before May 1" and furnish the information the form requires. The Texas Comptroller's property tax exemptions page states the same general deadline. Tax Code 11.43(e) provides that a person who fails to timely file a completed application may not receive the exemption for that year.

Late filing exists but is set per district. Dallas Central Appraisal District states its residence homestead window as an application filed "no later than two years after the delinquency date," and says the same window covers the Age 65 or Older and Disabled Person exemptions. Tarrant Appraisal District's homestead page states no deadline, which is itself a reason to ring the district rather than infer one.

Deliberately not stated here: the dollar amounts. The exemption amounts in Tax Code 11.13(b) and (c) were amended recently, and the two sources consulted for this article do not agree on the current figures. Rather than print a number that may be a cycle out of date, get the current amount from your own appraisal district or the Comptroller directly — it is the one part of this that changes.

Does the Texas exemption renew by itself?

Yes, and that is exactly why the two-state problem compounds. Tax Code 11.43(c) places the residence homestead among the exemptions that, "once allowed, need not be claimed in subsequent years," and provides that the exemption "applies to the property until it changes ownership or the person's qualification for the exemption changes."

Nobody asks you again each January. The exemption keeps applying on its own until one of those two things happens — and whether your qualification has changed is something only you know at the time it changes.

Whose job is it to tell the appraisal district?

Yours. Tax Code 11.43(g) is one sentence: "A person who receives an exemption that is not required to be claimed annually shall notify the appraisal office in writing before May 1 after his entitlement to the exemption ends."

Tax Code 11.43(f) requires the Comptroller to print that duty on the application form itself, as "a statement explaining that the application need not be made annually and that if the exemption is allowed, the applicant has a duty to notify the chief appraiser when the applicant's entitlement to the exemption ends."

How would a district find out on its own?

By a review it is required to run. Tax Code 11.43(h-1) requires the chief appraiser of every appraisal district to "develop a program for the periodic review of each residence homestead exemption granted by the district under Section 11.13 to confirm that the recipient of the exemption still qualifies for the exemption," and the program "must require the chief appraiser to review each residence homestead exemption at least once every five tax years."

Separately, 11.43(h) provides that if the chief appraiser learns of any reason indicating an exemption should be cancelled, the chief appraiser "shall investigate," and on determining the property should not be exempt, shall cancel the exemption and deliver written notice within five days of cancellation.

How far back can a district go?

Five years. Tax Code 11.43(i): if the chief appraiser "discovers that an exemption that is not required to be claimed annually has been erroneously allowed in any one of the five preceding years," the appraised value that was erroneously exempted is added to the appraisal roll for each of those years, handled under Section 25.21 the way other property that escapes taxation is handled.

So the exposure is not one year of exemption. It is up to five years of value coming back onto the roll.

Who has to do what, and by when?

Who	What the statute requires	By when	Statute
The owner	File a completed residence homestead application	Before May 1	11.43(d)
The owner	State in the application that no homestead exemption is claimed on another residence homestead in or outside Texas	On filing	11.43(j)(2)
The owner	Notify the appraisal office in writing once entitlement to the exemption ends	Before May 1 of the following year	11.43(g)
Nobody	Re-file in a year where nothing changed — the exemption carries forward	Not required	11.43(c)
The chief appraiser	Review each residence homestead exemption the district has granted	At least once every five tax years	11.43(h-1)
The chief appraiser	Investigate, and on determining the property is not exempt, cancel and give written notice	Within five days of cancellation	11.43(h)
The chief appraiser	Add back value erroneously exempted in any of the five preceding years	On discovery	11.43(i)

What if you are away from the Texas house for part of the year?

A temporary absence is treated differently from a move. Tax Code 11.13(l) addresses an owner who is absent but "does not establish a different principal residence," where the absence is "for a period of less than two years and the owner intends to return and occupy the structure as the owner's principal residence."

The Comptroller's exemptions publication states the same thing: a homeowner "does not lose his or her residence homestead exemption if the homeowner does not establish a different principal residence, intends to return and occupy the residence and is temporarily absent for a period of less than two years."

A touring schedule, a season spent in another market, a rotation, or a long assignment can sit inside that provision. Renting the other house out, registering to vote there, or moving the family there are facts that point the other way. The statute gives the standard; it does not resolve a particular set of facts.

What is the sequence if you buy in Texas while you still own elsewhere?

Walked in order, and with the caveat that each district administers its own filings:

1. Decide which home is the principal residence before signing a homestead application anywhere. This is the step people skip, and it is the only one that is actually a decision.
2. Deal with the other state's exemption first, on that state's own rules and deadlines, which are not Texas's and vary considerably.
3. File the Texas application with the appraisal district for the county the Texas property is in, before May 1 per 11.43(d).
4. Keep the proof. 11.43(j)(3) requires you to state each fact in the application is true, so keep what supports it.
5. Diary the exit. If the Texas home later stops being your principal residence, 11.43(g) gives you until before May 1 of the following year to notify the appraisal office in writing.

Who decides whether a home is your principal residence?

Not an article, and not an agent. Which home is your principal residence turns on your facts, and the places to settle it are the appraisal district that administers the exemption and your own tax advisor or attorney. What is set out above is the process and the statutory language it runs on, so that the conversation with them starts from the right questions.

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Sources, all read 30 October 2026

• Texas Tax Code Sec. 11.13, Residence Homestead — subsections (h), (j) and (l)
• Texas Tax Code Sec. 11.43, Application for Exemption — subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (h-1), (i) and (j)
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Exemptions — comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/
• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Publication 96-1740, Texas Property Tax Exemptions
• Dallas Central Appraisal District, Exemptions — dallascad.org/exemptions.aspx
• Tarrant Appraisal District, Homestead Exemption — tad.org/forms/homestead-exemption

This article explains process and quotes the governing statute. It is not legal or tax advice.