For Disabled Veterans, Two Different Tax Breaks and Two Different Forms

With a sizable veteran population around Waco, this break matters to a lot of McLennan County households, and the trap is that there are really two of them. A veteran the VA rates 100 percent disabled (or as individually unemployable) gets a total exemption on their home: the residence homestead comes off the tax roll entirely. That one is claimed on the same general homestead form everyone uses, Form 50-114, under Tax Code 11.131.

A partial service-connected rating below that works differently. Instead of wiping out the bill, it knocks a fixed dollar amount off the value of any one property the veteran owns — $5,000 at a 10 to 29 percent rating, sliding up to $12,000 at 70 percent and above. That one rides on a separate form, the Disabled Veteran's or Survivor's Exemption, Form 50-135 under Tax Code 11.22.

Both are filed with McLennan Central Appraisal District, and a surviving spouse can often carry an exemption forward. The piece worth getting right up front is which form fits your rating, because the 100-percenters and the partial-raters don't share a path.