A 100% disabled veteran can wipe out the tax on their Henderson County home

This is one of the most valuable property-tax breaks in Texas, and a lot of eligible veterans never claim it. A veteran with a 100% service-connected disability rating from the VA, or one the VA considers individually unemployable, can have the entire taxable value of their residence homestead exempted, which can zero out the home's property-tax bill. Veterans with a partial rating get a graduated dollar exemption that scales with their disability percentage.

It doesn't apply itself. You file an exemption application with the Henderson County Appraisal District at 1751 Enterprise Street in Athens, attaching your VA disability documentation. A surviving spouse can sometimes carry the benefit forward, and there's a related exemption for the spouse of a service member killed in action. For a first-time filer, the appraisal district's window runs up to April 30.

Keep the two offices straight while you're at it. The appraisal district off Enterprise Street is where exemptions are granted and values are set; the tax assessor-collector on Prairieville Street is who eventually mails and collects the bill. The exemption belongs to the appraisal side, so get it on file there and the savings flow through automatically.