Homestead Exemption Lowers Your Property Tax Bill

Use Form 50-114 to ask for a home exemption. File it with Polk Central Appraisal District, not the tax office that takes the payment. The house must be your main home. A buyer may get the basic exemption for part of the purchase year if the prior owner did not get it that year.

The exemption lowers the value used to figure tax. It does not change the appraisal on the notice. The limit on a homestead's appraised value usually starts the next tax year. New work on the home is handled on its own.

Age 65, disability, and veteran benefits have more rules. Use Polk CAD's live forms page and the instructions on Form 50-114. Those are better guides for a late or part-year claim than an old saved form.