Over-65 and disabled exemptions are filed with Hays CAD, not the tax office

People mix this up all the time: the tax office on Stagecoach Trail mails the bill and takes your money, but it has no say over exemptions. Every exemption (the regular homestead, the over-65, the disabled-person, and the disabled-veteran ones) starts with an affidavit filed with Hays Central Appraisal District out at 21001 N. IH-35 in Kyle. Send it to the tax office and it goes nowhere.

The over-65 exemption is the one worth filing the day you're eligible. On top of knocking value off the taxable amount, it freezes the school-district portion of your bill at that year's dollar figure, so the school tax on your home generally can't climb past it for as long as you own and live there. A disabled homeowner gets a similar deal, and a surviving spouse can sometimes carry the frozen amount forward. You can stack the over-65 and disabled exemptions across different taxing units, though not both on the same school tax.

The forms are short and free at hayscad.com, or call HCAD at 512-268-2522 and they'll tell you exactly which document and proof your situation calls for, whether that's a birth date, a disability determination, or a DD-214. File once and most of these renew automatically; you don't refile every year.