State benefits
Texas veteran benefits: five agencies, five thresholds
Texas runs two separate property tax instruments for disabled veterans. Flat dollar bands from 10 percent upward attach to any one property the veteran owns, not only a home. A total homestead exemption applies at 100 percent or individual unemployability. Both are filed with the county appraisal district and both allow late filing for five years.
Texas Veterans Commission
Published 2026-08-21. Texas rules last checked against that state's own government sources on 2026-08-21. Every line below carries the page it came from and the date it was read.
What is different about Texas
Texas is the state where the partial exemption does not have to be your home. Section 11.22 attaches to any one property the veteran owns, including a rental or a lot, which is close to unique, and it is a flat dollar band keyed to the rating rather than a percentage of value. It stacks on top of the general residence homestead exemption. And it carries a five year back-filing window measured from the delinquency date, so a Texas veteran who has never claimed it is not only owed this year. Neither Florida nor California offers a partial veteran exemption on non-homestead property, and neither has a five year back-file.
The statute, the office and the filing calendar, joined
Texas veteran entitlements are administered by five different bodies and no single page assembles them. Property tax is the county appraisal district under Tax Code sections 11.22 and 11.131. Plates are the Department of Motor Vehicles, applied for through the county tax assessor-collector. The free hunting and fishing package and the park pass are Parks and Wildlife. The driver license fee waiver is the Department of Public Safety. Tuition is the Texas Veterans Commission, with the institution making the final call.
Each of those uses its own threshold. Plates are 50 percent, or 40 percent where the disability is amputation of a lower extremity. The license package is 50 percent or loss of use of a foot or leg. The park pass and the driver license fee are both 60 percent. Property tax runs on four bands. So a Texas veteran rated 50 percent qualifies for the plates and the license package and not the disabled veterans park pass, and a page that prints one Texas threshold is wrong about most of the list. That veteran is not shut out of the parks, though, and this is the correction most often needed: Parks and Wildlife issues a second Parklands Passport to any honorably discharged veteran with no rating requirement at all. The 60 percent threshold buys the disabled veterans version, which adds free entry for one companion. Free entry itself starts at discharge.
The calendar is the county's. The property tax deadline is April 30, and the five year back filing window runs from the delinquency date rather than from the filing deadline, which is the part most often missed. The license package renews on the license year rather than the calendar year.
Two hundred dollars of small items, and then the property tax
The recreational and administrative items are small individually and add up to a real number. The Super Combo package waived is $68 a year against the resident price. The Texas State Parks Pass is $70 a year. The plate exemption removes the base state registration of $50.75, or $51.75 with the insurance verification fee, plus a local fee of up to $10.00 and $4.75 processing, against a $3 annual specialty plate fee. The driver license fee is $33 on an eight year cycle. Taken together that is a little over $200 a year before any property tax at all.
Property tax is where the size is, and it depends on the instrument. The total homestead exemption under section 11.131 removes the whole ad valorem bill, so its worth is whatever the taxing units would have charged. The partial exemption under 11.22 is a flat slice: at an illustrative combined rate of $2.00 per $100 of value, the $12,000 band is $240 a year and the $5,000 band is $100.
The five year back file carries the largest single number on this page. A veteran who has held a qualifying rating for years and never filed can reach back five years from the delinquency date, so what is at stake is five bills rather than the current one. That is a Texas provision, not a general one.
Where the exemption appears on a Texas notice
The document is the Notice of Appraised Value for real property, Comptroller Form 50-778, mailed by the county appraisal district. The exemption information runs across it in pairs: exemption type and exemption amount for last year, then the same two for the current year.
There is a fifth column, and it is the one to read first. It is headed Exemption Amount Cancelled or Reduced from Last Year, and it is how an exemption stops without anybody being told in a letter.
The names printed in the type column are the statute's own rather than plain language. Under partial exemptions the entry reads Disabled veteran or surviving spouse/child. Under total exemptions it reads 100% disabled veteran or surviving spouse. Two more exist for a donated residence homestead of a partially disabled veteran and for the surviving spouse of an armed services member killed in the line of duty.
Every Texas entitlement checked so far
Each entry states the rule as the statute or the administering agency states it, with the rating threshold that rule uses. Whether any particular file meets a threshold is a question for the office that grants it.
The state's own page
Everything below is a reading of published Texas rules. Texas Veterans Commission is the office that administers them, and its own page is the place to check anything here.
The ones with a filing window
- Partial exemption on any one propertyApril 30, with late filing permitted up to five years after the delinquency date for the taxes on the property
- Total residence homestead exemptionApril 30, with late filing permitted up to five years after the delinquency date
Filing windows are set by the office that administers each one, and several of them run on the county assessment calendar rather than the tax year.
Property tax
Partial exemption on any one property
Has to be applied for onceTexas grants a partial exemption from appraised value in flat dollar bands set by the veteran's VA disability rating, on any one property the veteran owns. It is not restricted to a residence homestead.
- The statutory bands are 10 to 29 percent, 30 to 49 percent, 50 to 69 percent and 70 to 100 percent. VA ratings are always multiples of ten, so those bands map exactly onto the bands this finder uses.
- A separate $12,000 exemption applies to a veteran aged 65 or over with at least a 10 percent rating, a veteran totally blind in one or both eyes, or a veteran who has lost the use of one or more limbs.
- An unremarried surviving spouse qualifies where the property was the veteran's homestead at death and remains the spouse's residence homestead. The surviving spouse of a servicemember who died on active duty receives a $5,000 exemption under the same section.
- It stacks on top of the general residence homestead exemption rather than replacing it.
| Rating band | Amount |
|---|---|
| 10 to 20 percent | $5,000 |
| 30 to 40 percent | $7,500 |
| 50 to 60 percent | $10,000 |
| 70 to 90 percent | $12,000 |
| 100 percent | $12,000 |
- What it is worth
- The tax on the band amount A flat slice of appraised value comes out of the base, so the worth is the band amount multiplied by the combined tax rate. At an illustrative $2.00 per $100 of value the $12,000 band is $240 a year. Small on its own, and the five year back-file is what makes it worth doing.
- Filing window
- April 30, with late filing permitted up to five years after the delinquency date for the taxes on the property
- Administered by
- The county appraisal district
- How it is claimed
- Form 50-135, filed with the county appraisal district. A county veteran service officer files these at no cost.
- Rule
- Texas Tax Code 11.22
Disabled veteran exemption FAQ (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Total residence homestead exemption
Has to be applied for onceTexas exempts the total appraised value of the residence homestead of a veteran the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs compensates at 100 percent, whether by a 100 percent rating or by a determination of individual unemployability.
- The statute reaches individual unemployability explicitly. A veteran paid at the 100 percent rate through unemployability, without a 100 percent schedular rating, is covered.
- A surviving spouse continues it while unremarried, where the property was the residence homestead at the veteran's death and remains the spouse's residence.
- If the surviving spouse moves, what transfers is the dollar amount received in the last year, not necessarily a full exemption on the new property.
- What it is worth
- The whole homestead tax bill The full appraised value comes out, so the annual worth is the entire ad valorem bill on the homestead. Appraised value multiplied by the combined district rate is the math, and the rate is set by the taxing units rather than the state.
- Filing window
- April 30, with late filing permitted up to five years after the delinquency date
- Administered by
- The county appraisal district
- How it is claimed
- Form 50-114, filed with the county appraisal district.
- Rule
- Texas Tax Code 11.131
100 percent disabled veteran exemption FAQ (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts). Checked 2026-08-21.
Vehicles and plates
Disabled Veteran license plates
Has to be applied for onceTexas issues Disabled Veteran specialty plates carrying a $3 annual specialty plate fee, with the annual registration and local fees removed on one vehicle.
- The Department of Motor Vehicles states the threshold as certification by VA at 50 percent service-related disability, or 40 percent because of amputation of a lower extremity.
- State law permits only one plate with no annual registration and local fees. Additional vehicles may carry the plate, but registration and local fees apply to them.
- Personalisation adds $40 a year.
- What it is worth
- Roughly $60 a year on one vehicle The base state registration is $50.75, or $51.75 with the insurance verification fee, plus a local fee of up to $10.00 and $4.75 processing and handling. The plate itself is $3 a year, so what is avoided is the registration and local portion.
- Administered by
- The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, applied for through the county tax assessor-collector
- How it is claimed
- Form VTR-615, filed through the county tax assessor-collector with the VA certification.
- Rule
- Texas Transportation Code 504.201
Disabled veteran license plates (Texas Department of Motor Vehicles). Checked 2026-08-21.
Licenses and parks
Disabled Veteran Super Combo hunting and all-water fishing package
Has to be claimed again each yearTexas Parks and Wildlife issues the Super Combo package at no cost to a veteran with 50 percent or greater disability compensation, or loss of use of a foot or leg.
- No Texas residency requirement. The package is available to residents and non-residents alike.
- It has to be obtained in person at a license retailer, with VA documentation or a Texas driver license marked Disabled Veteran.
- It carries the resident hunting and fishing licenses plus the archery, freshwater, saltwater with red drum tag, upland game bird and migratory game bird endorsements. The federal duck stamp is not included.
- What it is worth
- $68 a year The equivalent paid product is the resident Super Combo, item 111, at $68. That is the whole avoided cost, and it renews on the license year rather than the calendar year.
- Administered by
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- How it is claimed
- In person at any license retailer, with the VA documentation or the marked Texas driver license.
Disabled veteran Super Combo hunting and all-water fishing package (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). Checked 2026-08-21.
Texas Parklands Passport for disabled veterans
Has to be applied for onceTexas Parks and Wildlife issues a Parklands Passport giving free entry to the holder and one companion at state parks, at a 60 percent or greater service-connected disability or loss of a lower extremity.
- The published threshold is 60 percent or more, which the 70 to 90 band reaches. A veteran rated exactly 60 percent also meets it.
- A VETERAN BELOW 60 PERCENT IS NOT SHUT OUT OF TEXAS STATE PARKS. Parks and Wildlife issues a second and separate Parklands Passport to any honorably discharged veteran, with no rating requirement. What the 60 percent threshold buys is the disabled veterans version, which adds entry for one companion.
- What it is worth
- $70 a year, plus a companion The paid equivalent is the Texas State Parks Pass at $70 for the primary holder, with a secondary pass at the same address costing $25. Because a veteran below 60 percent already has free entry under the general veterans passport, the extra value of this version is the companion entry rather than the whole $70.
- Administered by
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- How it is claimed
- At a state park headquarters with the VA documentation.
Texas parklands passports (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). Checked 2026-08-21.
Texas Parklands Passport for veterans
Has to be applied for onceTexas Parks and Wildlife issues a Parklands Passport allowing free entry to Texas state parks for a U.S. veteran who was honorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces. No disability rating is required.
- This runs on discharge status rather than on a rating, so it reaches a veteran at any band including no rating at all.
- It is a separate passport from the disabled veterans version, which requires 60 percent or more and adds entry for one companion.
- What it is worth
- $70 a year The paid equivalent is the Texas State Parks Pass at $70 for the primary holder. This is the entitlement most often missed by Texas veterans below the 60 percent threshold, because published summaries describe only the disabled veterans version.
- Administered by
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
- How it is claimed
- At a state park headquarters with the discharge documentation.
Texas parklands passports (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). Checked 2026-08-21.
Education
The Hazlewood Act exemption
Has to be applied for onceTexas exempts qualified veterans, and in certain cases spouses and dependent children, from tuition and fee charges at Texas public institutions of higher education.
- The institution of higher education makes the final eligibility determination. The Texas Veterans Commission administers the program.
- The credit hour cap and the rules for transferring unused hours to a child were not confirmed against a government source in this check and are deliberately not stated here.
- Administered by
- The Texas Veterans Commission, with eligibility determined by the institution
- How it is claimed
- Through the institution's veterans certifying official, with the Texas Veterans Commission's determination.
- Rule
- Texas Education Code 54.341
Exemptions and waivers information for institutions (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board). Checked 2026-08-21.
Other
Driver license and identification card fee waiver
Has to be applied for onceThe Texas Department of Public Safety waives the driver license and identification card application fee for a veteran with a service-related disability of at least 60 percent.
- It does not apply to a commercial driver license.
- The published threshold is at least 60 percent, which the 70 to 90 band reaches, and a veteran rated exactly 60 percent also meets it.
- What it is worth
- $33 every eight years A Class C driver license is $33 for the eight year cycle. An identification card is $16 up to age 59 and $6 from 60.
- Administered by
- Texas Department of Public Safety
- How it is claimed
- At a driver license office with the VA documentation.
Driver license and identification services for veterans (Texas Department of Public Safety). Checked 2026-08-21.
Filter this by rating band
The finder takes a rating band and lists only the Texas entitlements whose published threshold that band reaches, with a version laid out for printing and carrying to a county office.
Questions
Does the Texas partial exemption have to be on my house?
No. Tax Code section 11.22 attaches to any one property the veteran owns, including a rental or a lot. The total exemption under 11.131 does have to be a residence homestead.
Does individual unemployability qualify for the total Texas exemption?
Yes. Section 11.131 covers a veteran the VA compensates at 100 percent, whether by a 100 percent rating or by a determination of individual unemployability. The statute names both.
How far back can a Texas exemption be filed?
Up to five years after the delinquency date for the taxes on the property, for claims under section 11.22 and for the total exemption. The general filing deadline is April 30.
What happens to the total exemption if the surviving spouse moves?
It continues while the spouse has not remarried, but what transfers to a new property is the dollar amount received in the last year rather than a full exemption on the new home.
Sources
- Disabled veteran exemption FAQ, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)
- 100 percent disabled veteran exemption FAQ, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)
- Form 50-778, notice of appraised value for real property, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)
- Disabled veteran license plates, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Department of Motor Vehicles)
- Disabled veteran Super Combo hunting and all-water fishing package, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
- Texas parklands passports, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
- Driver license and identification services for veterans, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Department of Public Safety)
- Exemptions and waivers information for institutions, retrieved 2026-08-21 (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board)
Accuracy owner Brayden Marley. State entitlement thresholds move on state fiscal calendars, so this page is re-read against its sources every quarter and the date beside each line is the date that line was last read.