100% Disabled Veteran Benefits in Texas: 2026 Guide

The biggest of the 100% disabled veteran benefits in Texas is a home with no property tax on it. Texas Tax Code Section 11.131 exempts the total appraised value of the residence homestead once VA pays you 100 percent compensation, whether that comes from a 100 percent rating or from individual unemployability. Below that line the state switches to a small partial exemption, so a 90 percent rating and a 100 percent rating are worth very different amounts on the same house. This guide lists each Texas benefit with the exact rating its statute asks for.

Texas disabled veteran benefits by VA rating

This table maps each Texas benefit to the rating or status its statute or agency rule requires, as of November 2026.

Ratings in Texas law are VA's (or the service branch's) percentage. Texas doesn't rate disability itself.

How the 100% homestead exemption works under Section 11.131

The Texas 100% disabled veteran exemption removes the entire appraised value of your residence homestead from property taxation. Section 11.131(b) sets two conditions. VA must have awarded you 100 percent disability compensation for a service-connected disability, and that award must rest on either a 100 percent rating or a determination of individual unemployability.

The Comptroller's 100 percent disabled veteran FAQ answers the question most veterans ask. Asked whether a veteran must be both unemployable and rated 100 percent, it says "No," and that a veteran awarded 100 percent compensation "is eligible for this exemption if he or she is either 100 percent disabled or is unemployable."

Three details catch people out:

• Permanence isn't required. Section 11.131 never uses the words "permanent and total." A 100 percent rating that VA may re-examine still qualifies while it is in force.
• It covers the homestead only. The Comptroller says the exemption "only applies to a disabled veteran's residence homestead." A lake lot, rental or second home stays taxable.
• It can start the day you qualify. Once you file, Section 11.42(e) lets a veteran who reaches 100 percent after January 1 take the exemption "for the applicable portion of that tax year immediately on qualification." Most Texas exemptions are fixed by your status on January 1, so this is an exception.

You apply on Form 50-114, the residence homestead application, at the appraisal district where the house sits. Form 50-114 says applicants "must provide documentation to support this exemption request," so bring VA's documentation of your rating and compensation. The Comptroller notes that a driver's license or state ID is not satisfactory proof of a disability rating for property tax purposes. Once the exemption is allowed, Section 11.43(c) says you don't have to claim it again each year. The chief appraiser can ask for a new application to recheck eligibility, except that Section 11.43(r) bars asking that of a veteran whose permanent total disability VA has determined under 38 C.F.R. Section 4.15.

What a partial rating is worth: the Section 11.22 ladder

A Texas veteran rated 10 percent or more gets a partial exemption under Tax Code Section 11.22 that takes a fixed dollar amount off the assessed value of one property. The amount steps up with your rating and tops out at $12,000.

Section 11.22(b) also gives the top $12,000 amount to a veteran who is 65 or older with at least a 10 percent rating, who is totally blind in one or both eyes, or who has lost the use of one or more limbs. A veteran who qualifies more than one way gets the single largest amount, not a sum (Section 11.22(e)).

Unlike Section 11.131, the partial exemption isn't tied to the homestead. You pick one property on Form 50-135, and the Comptroller's disabled veteran FAQ confirms it "can be applied to any one property the disabled veteran owns." A veteran at 100 percent can take both: the full homestead exemption on the house and the $12,000 partial exemption on another property.

The 90% versus 100% gap on one Texas homestead

The difference between the two statutes is easiest to see on one house. Take a homestead appraised at $350,000 and compare the value each veteran exemption removes.

At 100 percent compensation the whole $350,000 is exempt. At 90 percent, 50 percent or 10 percent the exemption is $12,000, $10,000 or $5,000. To turn value into dollars of tax, multiply by your local rate. At an illustrative combined rate of 2 percent (an assumption for the math, not a Texas average), $350,000 of exempt value is $7,000 a year and $12,000 is $240 a year. Your appraisal district's notice shows the real rates for each taxing unit on your parcel.

That gap is why a pending claim for individual unemployability matters so much in Texas. If VA grants unemployability and pays you at the 100 percent rate, Section 11.131 applies even though your schedular rating is lower. Our guide to working with a 100% rating versus TDIU explains how the two ratings differ.

Filing late: the five-year window for Texas disabled veterans

A Texas disabled veteran who missed the April 30 deadline can still file for up to five years. Section 11.439 requires the chief appraiser to accept a late application under Section 11.131, 11.132 or 11.22 if it is filed "not later than five years after the delinquency date for the taxes on the property." Texas property taxes are normally delinquent on February 1 of the following year, so for 2026 taxes that window runs into early 2032.

If the late application is approved after you've already paid, the collector refunds the tax on the exempt portion, plus the matching share of any penalties and interest. If you were rated 100 percent years ago and never filed, that can mean several years of tax back.

The five-year rule doesn't cover everyone. Section 11.439 excludes the surviving spouse from the five-year window on the homestead exemptions, so a surviving spouse falls under the general late-filing rule for homesteads in Section 11.431: two years after the delinquency date.

What a surviving spouse keeps in Texas

A surviving spouse of a veteran who qualified for the 100 percent homestead exemption keeps the full exemption on the same house if three things are true: the spouse hasn't remarried, the house was the spouse's homestead when the veteran died, and it still is. Section 11.131(c) also covers the spouse of a veteran "who would have qualified" had the exemption existed when the veteran died, so a spouse widowed before 2009, when the exemption was created, can still claim it.

A move doesn't end it. Under Section 11.131(d), an unremarried spouse who buys a new homestead gets an exemption equal to the dollar amount exempted on the old one in the last year the spouse received it. The spouse is entitled to a written certificate from the old district's chief appraiser with the information needed to set that amount. Some guides say the spouse must stay in the same home. The statute doesn't.

Other survivor rules in Chapter 11:

• Partial exemption carries over. Under Section 11.22(c), an unmarried surviving spouse keeps the veteran's partial exemption amount. If there is no surviving spouse, unmarried children under 18 split it.
• Killed in the line of duty. Section 11.133 fully exempts the homestead of an unremarried surviving spouse of a service member killed or fatally injured in the line of duty, with the same carry-over on a move.
• Died on active duty. Section 11.22(d) gives the surviving spouse $5,000 off one property, and unmarried children under 18 split $5,000 between them.

Benefits beyond property tax

Texas's other disabled veteran benefits are worth less in dollars, and each sets its own rating floor. The floors don't line up, so check each one.

DV license plates and tolls

A veteran with at least a 50 percent service-connected disability, or 40 percent from the amputation of a lower extremity, who receives VA compensation for it can get Disabled Veteran plates under Transportation Code Section 504.202. One vehicle (18,000 pounds gross weight or less, or a motor home) is registered without any registration fee except the plate fee, which is $3 for the first set. The plates can be personalized with up to four characters.

DV plates also matter on toll roads. Section 372.053 lets a toll project entity set up a discount program, and any program it sets up must include free or discounted use for vehicles with DV plates. The benefit runs through an electronic toll account, and whether a given road is free or only discounted depends on the operator, so register the plate with your toll account.

Driver's license and ID card

An honorably discharged veteran with a service-related disability of at least 60 percent who receives compensation for it pays no fee for a Texas driver's license or ID card, under Section 521.426. Note the 60 percent floor; it isn't the same as the 50 percent floor for plates.

Hunting, fishing and state parks

Texas waives the resident hunting license fee (Parks and Wildlife Code Section 42.012) and the fishing license fee (Section 46.004) for a veteran with a service-connected rating of 50 percent or more, or loss of use of a lower extremity, who receives compensation.

State park entry doesn't depend on a rating at all. TPWD's Parklands Passports page gives free entry to any U.S. veteran with an honorable discharge, with no rating required. The Disabled Veterans passport, for a 60 percent or higher service-connected disability or loss of a lower extremity, adds free entry for a companion.

Hazlewood tuition for the veteran, spouse and children

The Hazlewood Act in Education Code Section 54.341 exempts up to 150 credit hours of tuition and most fees at Texas public colleges. The veteran's own exemption doesn't depend on a rating. It requires an honorable discharge after more than 180 days of active duty (excluding training) with part of it in a period the statute lists, which includes the Cold War and the national emergency that began on September 11, 2001; current Texas residence; and Texas ties at entry (entered service in Texas, Texas home of record, or Texas residency at the time). Under Section 54.341(e), the exemption doesn't apply in a term when you receive federal education benefits usable only for tuition and fees that equal or exceed its value.

Disability matters for the family. Section 54.341(a-2) and (b) extend the same exemption to the spouse and to the children of a veteran who became totally and permanently disabled, or who meets VA's requirements for individual unemployability, from a service-related injury. That is a separate grant from Section 54.341(k), which lets any eligible veteran assign unused hours to a child, who must be 25 or younger when using them.

Veterans Land Board home loans

The Texas Veterans Land Board's Veterans Housing Assistance Program lends up to $832,750 on a fixed-rate home loan, and the GLO says veterans with a VA service-connected rating of 30 percent or greater get a discounted rate. Our guide to state veteran home loan programs covers how VLB loans work alongside a federal VA loan.

How Texas benefits stack with a VA home loan

The Texas exemptions lower the cost of owning a home; the federal VA loan lowers the cost of buying one. A veteran receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability doesn't pay the VA funding fee, per VA's funding fee page. On a first-use, zero-down $350,000 loan, that fee would be 2.15 percent, or $7,525. Our guide to the VA funding fee disability exemption covers the details, and the Texas VA loan page lists 2026 county limits.

Lower property tax also lowers the monthly escrow a lender counts against your income. A homestead fully exempt under Section 11.131 carries no property tax in the payment at all. For how VA disability pay is treated as income, see the 100 percent disabled veteran home loan guide.

See how far your Texas budget goes

A tax-exempt homestead and no funding fee change the math. Start with a two-minute eligibility check.

Start my check

Bottom line

For a Texas veteran, the line that matters is being paid at the 100 percent rate. Reach it through a 100 percent rating or individual unemployability and Section 11.131 takes the whole homestead off the tax roll; stay below it and Section 11.22 takes $12,000 at most. File with your appraisal district, use the five-year late window if you missed past years, and check each other benefit's rating floor (50 percent for plates, or 40 percent from a lower-extremity amputation; 50 percent or loss of use of a lower extremity for hunting and fishing licenses; 60 percent for the driver's license; 60 percent or loss of a lower extremity for the park companion pass). When you're ready to buy, start with the 2-minute eligibility check.