I just received a letter from DCAD today stating that I have to reapply for homestead exemption. I've been in my home for 31 years and have never had to reapply. This seems ridiculous. Any other Dallas County folks get this letter?

https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/residence-faq.php

Quote:

---

How do I get a general $25,000 homestead exemption?

You may file an Application for Residential Homestead Exemption (PDF) with your appraisal district for the $25,000 homestead exemption up to two years after the taxes on the homestead are due. Once you receive the exemption, you do not need to reapply unless the chief appraiser sends you a new application. In that case, you must file the new application. If you should move or your qualification ends, you must inform the appraisal district in writing before the next May 1st. A list of appraisal district addresses and phone numbers is available online.

---

Been out of town. I hope not because it's a PITA to get it done. It took us several phone calls and hounding them to get it applied.

Sounds like a money grab. I've only seen this like when mailing address of the account and the property don't match.

YouBet said:

---

Been out of town. I hope not because it's a PITA to get it done. It took us several phone calls and hounding them to get it applied.

---

They conveniently took 9 months to process mine. Blamed it on covid even though it was submitted 6 months prior.

Sounds like a good way to catch a majority of people off guard. Give me a flat income tax over this BS!!

chick79 said:

---

I just received a letter from DCAD today stating that I have to reapply for homestead exemption. I've been in my home for 31 years and have never had to reapply. This seems ridiculous. Any other Dallas County folks get this letter?

---

You finally crossed some barrier that triggered their algorithm that's trawling the records hunting for HS exemptions that don't still apply but haven't been surrendered/caught. You'll be fine.

I think you're right. After being in my home for 31 years I've probably triggered something. I just finished re-applying today.

Not sure if serious. So here's some numbers just for fun.

Dallas County has 839,915 properties on the tax roll (based on my last 2020 download). Of those only 28,639 have a non-null/non-placeholder HS exemption date of 01/01/1990 or older. Just 3.4%. If my job was to put value on the tax rolls I'd look at those older HS exemptions as low hanging fruit.