Not government’s job to file exemptions

Amid all the hullabaloo over this year’s Tarrant Appraisal District property valuations and confusing protest deadlines, another facet of being a taxpaying homeowner popped up — tax exemptions.

The homestead exemption and Tax Deferral Affidavit for 65 or Over or Disabled Homeowner are the most helpful to homeowners, and both could save them money annually.

The residential homestead exemption keeps your taxable property value from going up more than 10 percent a year. The Tax Deferral Affidavit freezes tax payments for people 65 or over and/or disabled homeowners.

Either might have helped take some of that sting out of this year’s property value notice, but neither goes into effect automatically.

You must apply.

TAD made the process relatively easy for most. All the exemption forms are available online in either an eAccess portal or printable PDFs at TAD.org.

No fees are applied to these exemptions, and both forms require only basic information like address, TAD account number and property identification number. All pertinent information needed should be on the property value notice.

Exemptions are there for the taking, as long as you do the work.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Not government’s job to file exemptions."