Will You Lose Your Over 65 Tax Freeze If You Sell Your Katy Home?
Last updated October 2, 2026
The tax statement was folded in half on the kitchen table, right next to a cup of coffee that had gone cold. She had lived in her Katy house for thirty one years. She had already decided, quietly, that the yard and the second floor were more house than she wanted anymore. Something else was holding her in place.
“If I sell,” she asked, “do I lose my freeze? I have paid the same school tax for years. I cannot afford to start over at full price.”
That fear keeps good people in houses that no longer fit their lives. It is a fair fear. For most Texas homeowners, though, it is not true. The freeze can come with you. It simply arrives in a different shape, and you have to ask for it.
This is one of the most common questions in Linda Blackmon's work with life transition sellers, and it is part of the senior real estate help in West Houston she offers families every week.
Can you transfer your over 65 tax ceiling to a new home in Texas?
Yes. Under Texas Tax Code Section 11.26, a homeowner who receives the over 65 school tax ceiling can transfer it to a new homestead anywhere in Texas. What transfers is a percentage, not the frozen dollar amount: the share of full school tax you paid on the old home is applied to the new home's school tax.
The same rule covers the disabled person exemption and a qualifying surviving spouse 55 or older. The transfer is not automatic. You request a certificate from the appraisal district where you had the ceiling and hand it to the district where the new home sits.
Why this feels so confusing
Most people call it “the freeze,” and the word misleads. A freeze sounds like a dollar figure locked in the old house. In reality there are two benefits stacked together: the exemption, which removes part of your home's value from school taxation, and the ceiling, which caps the school tax bill itself.
The exemption grew a great deal recently. Texas voters approved two constitutional amendments on November 4, 2025 that raised the general school homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 and the additional over 65 exemption from $10,000 to $60,000. According to a 2025 Texas Senate analysis of Senate Bill 23, more than 2 million Texas homesteads carry the over 65 or disabled exemption, and the increase was estimated to save the average over 65 homeowner more than $950 a year.
The ceiling also covers school taxes only. Your county and any utility district bill separately, which is why Linda pairs this conversation with what to do before you list a home.
How to move your tax ceiling, step by step
Most of this is paperwork, and most of it can happen before you pack a box.
Find your current percentage. Divide last year's school tax you actually paid by what you would have owed without the ceiling. You or an adult child can do this in about twenty minutes.
Request the tax ceiling certificate. Call the appraisal district where you have the ceiling and ask for a tax ceiling certificate. Katy spans three counties, so that is Harris Central Appraisal District at 713.957.7800, Fort Bend Central Appraisal District, or Waller County Appraisal District, depending on the address. Ask as soon as you know you are moving, not after closing.
Close on the new home and move in. The exemption requires that you own the home and live in it as your principal residence.
File the homestead application on the new home. Complete the Comptroller's residence homestead exemption application with the appraisal district where the new home sits. Check the over 65 section and include your move in date.
Attach the certificate. Submit the tax ceiling certificate with that application. The new district and the school district use it to calculate your transferred ceiling.
Confirm the old exemption comes off. Moving between appraisal districts, the new one may ask for proof the old exemption was removed. Keep that confirmation.
Check your first tax statement. When the new home's school tax statement arrives in the fall, confirm the school line reflects your transferred percentage. If it does not, call the appraisal district right away.
Which tax ceilings move with you, and which stay behind
The school ceiling is the one that travels statewide. Local ceilings are optional, and they only follow you if you stay inside the same taxing unit.
The numbers, worked out
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts uses a simple example in its published guidance. Say your ceiling is $100, but without the ceiling your school tax would have been $400. You are paying 25 percent of the full tax. If the new home's school tax would normally be $1,000 in the first year, your new ceiling becomes $250, which is 25 percent of $1,000.
The percentage stays put, but it is applied to the new home's full school tax. A less expensive home usually means a smaller bill; a larger one means a larger bill, at the same percentage.
Two more numbers matter in 2026. A homeowner 65 or older now has $200,000 of home value shielded from school tax: $140,000 general plus $60,000 over 65. And a ceiling can rise if you add significant improvements, such as a room addition or a pool; ordinary repairs do not raise it. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension worksheet on transferring the over 65 exemption walks through the math line by line.
In Katy
A Katy address can sit in Harris County, Fort Bend County, or Waller County. That means your appraisal district is Harris Central Appraisal District, Fort Bend Central Appraisal District, or Waller County Appraisal District, depending on the property's exact location. Much of the area is served by Katy ISD, but confirm the school district by address on your appraisal district account.
Homes inside the City of Katy limits carry a city tax line; homes in unincorporated areas do not. Many Katy area subdivisions also sit inside a municipal utility district, or MUD, which sets its own tax rate and has no over 65 ceiling to transfer.
Because county lines run through the area, a move of a few miles can change every line on the bill except the school ceiling. Moving from the Harris County side of Katy to the Fort Bend County side, the certificate comes from Harris Central Appraisal District and goes to Fort Bend Central Appraisal District, and any county ceiling stays behind. Harris Central Appraisal District explains its process in its Harris Central Appraisal District's tax ceiling certificate guide.
In the experience of Linda Blackmon, a REALTOR with Keller Williams Signature in Katy, Texas, who holds the SRES and Certified Probate Specialist designations and has over 20 years of experience with life transition sellers, the families who lose money on this are rarely the ones who move. They are the ones who move and never file the paperwork, and then pay full school tax on the new home for a year or more before anyone notices.
What goes wrong
Assuming the dollar amount moves. Families budget for the old bill and get surprised. Calculate your percentage and apply it to the new home's full school tax before choosing a price range.
Never requesting the certificate. Without it, a fresh ceiling is set on the new home at its full value. Request the certificate as soon as the move is decided.
Forgetting local ceilings stay local. A county ceiling does not cross county lines, and a MUD has no ceiling at all. Plan the whole bill.
Remodeling right after the move. Significant improvements raise the new ceiling. If you plan a large addition, talk with the appraisal district about how it will be valued before you build.
A surviving spouse who never refiles. A surviving spouse 55 or older can keep the ceiling, but the appraisal district needs a new application. Without it, the benefit can lapse.
Ask any agent about this directly. It belongs on your list of twelve questions to ask before hiring an agent for a parent's home.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lose my over 65 property tax freeze if I sell my house in Texas?
No. Texas Tax Code Section 11.26 lets a homeowner 65 or older transfer the school tax ceiling to a new Texas homestead. The new ceiling is calculated as the same percentage of full school tax you paid on the old home, applied to the new home's school tax. You must request a certificate and apply on the new home.
How is a transferred over 65 tax ceiling calculated?
Divide the school tax you paid under the ceiling by the school tax you would have owed without it. That percentage is applied to the new home's normal school tax. If you paid $100 against a full $400, you pay 25 percent, so a new home with a $1,000 school tax carries a $250 ceiling.
Where do I get a tax ceiling certificate for a Katy home?
Request it from the appraisal district that holds your current account: Harris Central Appraisal District at 713.957.7800, Fort Bend Central Appraisal District, or Waller County Appraisal District, since Katy spans all three counties. The certificate states the percentage of school tax you paid in the last year you had the ceiling. You then submit it with your homestead application to the appraisal district where your new home is located.
Can I transfer my over 65 tax ceiling to another county in Texas?
Yes for school taxes. The school district ceiling transfers to a qualified homestead anywhere in Texas, including from Harris County to Fort Bend County. County, city, and junior college district ceilings are different; under Tax Code Section 11.261 they transfer only if the new home is inside the same taxing unit.
Does the over 65 tax ceiling cover my MUD taxes?
No. Texas law allows over 65 tax ceilings only for school districts, counties, cities, and junior college districts. A municipal utility district sets its own rate, so the MUD portion of a Katy area tax bill can rise or fall regardless of your ceiling. Check the MUD rate on any home you are considering.
Can a surviving spouse keep the over 65 tax ceiling?
Yes, if the surviving spouse was 55 or older when the qualifying spouse died and continues to live in the home as a homestead. The surviving spouse must file a new application with the appraisal district. A qualifying surviving spouse can also transfer the ceiling percentage to a new homestead.
If the move follows a death in the family, the timing of the estate matters as much as the tax paperwork. Here is how long Texas probate takes before a house can be sold.
A tax bill should never be the reason you stay in a house that no longer fits your life.
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