Just to clarify:
The property tax rate does not change based on the disabled veteran exemption. The taxable amount does. The tax rates are the same for all properties in the county (Actually the rates are by entity, but that is a detail we do not need to get into for this discussion).
The county determines two numbers for each property. They first assign the property a market value based on comps and other metrics. Once they assign a market value, they calculate an assessed value. For most people the assessed value will be the same as the market value. But, some people (Disabled veterans for example) get an assessed value that is lower than the market value. That difference is called the exemption amount.
Lets take a simple example:
If a property has a market value of $300k, it might have an assessed value of $100k due to an exemption.
Now, if Tarrant county is collecting an overall tax rate of 2.8% on that property, they would charge $2800 in taxes to the veteran. If the property was not able to get the exemption, the owner would have paid $8400 that year.
So, for your question:
- Counties re-calculate market value, assessed value, and exemptions around March of each year. They do not re-do the taxes for that year just because there was a sale. So, you will get the benefit of the veteran exemption for the remainder of the year in which you bought the property. That is not circumventing the system, it is normal.
- A county will likley re-evaluate a property the year after they see an ownership change. In my experience, they will remove all exemptions which no longer apply and if it is higher than the previous market value, move up the market value to match the price you bought it for.
I hope this helps,
Neil Aggarwal
NSA Partners, Ltd.
