Behind on property taxes in Texas: your options

Short answer: act early, because the balance grows every month. Call your county tax office about a payment plan, check whether you qualify for a deferral (65 or older, disabled, or a qualifying disabled veteran), or compare selling. If you sell and the price covers what you owe, the title company normally pays the taxes from the proceeds at closing.

Texas property taxes are due when the bill arrives and become delinquent if they are not paid before February 1 of the year after they are billed. After that, penalties and interest are added each month, and later the taxing units can add collection costs and file a lawsuit.

How fast the balance grows

For a standard bill, the usual charges are:

• Penalty: 6% for the first month, plus 1% for each added month, reaching 12% on July 1.
• Interest: 1% for each month the tax stays unpaid.
• Collection penalty: up to 20% more, but only when the taxing unit has sent the account to a collection attorney. For taxes delinquent before June 1, it is usually added on July 1, after a notice.

Your statement or tax office can give you the exact payoff for a specific date.

Options to ask about

• Payment plans. If the home is your homestead, Texas law requires the tax collector to give you an installment agreement on request, for 12 to 36 months, unless you had one in the past 24 months. Interest keeps adding up, but the penalty stops while you keep up the payments. Many county tax offices, including Dallas and Tarrant, also offer their own plans. Call the tax office named on your statement.
• Deferral for some homeowners. If you are 65 or older, disabled, or a qualifying disabled veteran, Texas lets you defer collection of taxes on your homestead. It postpones the tax and does not cancel it, and interest runs at 5% a year during the deferral. Ask the appraisal district and tax office.
• Exemptions you may be missing. Check that your homestead exemption, and any over-65 or disability exemption, are on file with your county’s appraisal district. The Comptroller’s directory lists every appraisal district in Texas. They can lower future bills.
• Selling the home. Unpaid taxes are a lien on the home, so they must be paid for the buyer to get clear title. When the sale brings in enough, the title company usually pays them from the proceeds at closing, along with any mortgage, so you often don’t need to bring the taxes current first. That is how title companies handle it, not a rule of law, and if the price won’t cover the taxes and loans, you would have to bring the difference to closing.

If you’re thinking of selling

Time matters. Penalties and interest keep growing, and a tax suit adds legal costs. A partner agent can show you what the home would bring listed and what cash buyers would pay, with the tax payoff counted, so you know what you’d actually keep.

If the home has already gone to a tax sale

Texas gives former owners a limited right to buy the home back after a tax sale, at a premium and within a deadline. A homestead can be redeemed for up to two years after the buyer’s deed is recorded, at a 25% premium in the first year or 50% in the second. For most other property, the window is 180 days. The rules are strict, so talk to an attorney right away.

Be careful with anyone who promises to “stop” a tax suit or foreclosure for a fee, or asks you to sign over your deed. Get advice from an attorney or the tax office before signing anything.

Sources

• Taxes due on receipt of the bill and delinquent if not paid before February 1 of the following year: Texas Tax Code §31.02.
• Penalty of 6% for the first month, 1% more each month, 12% on July 1; interest of 1% a month: Texas Tax Code §33.01; Texas Comptroller, Penalties on delinquent property tax bills.
• Collection penalty of up to 20% when the taxing unit has contracted with a collection attorney, and its timing: Texas Tax Code §33.07 and §33.08; Texas Comptroller, Penalties on delinquent property tax bills.
• Installment agreements on delinquent taxes, required on request for a homestead (12 to 36 months, penalty paused): Texas Tax Code §33.02.
• County payment plans: Dallas County Tax Office, Property tax FAQ pamphlet 2026 (over-65, disabled and disabled-veteran installment plans; homestead plans up to 12 months); Tarrant County, Delinquent on your property taxes? Payment plans may help.
• Deferral for homeowners 65 or older, disabled, or qualifying disabled veterans, with interest at 5% a year: Texas Tax Code §33.06; Texas Comptroller, Penalties on delinquent property tax bills.
• Homestead, over-65 and disability exemptions: Texas Comptroller, Property tax exemptions; appraisal district contacts: Texas Comptroller, Local property appraisal and tax information.
• Tax lien on the property for taxes, penalties and interest: Texas Tax Code §32.01. Seller pays lien releases and tax certificates at closing: Texas Real Estate Commission, One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), TREC No. 20-19, paragraph 12A.
• Costs added in a tax suit: Texas Tax Code §33.48.
• Right of redemption after a tax sale (two years and a 25% or 50% premium for a homestead; 180 days for other property): Texas Tax Code §34.21.