Will deferring hurt my mortgage?

Ask your servicer before filing. A deferral leaves the tax unpaid, and many mortgage agreements treat unpaid property tax as a default regardless of what state law says about foreclosure by taxing units. The protection in §33.06(b) runs against taxing units, not against your lender.

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Defer Your Property Tax Entirely — No Suit, No Sale

Stop collection on your homestead for as long as you live there. Interest drops to 5% a year, no penalties accrue, and no taxing unit may sue or sell the home.

Verified August 18, 2026

What this benefit is

A deferral stops property tax collection on your homestead for as long as you live there. No taxing unit may sue you and the property may not be sold.

The tax is still owed. It accrues at 5% simple interest instead of the ordinary delinquency rate, and no penalties build up while the deferral runs.

What it's worth: Collection stops; interest falls to 5% a year

This is a deferral, not an exemption. The tax is still owed and accrues at 5% simple interest under §33.06(d) — it is postponed, not forgiven.
Its value is not the interest saving. It is that §33.06(b) bars any taxing unit from suing or selling the property while the deferral runs.

Who is entitled to it

A homeowner 65 or older.
Or disabled as §11.13(m) defines it — the Social Security test again.
Or a veteran who qualifies for the §11.22 disabled veteran exemption. This route runs on the VA rating.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

The thing most people get wrong

You can file this after the taxes are already delinquent

Most tax relief has to be claimed before there is a problem. This is the opposite: §33.06 is written for someone already in trouble. There is no deadline, and if a taxing unit has already filed a delinquency suit, §33.06(c) requires the court to abate it once you file the affidavit. For a veteran about to lose the house, this is the provision that stops the clock.

How to claim it

1File a deferral affidavit with your county tax collector.
2If a delinquency suit has already been filed, file the affidavit with the court — §33.06(c) requires the court to abate the suit.
3Understand what your heirs inherit: the deferred balance falls due 181 days after the collector sends notice once you no longer own and occupy the home, and penalties resume after that.

File with: Your county tax collector, or the court if a suit is already filed
Documents you will need: deferral affidavit · proof of age ssa disability or va rating
No renewal needed

Common mistakes that cost people this benefit

Thinking it forgives the tax. It postpones it. The balance and its 5% interest are still owed.
Not telling your family. The deferred balance falls due 181 days after the collector delivers notice once you no longer own and occupy the home, and penalties resume after that. Heirs who need to sell quickly can be caught.
Assuming the VA rating route works for the ceiling too. It does not. §33.06(a) names the §11.22 exemption; §11.26 does not.

Worth knowingThis is the one provision in the over-65-or-disabled family that a disabled veteran reaches on a VA rating alone. §33.06(a) lists the §11.22 exemption as a qualifying route alongside age and Social Security disability. The school tax ceiling does not have that door.

Worth knowingA veteran facing losing the house to delinquent taxes can file this AFTER the taxes are already delinquent and after suit is filed. That is unusual and it is the whole point of the provision.

Worth knowingThe cost lands on the estate. Deferral is the right answer for someone who needs to stay in the home and the wrong answer for someone whose heirs will need to sell quickly — 181 days after the notice, the balance and its interest are due.

Questions people ask

Will deferring hurt my mortgage?: Ask your servicer before filing. A deferral leaves the tax unpaid, and many mortgage agreements treat unpaid property tax as a default regardless of what state law says about foreclosure by taxing units. The protection in §33.06(b) runs against taxing units, not against your lender.

Sources

authority · statuteTex. Tax Code §33.06(a)–(d)

Why only one source type: The statute is the authority and prescribes the affidavit mechanism directly. A Comptroller operating page has not been captured and hashed.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.