Texas calendar and forms

Texas has no income tax return, so there is no state due date, no state extension and no state estimated payment. The federal calendar is the whole calendar for income tax: Form 1040 is due Thursday, April 15, 2027, the extension runs to Friday, October 15, and the four estimated payments fall on the federal dates. What Texas adds is a property tax year that begins with a January 1 appraisal, runs through an April 30 deadline for the homestead application, a May 15 protest deadline, rate-setting in August and September, a bill in October and a due date of January 31 that lands in the middle of the next filing season. The two calendars overlap in a way that confuses newcomers: the bill a Texan receives in October 2026 is the 2026 tax, deductible on the 2026 federal return if paid by December 31, 2026, and deductible on the 2027 return if paid in January 2027 instead.

The forms side is shorter than in any state with an income tax, because the Comptroller of Public Accounts has almost nothing to do with an individual who owns no business entity. The forms a household meets go to the county appraisal district, the county tax office or, for an LLC owner, the Comptroller. The table lists them in the order a new resident is likely to need them.

The 2027 season, dated

How the property tax year works

Everything in the Texas property tax calendar runs from January 1. The appraisal district values every parcel as of that day and decides who qualifies for the homestead and the age-65 package on that day, which is why the application deadline is April 30 and not the closing date; a buyer since 2022 may also claim a prorated exemption from the purchase date if the seller had none. Notices go out in April, protests close in May, the appraisal roll is certified by July 25, the taxing units adopt rates in August and September, and the bill comes in October. By the time it arrives the value is settled; the moment to object was May.

The bill is one bill for the calendar year, payable through January 31. There is no early-payment discount, as Florida has, so a homeowner who pays directly has a clean choice between December and January that matters only for the federal return: pay in December and deduct it this year, or pay in January and deduct it next year. In a year when the household is close to the line between itemizing and the standard deduction, moving one payment across December 31 can put two years’ bills into one return. For a retired couple with a frozen school tax it rarely gets past the $47,500 the standard and senior deductions provide; for a family with a mortgage and a $12,000 bill it can.

The forms a household meets

Filing the federal return from Texas

The federal return is filed the same way from Texas as from anywhere: electronically, with direct deposit, through a preparer, commercial software or the IRS Free File partners for those under the income limit. The one thing a preparer in Texas does that a preparer elsewhere may not is run both halves of the SALT deduction. With no state income tax, the deduction is property tax plus the sales tax election, figured from the IRS tables for the household’s income and size at the combined local rate, usually 8.25%, plus the actual tax on a vehicle or boat bought during the year. For a household that bought a car in 2026, the sales tax can approach the property tax, and together they may be what makes itemizing pay.

Federal estimated payments matter more to a Texas retiree than to one in a state that withholds on pensions, because a Texas retiree’s only withholding is whatever the custodian takes for the IRS. A household living on Social Security, an IRA and a brokerage account with no withholding meets the federal underpayment penalty in April unless it pays estimates or has tax withheld from the IRA withdrawal. The safe harbors are in Estimated payments; the simplest Texas fix is to have the IRA custodian withhold enough in December to cover the year.