In areas covered by disaster declarations issued by the Texas Governor, such as in Williamson County, property owners affected by natural disasters, including the March 21 tornado, have 105 days to apply for a temporary disaster exemption.
To qualify, a property must have suffered assessed damages equal to or greater than 15% of the total property value, according to WCAD officials. Certain types of property will qualify for the exemption, including tangible business property used for income production; improvements to real property, such as homes, businesses and apartment buildings; and some types of manufactured housing. Land value is not factored into the value of qualifying property.
Temporary exemptions of 15%, 30%, 60% and 100% will be given to qualifying properties based on the extent of damage. For example, a $200,000 home or other building would need to have incurred at least $30,000 worth of damage to qualify for a 15% exemption.
Those whose homes and other property were damaged by the tornado may also seek low-interest federal disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration to fund repairs.
More information regarding the exemption is available at www.wcad.org/temporary-disaster-exemption.
