Charitable Organizations Exemptions

An organization that qualifies as a charitable organization as provided by the Texas Property Tax Code is entitled to an exemption from taxation of their land, buildings and tangible personal property. The organization must own the property and the property must be used exclusively by qualified charitable organizations.

Qualified uses include:

1. providing medical care without regard to the beneficiaries’ ability to pay;
2. providing support or relief to orphans, delinquent, dependent, or handicapped children in need of residential care, abused or battered spouses or children in need of temporary shelter, the impoverished, or victims of natural disaster without regard to the beneficiaries’ ability to pay;
3. providing support to elderly persons or the handicapped without regard to the beneficiaries’ ability to pay;
4. preserving a historical landmark or site;
5. promoting or operating a museum, zoo, library, theater of the dramatic or performing arts, or symphony orchestra or choir;
6. promoting or providing humane treatment of animals;
7. acquiring, storing, transporting, selling, or distributing water for public use;
8. answering fire alarms and extinguishing fires with no compensation or only nominal compensation to the members of the organization;
9. promoting the athletic development of boys or girls under the age of 18 years;
10. preserving or conserving wildlife;
11. promoting educational development through loans or scholarships to students;
12. providing halfway house services pursuant to a certification as a halfway house by the Board of Pardons and Paroles;
13. providing permanent housing and related social, health care, and educational facilities for persons who are 62 years of age or older without regard to the residents’ ability to pay;
14. promoting or operating an art gallery, museum, or collection, in a permanent location or on tour, that is open to the public;
15. providing for the organized solicitation and collection for distributions through gifts, grants, and agreements to non-profit charitable, education, religious, and youth organizations that provide direct human, health, and welfare services;
16. performing biomedical or scientific research or biomedical or scientific education for the benefit of the public;
17. operating a television station that produces or broadcasts educational, cultural, or other public interest programming and that receives grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under 47 U.S.C. Section 396.

For further information, see Section 11:18 of the Texas Property Tax Code.