Moving from Texas

Where Texans go is not one story.

• California received about 38,700 in 2023 and Florida about 37,800, followed by Colorado at about 32,200 and Oklahoma at about 31,500, then Georgia at about 20,900 and New York at about 19,000.
• Several of those routes run hard in both directions: California sent about 94,000 people the other way in the same year, and Florida about 50,500.

The tax picture does not travel with you evenly.

• There is no individual income tax here, which means most destination states will start withholding something from your paycheck that Texas never did.
• Property tax runs the opposite way: the Tax Foundation puts the effective rate on owner-occupied housing at 1.40 percent, which is high, so a move to a lower-rate state can offset part of the income tax you pick up.

There is no final state income tax return

Texas does not tax individual income, so leaving creates no part-year return and no final filing. This cannot quietly change in a future legislative session. In 2019, voters added Article VIII, Section 24-a to the state constitution. It bars the legislature from taxing the net incomes of individuals, including an individual's share of partnership and unincorporated association income.

Tell the chief appraiser your homestead exemption has ended

The exemption stays on the roll until someone removes it, and reporting is your duty. Form 50-114 says the owner must notify the chief appraiser in writing. The deadline is May 1 of the year after the right to the exemption ends. Send the notice to the appraisal district in the county where the property is.

File a Vehicle Transfer Notification if you sell the car instead of taking it

A vehicle must be titled in the buyer's name within 30 days of the sale. Until then, the record still shows you as the owner. File the transfer notification within 30 days. You then cannot be held responsible for the buyer's parking tickets or toll violations. This matters most when you trade the car to a dealer. A dealer does not have to title it in the dealership name, so the vehicle can stay in your name for months.

Register in your new state instead of renewing in Texas

Once you live in another state, that state expects the vehicle registered there. Renewing the Texas registration does not satisfy its rules. Texas no longer requires a safety inspection to renew a non-commercial vehicle. In the 17 emissions counties, a passing emissions inspection is still required before renewal, which is hard to arrange from another state.

Settle the property tax bill on the timeline, not on the closing date

Taxing units start mailing bills in October, and payment is due on receipt. In most cases the deadline is January 31. Anything unpaid on February 1 is delinquent, with penalty and interest. A unit must give you at least 21 days to pay after mailing the original bill. So a bill mailed after January 10 has a later delinquency date. If you still own property here after the move, update the mailing address so the bill reaches you.