Marcos Gil Realty · Property Taxes & Ownership Costs
Kentucky lets a qualifying homeowner subtract $49,100 from the assessed value of their home before property tax is calculated. It is worth real money in Lee, Estill and Powell counties — and it is worth knowing for a second reason: the exemption belongs to the owner, not to the house. A seller’s tax bill can understate what the next owner will pay.
How much is Kentucky’s homestead exemption right now?
$49,100. The Kentucky Department of Revenue set “the maximum homestead exemption at $49,100 for the 2025 and 2026 tax periods,” a $2,750 increase over the 2023–2024 exemption of $46,350.
The figure moves on a schedule rather than at anyone’s discretion. Under KRS 132.810 the amount is adjusted every two years to account for changes in the purchasing power of the dollar, which is why it arrives as a two-year number and why the next revision is due for the 2027–2028 periods. The current amount was announced from Frankfort on 14 November 2024. Source: Kentucky Department of Revenue.
What does it actually do to the tax bill?
It reduces the taxable assessment, not the tax rate. The department states the amount “is deducted from the assessed value of the applicant’s home and property taxes are computed based upon the remaining assessment.”
That distinction matters most where assessed values are modest, which describes a great deal of the housing stock in the Gorge region. On a home assessed at $120,000, a $49,100 deduction removes roughly 41% of the taxable base. On a home assessed at $400,000 it removes about 12%. The exemption is a flat dollar amount, so its proportional value is largest on exactly the kind of house a retiree in Beattyville or Irvine is most likely to own. I am not going to quote you a dollar saving, because the saving depends on the combined rate set annually by your county, school district and any special districts — that number comes from the county, not from me.
The exemption belongs to the person, not to the parcel. When the person leaves, so does the discount.
Who qualifies?
Owners who are 65 or older during the tax period, or who are classified as totally disabled. The department’s criterion is that “a person must be at least 65 years old during the tax period or classified as totally disabled by any public or private retirement system.”
Two details in that sentence get missed. The first is “during the tax period” — you do not have to have turned 65 before January 1 if you reach it inside the year. The second is “any public or private retirement system,” which is broader than people assume; the disability classification does not have to come from Social Security specifically. The department publishes the full eligibility rules on its homestead exemption page, and the application itself is Form 62A350.
Where and when do you file?
With your county PVA, by December 31 of the tax year you want it for. The department states the completed application “must be completed and submitted to the property owner’s local Property Valuation Administrator’s (PVA) office no later than December 31 of the eligible tax year,” and may be submitted online, by mail or in person.
Filing is county-level, so the office is the Lee County PVA in Beattyville, the Estill County PVA in Irvine, or the Powell County PVA in Stanton — not the sheriff, who collects the bill, and not the state. If you have not looked at your own PVA record recently, that is a useful thing to do in the same visit; see what the PVA record shows before you tour a home.
Why should a buyer under 65 care about an exemption they cannot claim?
Because the seller’s tax bill may be carrying it, and yours will not.
This is the single most common avoidable surprise I see in ownership-cost conversations in this part of Kentucky, and it follows directly from the rule quoted above. The exemption is applied to a qualifying applicant’s home, and the application is filed by that applicant with the PVA. Nothing about it is attached to the deed. So when a long-time owner in their seventies sells to a family in their forties, the taxable assessment on that parcel goes up by $49,100 the following cycle without the assessment itself changing at all. A buyer who budgeted from the current bill — or from a listing sheet that copied the current bill — has quietly understated the carrying cost.
The fix is not complicated. Ask whether the seller claims the homestead or disability exemption, and if they do, recompute the bill with the exemption removed before you decide what the house costs to hold. It is a two-minute question that no inspection will answer for you. The Gorge-region market pages — Beattyville, Irvine and Lee County — are where this comes up most, because the owner-occupied stock there skews older than the buyer pool moving into it.
Questions homeowners and buyers ask
Do I have to reapply every year?
The Department of Revenue’s instruction is that the application is filed with your local PVA no later than December 31 of the eligible tax year. Because the exemption depends on facts that can change — ownership, occupancy, and in the disability case the continuing classification — confirm the reporting expectations with your own PVA rather than assuming it renews silently.
Can both spouses claim it and double the amount?
The department describes a maximum exemption per qualifying homestead rather than per person, which is why it is published as one figure of $49,100 for the 2025 and 2026 tax periods. The application and the department’s homestead page set out how the exemption is applied to a residential unit, and your PVA is the office that applies it to your specific record.
Will the amount go up in 2027?
It is scheduled to be reviewed. KRS 132.810 calls for the amount to be adjusted every two years for changes in the purchasing power of the dollar, and the current $49,100 covers the 2025 and 2026 tax periods. What the 2027–2028 figure will be is set by the Department of Revenue when it makes that determination — I am not going to predict it.
None of this is tax or legal advice, and I am your agent rather than your accountant or attorney. Eligibility, filing and the effect on a specific bill are determined by your county Property Valuation Administrator and the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
All figures and quoted language above are from the Kentucky Department of Revenue’s 2025–2026 homestead exemption announcement, its homestead exemption page and Form 62A350, read 25 September 2026. Marcos Gil publishes marcosgilrealty.com and Invest in the Gorge and owns Central Property Services. Last updated 25 September 2026.
By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.
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