Columbus Homestead Exemption: Filing With the Franklin County Auditor, and the $457 It Saves in Columbus

In Franklin County, the County Auditor runs the homestead exemption, and the office estimates it saves $457 a year on a home in the City of Columbus and Columbus City Schools [1][3]. It’s for owners who are 65 or older, totally and permanently disabled, or disabled veterans, and it’s free to file [1][2]. Ohio sets the program statewide; BestOhio’s Ohio homestead exemption guide covers the state rules. This page is about doing it in Franklin County.

Who qualifies

You must own the home and live in it as your main residence on January 1 of the year you apply, and be one of these [2]:

• 65 or older, or turning 65 by December 31 of that year;
• totally and permanently disabled as of January 1, certified by a licensed physician or psychologist, or by a state or federal agency such as Social Security;
• the surviving spouse of someone who had the exemption when they died, if you were at least 59 then.

If only one owner is 65 or disabled, the home can still qualify as long as it’s that owner’s main residence and the income test is met [2].

The income limit

For the 2026 application period, your and your spouse’s combined income for 2025 can’t be more than $41,000 [2]. The Auditor uses modified adjusted gross income from the year before you apply, and checks it online with the Ohio Department of Taxation for people who file Ohio returns [2]. If you didn’t have to file an Ohio return, send your federal return; if neither of you filed any return, fill out form DTE 105H with W-2s and 1099s [1][2].

Owners who already had the exemption for tax year 2013 are grandfathered and don’t face the income test [2].

Disabled veterans and surviving spouses

Veterans with a total (100%) service-connected disability rating, or a total rating based on individual unemployability, get the enhanced exemption of $58,000, with no income limit [1][2]. A surviving spouse can keep it under conditions the Auditor lists [2]. Surviving spouses of police officers, firefighters and other first responders killed in the line of duty also get $58,000 [1][2].

What it saves in Columbus

The exemption takes the first $29,000 of the Auditor’s appraised value off the tax rolls. The Auditor’s example: a $100,000 home is taxed as if it were worth $71,000, or $42,000 for a disabled veteran [1]. The dollar savings depend on your taxing district . Columbus stretches across many school districts, so savings vary across the city [3]:

How to apply

1. Pick the right form. Seniors and disabled owners file DTE 105A. Disabled veterans file DTE 105I with a copy of the DD214 and the VA letter showing the total rating. Surviving spouses of first responders file DTE 105K [2].
2. Add proof. A copy of your Ohio driver’s license or state ID, passport or birth certificate shows age [2]. Under 65 and disabled? Add form DTE 105E signed by a physician or psychologist, or a current agency certificate such as one from Social Security, showing when the disability began [2].
3. File it. DTE 105A can be filed online or on paper. To get one mailed, call 614-525-3240, or visit the Auditor at 373 S. High St. in downtown Columbus [1][2].
4. Wait for the certificate. Applications are processed in the order received; current-year income checks start in May, after most tax returns are processed. You’ll get a certificate saying approved or denied within 30 days after processing [2].

If you’re denied, you can appeal to the county Board of Revision on form DTE 106B within 60 days of the notice [2].

Deadlines, and filing late

Applications for a house or condo are due by December 31 of the year you’re applying for [2]. Manufactured and mobile home applications are due by December 31 of the year before [2].

Missed a year? The Auditor is taking late applications for the 2025 period, with an income limit of $40,000 for 2024 [2]. For a late application, the credit goes on current-year taxes, and the prior-year credit is either put on your next bill or refunded, depending on whether your taxes were paid in full [2]. For an on-time application, the credit shows up on the tax bill the following year [2]. If you pay through a mortgage escrow, your lender adjusts the payment at its next escrow review [2].

After you’re approved

• No yearly reapplication. The Auditor mails a continuing application every January; return it only if something changed [2].
• Tell the Auditor if you stop owning or living in the home, your income goes over the limit, or your disability status changes [2].
• Moving? The exemption doesn’t move with you. Reapply at the new home starting in January of the year after you move; you must own and live there on January 1 [2].
• Trusts. A homeowner who put the home in a trust and lives there still counts as an owner; send the trust pages naming the parties [2].

The owner-occupancy credit: for every resident owner

You don’t have to be a senior to get a break. The owner-occupancy credit applies to any Franklin County owner who owns and lives in the home on January 1, on one home per owner and spouse [5]. It only reduces levies passed in or before the November 2013 election [5]. Apply online through the Auditor’s Owner Occupied Credit page [5]. On a Columbus district 010 tax bill, the 2025 rate sheet lists the credit at about 1.9% of the tax, on top of the separate non-business credit of about 7.6% [6]. For how state law is changing those credits, see BestOhio’s guide linked above.

Already paying? See our Franklin County property tax due date guide and Columbus property tax rates.