West Lake Hills, Texas
Planning for West Lake Hills, where the work shifts from earning to keeping.
West Lake Hills is a city of about 1,200 households in the hills west of downtown Austin, with a median home value near $1.66 million and a median age just over 50. Nearly half of households earn $200,000 or more, many from a company they built or a stock position they still hold. The questions here are about a large house in a low-rate district, a concentrated position, and how much of it moves to children and grandchildren, and when.
The situation
A small city inside one school district
Incorporated in 1953 and covering about 3.7 square miles, West Lake Hills is the only city that sits entirely within Eanes ISD, the district that also serves Rollingwood and parts of west Austin. Eanes levies one of the lowest school rates in the region, $0.8322 per $100 for 2025, and the city itself adds only $0.176783. But the values those rates apply to are large, and Eanes is a recapture district: it expects to send $73.8 million, about 64% of its local property tax revenue, to the state for 2025–26.
Households here are older than Austin’s and further along. The founder has sold, or is deciding whether to. The executive holds a decade of vested shares. The house has appreciated for twenty years and may be the family’s largest single asset. The children are grown, and some are buying their own homes. The planning is less about accumulating and more about titling, basis, gifting, taxes on the way out, and instructions someone else can follow.
Why it’s complex
Five questions that come up in West Lake Hills
A low school rate on a high value
Eanes ISD’s 2025 rate of $0.8322 per $100 is well below Austin ISD’s $0.9252, and the board adopted a lower rate again for 2026–27. On a median-value home the school levy still runs above $12,000 a year after the $140,000 exemption. City, school and county together come to about $1.38 per $100 before exemptions, or roughly $23,000 on a $1.66 million appraisal.
Recapture is a district fact, not a homeowner lever
About 64 cents of every school-tax dollar Eanes collects goes to the state under Chapter 49. Recapture does not raise your rate or your bill, and it does not lower them. What a homeowner controls is the appraisal protest and the exemptions: the $140,000 school exemption, Travis County’s 20% exemption, and the over-65 amounts and ceiling when you qualify.
Founder and executive stock, years after the grant
A position built from founder shares or a decade of vesting can be most of a family’s net worth, with a very low basis. Selling across several tax years, giving appreciated shares to a donor-advised fund, and checking whether any of it qualifies for the Section 1202 small-business exclusion are decisions we make before the sale, not at the closing.
Capital gains after a liquidity eventGifting while you can see the result
The federal annual exclusion is $19,000 per recipient in 2026, $38,000 from a couple, and Texas has no gift, estate or inheritance tax of its own. Larger gifts draw on the $15 million per-person federal exemption. Helping a child with a down payment or funding a grandchild’s 529 is often better done now, on purpose, than left to the will.
Estate planningTurning 65 in a $1.6 million house
At 65 the school exemption rises to $200,000 and the school levy is capped at that year’s amount; Travis County adds a $143,220 exemption on top of its 20%. The same birthday brings Medicare, whose premiums are set by income from two years earlier, so a large stock sale at 63 can cost more at 65 than the tax return shows.
The IRMAA cliffSources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates (small-area estimates carry wide margins of error); Eanes ISD, historical tax rates and budget and recapture; Travis County, FY2026 taxpayer impact statement; Texas Comptroller 2025 city and ISD rate reports; Texas Comptroller, homestead exemptions; IRS, estate and gift tax; Tex. Const. art. VIII, §26.
Our approach
One picture of the house, the stock and the heirs
We inventory what the household owns, how each asset is titled and what it cost, then plan taxes, gifts and income across the whole. The house gets its own arithmetic. On a West Lake Hills home at the median value of $1,664,500, the $140,000 exemption leaves $1,524,500 subject to school tax; at Eanes ISD’s 2025 rate that is about $12,687 a year ($1,524,500 × $0.8322 / $100). The city levy on the full value is about $2,943 ($1,664,500 × $0.176783 / $100), and Travis County, after its 20% exemption, about $5,005 ($1,331,600 × $0.375845 / $100). Those three lines alone come to roughly $20,600.
Map basis, title and character
Each asset, whether community or separate property, what it cost, and what gain it carries. In a community-property state, this map decides how much of a gain disappears at the first death.
Sell, give and convert on a schedule
Sell down concentrated stock in measured blocks, give appreciated shares rather than cash, and fill low-income years with Roth conversions, all watched against the Medicare premium thresholds.
Move assets and instructions together
Annual gifts, 529 accounts, trusts where they earn their cost, and a written plan for the house, coordinated with your estate attorney so the heirs inherit a method as well as a balance.
The work
What you’ll work through with us
- An asset-by-asset inventory of title, basis and community or separate character
- Multi-year sell-down plans for founder and executive stock, including QSBS review
- Charitable giving from appreciated shares and donor-advised funds
- Annual-exclusion gifting, 529 funding and down-payment help for adult children
- Estate-tax exposure measured against the 2026 federal exemption
- Homestead, over-65 and Travis County exemption filings on the family home
- Medicare premium (IRMAA) planning around large-income years
- Coordination with your estate attorney and CPA
Planning is led by Theo Halbardier, CFP®, CIMA®, CAIA®, the firm’s founder. We are fee-only: no commissions, no product sales. About Theo
Questions
Common questions from West Lake Hills households
Do you have an office in West Lake Hills?
We work with West Lake Hills households by video and, by arrangement, in person. We do not maintain a public office location.
What would a $2 million home in Eanes ISD pay in school tax?
With the $140,000 exemption, $1,860,000 is taxable; at the 2025 rate of $0.8322 per $100 the school portion is about $15,479 a year. At 65 the exemption rises to $200,000, which lowers it to about $14,980, and the school levy is then capped at that year’s amount even if the appraisal keeps rising. City and county are separate lines with their own exemptions.
Does recapture mean we are overpaying?
It means the district keeps less of what it collects, not that you pay more than the rate. Eanes expects to send about 64% of its local tax revenue to the state in 2025–26. Your bill is still appraisal times rate minus exemptions, and the tools available to you are the same as anywhere in Texas: protest the value, claim every exemption, and file for the over-65 ceiling the year you qualify.
Most of our net worth is in one stock. How do we get out without a large tax bill?
Rarely all at once. We usually spread sales across tax years to stay within a federal bracket, give some shares to charity instead of cash, and check whether any of the stock qualifies for the Section 1202 exclusion. Texas adds nothing on top, since the state constitution bars an income tax and, since November 2025, a capital-gains tax. The cost of waiting is concentration risk, so the plan sets a pace rather than a single date.
How much can we give our children without a gift-tax return?
In 2026, $19,000 per recipient per person, so a couple can give each child, and each child’s spouse, $38,000 a year. Direct payments of tuition or medical bills do not count against it. Gifts above the exclusion require a return but use only the $15 million lifetime exemption; Texas has no gift or inheritance tax.
We have lived here since the 1990s. What happens to the home’s gain?
If the house is community property, both halves can receive a new cost basis at the first spouse’s death, which for a long-held West Lake Hills home can remove most of the gain before a sale. The survivor also keeps the $250,000 exclusion, and $500,000 if the sale closes within two years of the death. How the home was acquired and titled decides which rules apply, so we check the deed rather than assume.
Reviewed by Theo Halbardier, CFP® · Updated September 2026 · Figures current for 2026
Tell us where you are.
The first conversation is 30 minutes. Bring your questions; no preparation needed.
We work with individuals and families across West Lake Hills and throughout Texas, meeting by video or in person by arrangement.
Meet with usWe do not maintain a public office at this location; West Lake Hills is part of the area we serve. Figures reflect law and published rates as of September 2026 and may change.