Texas Property Tax

Property Tax Experts

For taxpayers who
may be
experiencing
difficulty in paying
their property taxes,
there may be help.
Most cities in the
United States have
Property Tax
Poverty Exemption
Policy and
Guidelines. You may
be eligible to waive
your annual property
tax for one year
read more

Property taxes are local taxes. Your local officials value your property, set your tax
rates and collect your taxes. However, state law governs how the process works. You
can play an effective role in the process if you know your rights, understand the
remedies available to you and fulfill your responsibilities.

Your most important right as a taxpayer is your right to protest to the appraisal review
board (ARB). You may protest if you disagree with any of the appraisal district’s
actions concerning your property. You may discuss your objections about your
property value, exemptions and special appraisal in a hearing with the ARB, an
impartial panel of your fellow citizens. Most appraisal districts will informally review
your protest with you to try to resolve your concerns. Check with your district for details.

If you lease property and are required by the lease contract to pay the owner’s property
taxes, you may appeal the property’s value to the ARB. You may make this appeal only
if the property owner does not, however. This appeal right applies to leased land,
buildings and personal property. The appraisal district will send the notice of
appraised value to the property owner, who is required to send a copy to you. If you
appeal, the ARB will send any subsequent notices to you.

What is an Appraisal Review Board (ARB)?
An ARB is a group of citizens authorized to resolve disputes between taxpayers and
the appraisal district. The appraisal district’s board of directors appoints ARB
members. Members must be residents of the appraisal district for at least two years
in order to serve. Current officers and employees of the appraisal district, taxing units
and the Texas Comptroller’s office may not serve. In counties with populations greater
than 100,000, former directors, officers and employees of the appraisal district cannot
serve on an ARB. Some other specific Tax Code restrictions also apply. ARB
members also must comply with special state laws on conflict of interest.

The ARB determines taxpayer protests. The ARB also decides issues that a taxing
unit may challenge about the appraisal district’s actions. In taxpayer protests, it
listens to both the taxpayer and the chief appraiser. The ARB determines if the
appraisal district has acted properly. ARB decisions are binding only for the year in
question. ARB hearings begin around May 15, and the ARB should complete most of
the hearings by July 20.

ARB meetings are open to the public. Notices of the date, time and place of each
meeting must be posted at least 72 hours in advance at the appraisal district office
and the county clerk’s office. The ARB’s hearing procedures must be posted in a
prominent place in the room in which hearings are held. The chief appraiser must
publicize annually the right to and methods for protesting before the ARB, in a manner
designed to effectively notify all district residents. The ARB by rule must provide for
hearing times on evenings or on Saturdays or Sundays.

Should You Protest?
The ARB must base its decisions on evidence. It hears evidence from both the
taxpayer and the chief appraiser, and the chief appraiser has the burden of proof in
protest hearings. Protest issues that an ARB can consider include:

Is the proposed value of your property too high?
Ask one of the district’s appraisers to explain the appraisal. Be sure the property
description is correct. Are the measurements for your home or business and lot
accurate? Gather blueprints, deed records, photographs, a survey or your own
measurements to contest the appraiser’s decision.

Are there any defects not noted in the district’s survey, such as a cracked foundation
or inadequate plumbing? Obtain photographs, statements from builders or
independent appraisers.

Ask the appraisal district for appraisal records on similar properties in your area. Is
there a big difference in their values? This comparison may show that your property
wasn’t treated equally.

Collect evidence on recent sales of properties similar to yours from neighbors or real
estate professionals. Ask the appraisal district for the sales that it used.

Consider using an independent appraisal by a real estate appraiser. Insurance
records also may be helpful.

If you decide to use sales information to support your protest, you should:

obtain documents or sworn statements from the person providing the sales
information.

use sales of properties similar to yours in size, age, location and type of
construction.
use recent sales. Sales occurring close to January 1 are best.

Is your property valued unequally compared with other property in the appraisal
district?
Determine whether the value of your property is closer to market value than other,
similar properties. For example, your property may be appraised at 100 percent of
market value, while your neighbors’ properties may be appraised at 90 percent. A
protest based on the level of appraisal requires more evidence based on samples
and value adjustments than a protest based on market value.

Did the chief appraiser deny an exemption?
First, find out why the chief appraiser did so. If the chief appraiser denied your
homestead exemption, obtain evidence that you owned your home on January 1 and
used it as your principal residence on that date.

If the chief appraiser denied a homestead exemption for part of the land around your
home, show how much land is used as part of your residence.

If the chief appraiser denied an age-65 or older or disabled homestead exemption, or
a disabled veteran’s exemption, gather evidence to prove you qualify for those
exemptions.

Did the chief appraiser deny agricultural or timber appraisal for your land?
If you protest the agricultural or timber value of your land, find out how the appraisal
district calculated your value. Compare its information with that of local experts, such
as the county extension agent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the agriculture
department of a nearby university. State law requires you to apply timely (generally,
before May 1) to receive the special appraisal based on productivity.

Find out why the chief appraiser denied your application. Agricultural appraisal laws
have specific requirements for property ownership and use. Prove that your property
qualifies. Gather your ownership and management records or obtain information from
local agencies that provide services for farmers and ranchers.

Did the chief appraiser wrongly determine that you took your land out of
agricultural or timber use?
Is agricultural or timber activity still taking place on your land? If you have taken only
part of the land out of agricultural or timber use, you may need to show which parts
still qualify. If you are letting land lie fallow, show that the time it has been out of
agricultural use is not excessive or is part of a typical crop or livestock rotation
process for your county.

Do the appraisal records show an incorrect owner?
Provide records of deeds or deed transfers to prove ownership. If you acquired the
property after January 1, you may protest its value until the ARB approves the
appraisal records. The law recognizes both the old and new owners as having an
interest in the property’s taxes.

Is your property being taxed by the wrong taxing units?
An error of this sort often is simply a clerical error. For example, the appraisal records
may show your property as located in one school district when it actually is in another.

Is your property incorrectly included on the appraisal records?
Some kinds of taxable personal property move from place to place quite regularly.
Property is taxed at only one location in Texas. You can protest the inclusion of your
property on the appraisal records if it should be taxed at another location in Texas.

Did the chief appraiser or ARB fail to send you a notice that the law requires them
to send?
You have the right to protest if the chief appraiser or ARB fails to give you a required
notice. But unless you disagree with your appraisal, there is no point in protesting
such a failure. Make sure that the appraisal district has your correct name and
address.

A notice is presumed delivered if sent by first-class mail with a correct name and last
known address. (In some instances, notices are sent certified mail.) If you rebut this
presumption with proof that you did not receive the notice, the appraisal district must
prove that it mailed the notice properly. You have the right to a hearing on your property
for an improperly mailed notice.

You cannot protest failure to give notice if the taxes on your property are delinquent.
Before the delinquency date, you must pay a partial amount, usually the amount of
taxes that aren’t in dispute.

How Do You File a Protest?
File a written protest. The appraisal district has protest forms available, but you need
not use one. A notice of protest is sufficient if it identifies the owner, the property that is
the subject of the protest and indicates that you are dissatisfied with a decision made
by the appraisal district.

File your notice of protest by May 31 or no later than 30 days after the appraisal district
mailed a notice of appraised value to you, whichever date is later. Note that it is 30
days after mailing the notice, not its receipt. If you are an off-shore worker or on full-
time military duty, you may be entitled to file a late protest.

If the chief appraiser sends you a notice that your land is no longer in agricultural or
timber use, you must file your protest within 30 days of the date upon which the chief
appraiser mailed the notice. The chief appraiser sends this notice by certified mail.

If you file a notice of protest before the ARB approves the appraisal records, you are
entitled to a hearing only if the board decides that you had good reason for failing to
meet the deadline.

If you don’t file a notice of protest before the ARB approves the appraisal records, you
lose your right to protest. You also lose the right to appeal the taxable value of your
property.

If your protest is late because the chief appraiser or ARB failed to mail a required
notice of appraised value or a denial of exemption or agricultural or timber appraisal,
you may file your protest any time before the taxes become delinquent. You must pay
some current taxes before the delinquency date to be entitled to this type of hearing.

In some cases, you may file with the ARB to correct an error even after these
deadlines. Contact your appraisal district or the Comptroller’s office if you have
questions about clerical errors, substantial value errors, double taxing or other
possible errors.

How Should You Prepare for a Protest Hearing?
The ARB will notify you at least 15 days, based on the notice’s postmark date, in
advance of the date, time and place of your hearing. Try to discuss your protest issue
with the appraisal office in advance. You may work out a satisfactory solution without
appearing before the ARB. If you can show good cause, the ARB may postpone your
hearing. The chief appraiser may agree to a postponement. You must appear at a
hearing (in person, by affidavit or through an agent) or you may lose your right to
appeal.

At least 14 days before your protest hearing, the appraisal district will send you a copy
of Texas Property Taxes: Taxpayers’ Rights, Remedies and Responsibilities; a copy
of the ARB procedures; and a statement affirming that you may inspect and obtain a
copy of the data, schedules, formulas and any other information the chief appraiser
plans to introduce at your hearing. If you request this information, the appraisal district
may charge for copies. The charge may not exceed $15 on a residential property or
$25 on a non-residential property.

When you present your protest to the ARB, you may appear in person; send someone
whom you authorize in writing to appear on your behalf; or send a sworn affidavit with
evidence to support your protest. A sworn affidavit is a notarized statement of your
evidence to support your case. Contact the appraisal district or the Comptroller’s
office for an affidavit form, but you need not use this form. If your letter contains all the
information required, you may have your letter notarized and send it to the ARB.

Do not contact ARB members outside the hearing.
ARB members are prohibited from communicating with other persons about a
property under protest. Each ARB member must sign an affidavit stating that he or
she hasn’t discussed your case with anyone. An ARB member who discusses your
case outside the hearing must remove himself or herself from your hearing. An ARB
member who communicates on specific evidence, argument, facts or the merits of a
protest with the chief appraiser or appraisal district staff outside the hearing commits
a criminal offense (a Class C misdemeanor).

Be on time and prepared for your hearing.
The ARB may place time limits on hearings.

Stick to the facts of your presentation.
The ARB has no control over the appraisal district’s operations or budget, tax rates for
local taxing units, inflation or local politics; addressing these topics in your
presentation wastes time and will not help your case.

Present a simple and well-organized protest based on clear evidence.
Stress key facts and figures. Write them down in logical order and give copies to each
ARB member. You are required to give a copy of your evidence to the appraisal district
staff at or before the hearing. Photographs and other documents are useful.

Recognize that the ARB acts as an independent judge.
The ARB listens to both the taxpayer and chief appraiser before making a decision. It
is not a case of the taxpayer against the ARB and the chief appraiser. Appraisal
district staff must take an oath to tell the truth. The ARB will ask you to take an oath as
well, either by swearing or by affirming, before you present evidence. Should you
refuse to take the oath, the ARB will note this fact and may take it into account as it
weighs the evidence. The chief appraiser has the burden of proving your property’s
value by a preponderance of the evidence presented at the ARB hearing. If he or she
fails to meet the burden of proof, the ARB must determine in your favor.

What is Property Tax?

What is an Assessment?

Dispute Assessment

Property Tax FAQ

Do You Pay Too Much?

How Your State Compares