How to Protest Your Property Taxes, Step by Step

How a Lower Value Lowers Your Tax Bill

Your tax bill is the taxable value times the combined tax rate. Every dollar taken off the value comes off the bill at that rate.

	Before protest	After protest
Value	$700,000	$620,000
Tax at a 2.6% combined rate	$18,200	$16,120
Tax saved		$2,080

The Protest Deadline

The deadline is May 15, or 30 days after the notice is mailed, whichever is later. If it falls on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the next business day.

The 30 days run from the mailing date printed on the notice, not the day you opened it.

Notice mailed	30 days later	Your deadline
April 8	May 8	May 15
April 25	May 25	May 25
May 2	June 1	June 1

No notice? You can still protest. Not every property gets a notice every year, and the right to protest doesn’t depend on one. Without a notice, the deadline is May 15.

Missed it? A late protest may be accepted for good cause before the appraisal records are approved, usually in July. After that, a value that was far too high may still be corrected under Section 25.25(d).

Six Steps to a Strong Protest

1. Check the notice the day it arrives. Confirm the property description: square footage, year built, number of units, land size, and any exemptions you should have. Record errors are the easiest reductions there are.
2. File early. Use Form 50-132, the Property Owner’s Notice of Protest, or your district’s online portal. Check both “value is over market value” and “value is unequal compared with other properties”: you can argue both. Keep proof that you filed. Filing early preserves your rights while you keep building the case.
3. Request the district’s evidence. You’re entitled to the evidence the district plans to use at your hearing, delivered at least 14 days before it. It shows which sales and assumptions produced your number.
4. Build your own evidence. For a home: sales of similar homes near January 1, adjusted for differences in size, age, and condition, plus photos and repair estimates for anything wrong with the property. For an unequal appraisal argument: the district’s values for comparable properties nearby. For commercial property: rent roll, operating statements, and an income approach.
5. Go to the informal meeting prepared. Most protests start with a district appraiser. State your opinion of value and show how you got there. You don’t have to accept the first offer. A signed settlement is final, so compare it to your own number before you sign.
6. Present at the Appraisal Review Board. If the informal meeting doesn’t resolve it, a panel of local residents hears both sides. Hearings are short: lead with the value you want, your strongest reason, and the documents that prove it. Argue the value, not the tax bill.

If the board’s order still leaves the value too high, binding arbitration and a lawsuit are the next options.

Common Mistakes

Assuming the deadline is always May 15. Waiting until the last week. Using comparable sales from the wrong neighborhood or the wrong year. Skipping the evidence request. Accepting the first offer without a number of your own. Arguing that taxes are too high instead of showing that the value is.

This article is general information about Texas property tax, not legal advice. Rules and deadlines can change with each legislative session.