How to Protest Property Taxes in Texas: Step-by-Step Guide

You can protest your Texas property value every year, and the process is built for homeowners to do it themselves. This guide covers every step: what to file, the deadline, the evidence that works, the informal review, and the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) hearing.

Why protest your Texas property taxes

Your appraisal district (CAD) sets your value with mass-appraisal models, not a visit to your home. Those models miss condition problems, use sales that don't match your house, and often lag behind a cooling market. A protest is how you correct that number, and a lower value lowers your bill for the year.

Across TaxDrop's closed Texas protests, 92% got a reduction (174 of 189). Results depend on your property and your evidence, so no outcome is guaranteed.

Step 1: Get your Notice of Appraised Value

Most CADs mail a Notice of Appraised Value in April or early May. It shows your appraised value, your taxable value after exemptions, and your protest deadline.

Compare the appraised value to what a buyer would realistically pay today. If the CAD's number is higher, you have grounds to protest. No notice yet? Look up your account on your appraisal district's website, for example hcad.org (Harris), dallascad.org (Dallas), tad.org (Tarrant) or traviscad.org (Travis).

Step 2: Check your property record for errors

Pull your property record card and check the basics: square footage, bedrooms and baths, lot size, year built, quality grade and condition. A wrong square footage or an extra bathroom that doesn't exist is the easiest reduction you'll ever get. Write down every error and keep proof (a survey, a floor plan, photos).

Step 3: File your protest before the deadline

The Texas protest deadline is May 15 or 30 days after your notice was mailed, whichever is later. Treat it as fixed. Late protests are only accepted in narrow cases, such as never receiving a notice, so don't count on one.

Filing online through your CAD's portal takes about 10 minutes. You'll need your account number from the notice, your reasons for protest (most owners select both "value is over market value" and "value is unequal compared with other properties"), and your opinion of value. You don't need evidence to file. Filing preserves your right to a hearing, and you can build your case afterward.

Step 4: Build your evidence

Texas gives you two grounds to argue, and you can use both.

• Market value: your home would sell for less than the CAD's number. Your evidence is recent sales of similar homes.
• Unequal appraisal: your home is appraised higher than comparable homes nearby, whatever the market value. Your evidence is the CAD's own values for those homes.

Many owners default to market value because it feels intuitive. In neighborhoods where values are uneven, unequal appraisal is often the stronger argument. Run both and lead with whichever supports the lower number.

How to pick comparables that hold up

• Same neighborhood or subdivision, ideally within half a mile
• Square footage within about 10% of yours
• Similar age, lot size, and bedroom and bath count
• Sold, or appraised, within roughly the last 12 months

Leave out homes with upgrades you don't have (a remodeled kitchen, a pool, an addition), much larger lots, or premium locations like waterfront or golf-course lots. Note why each one isn't comparable. The CAD will choose comps that support its number, so come with a set that fairly supports yours.

Condition evidence: when it helps

For a typical single-family home, comparable sales and values carry most cases. Condition evidence matters when the problem meaningfully changes value: foundation movement (common in Texas clay soils), water or flood damage, roof or structural issues. Bring dated photos and a licensed contractor's repair estimate. A list of small cosmetic flaws rarely moves the number.

Step 5: Attend the informal review

Most Texas protests settle at the informal review, a meeting in person, by phone or online with a CAD appraiser. Ask for the evidence the district plans to use at your ARB hearing. Texas law requires the district to provide it at least 14 days before the hearing, which gives you time to find weak comps in their packet.

Present your evidence and your number. If the appraiser offers a value you can accept, you sign a settlement and you're done.

Step 6: Go to the ARB if needed

If you don't settle, your case goes to the Appraisal Review Board, a panel independent from the appraisal district. You get a short slot to present, the district presents its case, and the board issues a written order. Most ARB hearings happen between May and August. If you still disagree, you can take it further through binding arbitration, the State Office of Administrative Hearings, or district court.

After the decision

A lower value shows up on the tax bill mailed in the fall, due January 31. It also resets the starting point for next year. If you skip a year, an inflated value carries forward.

The homestead cap doesn't replace a protest

With a homestead exemption, the appraised value used for your taxes generally can't rise more than 10% a year. That protects you in a fast-rising market, but it isn't a reason to skip a protest:

• If your market value is set too high, the cap keeps catching up in later years. A protest lowers the number the cap is measured against.
• Rental properties, second homes and land have no homestead cap, so every dollar of over-appraisal hits your bill. See our Texas landlord protest guide.

Protest help by county

Each appraisal district has its own portal and quirks. Start with your county's guide: Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Travis, Bexar, Collin, Denton, Williamson, Fort Bend or Montgomery. All other counties are listed on our Texas page.

DIY or hire help?

A DIY protest costs nothing to file. What you're trading is time: pulling and adjusting comps, preparing an evidence packet, and attending hearings, which often means several hours per property. A licensed property tax consultant does that work for you and knows which comps a review board will accept. TaxDrop offers both a self-serve evidence packet and full-service representation in Texas. See pricing for current options.

The bottom line

Check your notice, file before the deadline, then build your case with comparable sales and, where they help, unequal-appraisal values. Most cases settle informally. If yours doesn't, the ARB is a fair second chance. Run a free over-assessment check to see if your value looks high.