The Texas Homeowner's Protest Playbook

1. How to use this site

Three steps: find your home, read your verdict, get your one-page filing statement.

AppealTexasTax is a free, independent, statewide tool that shows whether your county appraisal district (CAD) over-assessed your home for the current tax year — and, if so, hands you a ready-to-file statement. It is not affiliated with any appraisal district and is not legal advice. One click takes you from the map to a personalized report.

① Find your home

On the map, type your address in the search box at the top, or pan and zoom to your house and tap its pin. Every residential parcel in the counties we cover is on the map.

② Read your verdict

Each pin's color reports how your appraisal compares to the median of 5 comparable neighbors. We figure that median two ways — size-adjusted and raw dollars — and color the pin by the stronger of the two: you have a case if either measure shows you over. (More on why both matter in the FAQ.)

• Strong case — more than 7% over the median on at least one measure.
• Marginal case — 2–7% over the median. A reduction is possible but not guaranteed.
• Weak case — neither measure shows a meaningful over-assessment. Filing is unlikely to change the value.
• No case — you're more than 5% under the median on both measures. Filing won't lower your value — and the review board cannot raise it (Tex. Tax Code §41.47(c-2), per SB 2 of 2019). Other grounds (the homestead cap, condition, damage) may still apply.
• Review by hand — either fewer than 5 comparable homes matched the filters (unusually old, new, large, or atypical homes), or it's a rural residence (E-class) that sits outside the standard comparable-home set. You can still file; you'll just pick your own comps.

③ Open your report

Tap a pin and hit View report. The report opens with your verdict, then shows your home's facts, the 5 comparable homes that drove it, the fair-value math, and a single number to ask for. Hit Get my one-page statement to produce a clean, print/PDF-ready Owner's Opinion of Value you can upload or bring with you.

The report is a preparation aid, not your filed evidence. It tells you which comps to use and how the math works; your actual evidence is each comp's record printed from your appraisal district's website, plus your own short written statement. See how to file below.

2. How to file your protest

Find your deadline, file your protest, bring the right evidence.

Three ways to file

1. Online (fastest). Most appraisal districts run an online protest portal (names vary by county — “online protest,” “eFile,” “uFile,” etc.). Go to your county appraisal district's website, find “File a Protest,” log in with the account number from your notice, and follow the wizard. You'll get an instant confirmation — save it.
2. By mail. Send the Texas Comptroller's Form 50-132 (Notice of Protest) — it works in every county — to the protest mailing address printed on your notice. Use certified mail with return receipt, postmarked by your deadline.
3. In person. Bring Form 50-132 and your evidence to your appraisal district's office during business hours and ask for a stamped-received copy. The office address is on your notice.

Which grounds to check: select “value is unequal compared with other properties” — the equal-and-uniform ground (Tex. Tax Code §41.43(b)(3)) this tool supports. If your report also flagged a §23.23 homestead cap claim, note that too.

What wins an equal-and-uniform case

Important: the appraisal review board wants records from authoritative sources. The report on this site is your roadmap; you assemble the actual packet from your appraisal district's own website and your own files.

Two things make up your equal-and-uniform packet:

1. Your one-page statement from this site (the Owner's Opinion of Value — subject facts, the 5 comps, the median math, and the value you're requesting).
2. Each comp's record printed from your appraisal district's public Property Search (address, appraised value, living area, year built). This proves the comps are real and verified by the district's own data. Verify each one still matches your home's size, age, and grade before you file.

That's the whole equal-and-uniform case — it wins on the district's own numbers, so you don't need anything else for it.

A separate, optional ground — market value. If your home is genuinely worth less than its appraisal for reasons the comp data can't see — flood or storm damage, failing systems or foundation issues, heavy deferred maintenance, or a recent below-appraisal closing statement — you can raise that too. But know it's a different argument (market value, not equal-and-uniform), and it invites the district to argue market value back. Your equal-and-uniform case above stands on its own numbers; treat condition evidence as a bonus ground, not the foundation. Keep it brief and factual.

Size-adjusted vs. raw dollars: the size-adjusted median — each comp adjusted to your home's size — is the “appropriately adjusted” figure that holds up at a formal hearing or in court; the raw-dollar median is the number an informal/online settlement tends to work from. Your report shows both and highlights the lower one as your initial protest — file that; if it's rejected you can fall back to the other figure (SB 2 means the board can't raise your value either way). If your case is raw-only (you're over on raw dollars but already in line size-adjusted), request the raw figure through an informal/online settlement rather than escalating to a formal hearing, where the size-adjusted test would be applied.

Informal settlement vs. the formal hearing

After you file, many districts offer an informal settlement first (online or by phone — names vary; some counties skip straight to a hearing). A staff appraiser reviews your evidence and may offer a reduced value. If the offer matches or beats your requested value, accept it — you're done, no hearing needed. If it's short, decline and proceed to the formal hearing before the Appraisal Review Board (ARB), a panel of local residents.

Filing is safe. Under SB 2 of 2019 (Tex. Tax Code §41.47(c-2)), the board cannot raise your appraisal above the value on your notice during a protest — it can only lower it or leave it unchanged. So presenting your case carries no downside.

What NOT to argue

These are common and mostly lose:

• “My taxes went up.” The board reviews your appraisal, not your tax bill. Rates are set separately by your city, school district, and other taxing units.
• “I can't afford it.” Sympathetic, but not a legal ground.
• “My neighbor pays less.” One neighbor isn't a median. Bring 5 appropriately-matched comps, not an anecdote.
• “The market crashed” or emotional appeals. Stick to the comp median and your home's facts. Market opinion and hardship don't move an equal-and-uniform case.

The §23.23 homestead cap — a separate ground to self-check

A residence homestead's appraised value can't rise more than 10% a year (plus the value of any new improvements) under Tex. Tax Code §23.23. The appraisal district applies this automatically, so a genuine miss is rare — and a large year-over-year jump is usually legal new construction (a pool, an addition, finished-out space), which is excluded from the cap, not a district error. This tool doesn't flag the cap for you — public data can't reliably tell a real miss from legal new improvements. But you can check it yourself: if you've owned and homesteaded this home for several years, made no additions, and your appraised value still jumped more than 10%, the district may have missed your cap — note §23.23 when you file. It's a separate ground that can apply even on a green or purple parcel.

Before you file, check: ☐ your deadline (off your notice)   ☐ your 5 comps verified on your district's site   ☐ your one-page statement   ☐ any photos/estimates for condition issues.

3. After you file

Confirm it landed, show up (or settle), and read the outcome.

Confirm your protest was received

Online filings give an instant confirmation number — screenshot it. Mailed or in-person filings should produce a receipt or a mailed Notice of Protest Received. Keep whatever you get; it's your proof you filed on time. If nothing arrives within a couple of weeks, call your appraisal district to verify.

Your hearing (if it gets that far)

If you don't settle informally, the district schedules a formal hearing and mails a Notice of Hearing with the date, time, and format (in person, by phone, or video — this varies by county). Bring each comp's printout, your one-page statement, and your proof of timely filing. Hearings are short (often 5–20 minutes): state your claim, show your comps and the median, ask for your number. The panel votes and you get a written decision.

Read the outcome

The board mails an order determining protest with two numbers: the value originally on your notice, and the final value after the hearing. If the final value is lower, you won a reduction — it's what your taxes are figured on. Under SB 2 (§41.47(c-2)), the board can't raise you above the noticed value, so the worst case is “no change.” County-wide outcome history is on the Appeals page.

If you disagree with the outcome

You have limited, mostly-lawyer-territory options: binding arbitration (§41.49, where offered) or judicial review in district court (Chapter 42; §42.26(a)(3) bars the district from rebutting a median-of-comps showing with market-value evidence). These have tight deadlines and real costs — worth it only for large amounts, and usually with an attorney. For most homeowners, accept the result and refile next year.

4. After the deadline: your options

Missed the regular window? A few narrow doors stay open. Here's what they are — and what they aren't.

First, check whether you actually missed it

Your deadline is personal to your notice. Under Tex. Tax Code §41.44(a), a protest is due by May 15 or the 30th day after your Notice of Appraised Value was delivered — whichever is later. Districts mail corrected and late notices well into the summer, so if yours arrived in the last 30 days, you're not late at all — file the normal way (Part 2).

Late protest for good cause (§41.44(b))

Filed nothing and just missed it? If you file before the appraisal review board approves the year's appraisal records (the board's statutory target for that is July 20, under §41.12), the board can still hear your protest if you show good cause for filing late. The statute leaves "good cause" for the board to decide, so there are no guarantees — but in the weeks right after the deadline it costs nothing to file, explain honestly what happened, and let the board rule.

The late-correction motion (§25.25(d)) — for large errors only

After the records are approved, Texas still lets you attack a big over-appraisal. Any time before your taxes become delinquent (for most homeowners, February 1 of the next year), you can file a motion with the appraisal review board under Tex. Tax Code §25.25(d) to correct “an error that resulted in an incorrect appraised value.” The catch is the size test: the board may correct the error only if your appraised value exceeds the correct value by more than one-fourth if the property is your residence homestead, or by more than one-third for any other property. In homestead terms, the roll has to carry your home at more than 125% of what it's really worth — a home that should be $200,000 would have to be on the roll above $250,000.

Two strings attached, straight from the statute: if the roll is changed, you pay each taxing unit a late-correction penalty of 10% of the taxes figured on the corrected value (§25.25(d-1)) — on an error this large that's a fraction of the savings, but it's real money. And the door is closed if the board already heard your protest on the merits that year, or the value was set by a written agreement with the district. Keep your taxes paid while the motion is pending (§25.26 prepayment rules) or you forfeit the right to a final determination.

Clerical errors (§25.25(c)) — up to five years back

True bookkeeping mistakes are their own track: for clerical errors, a property appraised twice in the same year, property that doesn't exist in the form or at the location described, or property listed under someone who didn't own it on January 1, the board can correct the roll for any of the five preceding years — no size test, no penalty.

Otherwise: circle April on the calendar

If none of those fit, your next real shot is next year's notice — it arrives around April. Look your home up here the day it lands: this site refreshes with each county's new roll, and filing early always beats filing at the deadline.

Glossary

Appraisal district (CAD)

The county office that sets the appraised value of your property each year. It's who you protest to — not your tax office, and not the same as the city or school district that sets tax rates.

Appraised value

The value used to calculate your property tax. After the §23.23 cap on a homestead, it may be lower than market value.

Market value

The district's estimate of what your home would sell for — the starting point for appraised value, before exemptions and caps.

Grade

The district's internal quality/construction rating. Comps must share your grade to be valid.

Neighborhood code

The district's internal grouping of similar homes for mass appraisal — not a real-world neighborhood name. The comp filter requires comps to share yours.

Size-adjusted median

Each comp's appraised value is adjusted to your home's square footage (using a per-square-foot size rate — bigger homes carry a lower $/sqft), then the median of those adjusted values is taken. The size-normalized, “appropriately adjusted” equity figure — one of the two co-equal medians this site reports (the other is raw dollars).

Unequal appraisal

The ground at §41.43(b)(3): your appraisal is higher than the median of a reasonable number of appropriately-adjusted comparable properties.

Online protest / online settlement

Most appraisal districts let you file online and, often, settle informally online before a hearing. The product names differ by county.

ARB (Appraisal Review Board)

The independent panel of local residents that hears protests. Its orders can be appealed to district court under Chapter 42.

Formal vs. informal

Informal = a review/offer by a single staff appraiser (often online); formal = a hearing before a three-member ARB panel, which issues the binding order.

FAQ