How to Protest Property Taxes in Texas: ARB Hearings and Appeals

To protest property taxes in Texas, file a written Notice of Protest with your county appraisal district by May 15 or within 30 days after the district mailed your notice of appraised value, whichever is later. From there, you present evidence at an informal meeting with a district appraiser, and if that doesn’t resolve it, at a formal hearing before the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). If the ARB’s decision still leaves your value too high, you can appeal through binding arbitration or district court.¹

Start With Your Appraisal Notice

Each spring, your county’s central appraisal district mails a notice of appraised value if your property’s value went up, if the property is new to the roll, or if an exemption changed.² The dollar figure on that notice is the district’s opinion of your home’s market value as of January 1.³ Every taxing entity that bills you — school district, city, county — draws from that number, so an inflated value costs you across the board.

The notice also lists the property characteristics the district has on file: square footage, bedroom and bathroom count, lot size, improvements. Check those against reality before anything else. If the district shows 2,400 square feet when your home has 2,100, or lists a garage that was never built, you’re being taxed on space that doesn’t exist. Data errors are the easiest wins in a protest because the district can verify them quickly.

Build Your Evidence

The strongest cases combine two arguments: the district’s data is wrong, and the market value is too high. Pull your property record from the appraisal district’s website and compare every field to your actual home. Wrong year built, incorrect roof type, a bedroom count that includes an unfinished bonus room — any of these can push your appraisal up.

For the market-value side, gather recent sales of comparable homes. Good comps share your home’s size, age, condition, and neighborhood. If three similar houses on your street sold for $280,000 to $300,000 and your home was appraised at $340,000, those sales are strong evidence. Most appraisal district websites publish recent sales, and county clerk records and listing sites fill in the gaps.

Photographs matter. Foundation cracks, water damage, an aging roof, outdated systems — anything that would reduce what a buyer would actually pay belongs in your evidence packet. For substantial damage, an independent appraisal from a licensed appraiser adds a professional opinion of value the district and the ARB take seriously.¹ It costs a few hundred dollars but can pay for itself many times over.

Request the District’s Evidence

Under Section 41.461 of the Tax Code, you can request copies of the data, schedules, formulas, and other information the district’s appraiser plans to introduce at your hearing. Submit a written request through the district’s mail, email, or online portal. You’ll see which comparables the district relied on, how they adjusted for differences, and where their analysis is weak. Any comparable sales data you receive under this section is confidential and can only be used as evidence in your protest.

File the Notice of Protest

You start the formal process by filing a Notice of Protest. Use Form 50-132 for counties with populations over 120,000, or Form 50-132-A for smaller counties.⁴ Both are on the Texas Comptroller’s website. You’ll enter your name, mailing address, and the property description or account number from your notice.

The form lists several protest reasons. Check every box that applies. Skip one and you may lose the right to argue that issue at the hearing. Most homeowners select both “incorrect appraised (market) value” and “value is unequal compared with other properties.” The first lets you argue the home wouldn’t sell for the appraised price. The second lets you argue your home is assessed higher than comparable properties even if the district’s number is close to market.⁴ Covering both angles gives you the best shot at a reduction.

How to Submit

You can file in person at the appraisal district office, by mail, or through the district’s online portal. Most Texas counties now offer electronic filing. If you mail the form, certified mail with return receipt gives you a paper trail. If you file online, save the confirmation. Hand-delivering gets you a date-stamped copy on the spot.

Deadlines

The filing deadline is May 15 or the 30th day after the appraisal district delivered your notice of appraised value, whichever is later.⁵ Missing it usually means you lose the right to protest for the year.

A late protest is possible if you can show good cause. The ARB decides whether your reason qualifies, and the window closes when the board approves the appraisal records for the year. A separate exception applies if you never received a required notice from the district: in that case you can protest as long as you file before the tax delinquency date and keep your taxes current.¹

The Informal Meeting

After you file, the district will schedule an informal meeting with one of its appraisers before your formal hearing. Attendance is optional, but most property owners find it worthwhile. It’s a one-on-one conversation where you present your evidence and the appraiser weighs it against the district’s data. If your case is convincing, the appraiser has authority to offer a reduced value on the spot.⁶

If you agree on a number, you’ll sign a settlement under Section 1.111 of the Tax Code. That agreement is final. It resolves your protest and sets your value for the year.⁷ You cannot then take the same protest to the ARB, and challenging the agreement later requires showing something like fraud or mutual mistake. If the offer still feels too high, decline and take it to the formal hearing.

The ARB Hearing

When the informal meeting doesn’t settle it, your protest moves to a formal hearing before the Appraisal Review Board. The ARB is a group of local citizens appointed to resolve disputes between property owners and appraisal districts, independent of the district staff.⁸ A standard panel has at least three members, though you can request a single-member panel in your notice of protest or in writing at least 10 days before the hearing.⁹

Hearings are open to the public and all testimony is under oath.¹⁰ You present first, then the district. Board members can question either party. The two sides don’t debate directly; communication goes through the panel. After both sides finish, the board deliberates and votes in open session.

A few weeks later, you’ll receive a Notice of Final Order by certified mail with the board’s decision and your final appraised value.¹¹ That order also explains your appeal options.

Remote and Affidavit Options

If you can’t attend in person, you can appear by telephone or videoconference. Notify the ARB in writing at least 10 days before the hearing with your name, address, and account number. If you appear remotely, all your evidence must be submitted by affidavit before the hearing begins.⁹ You can also submit an affidavit and skip the hearing entirely; the board will still consider your written evidence.

If You Have a Homestead Exemption

With a homestead exemption, your appraised value can’t jump more than 10 percent per year above the prior year’s appraised value, plus the value of any new improvements. That’s the homestead cap under Section 23.23.¹² Your notice will show two numbers: the market value (the district’s estimate of what the home is worth) and the capped appraised value (what actually gets taxed).

Protesting still matters even when the cap protects you. If your market value is $350,000 but the cap holds your appraised value at $300,000, cutting the market value to $320,000 doesn’t change this year’s tax bill. But it lowers the base for next year’s 10 percent ceiling, and the effect compounds. The cap kicks in during the second year of your homestead exemption; in the first year, the property is appraised at full market value with no limit.³

Appealing the ARB Decision

If the final order still leaves your value too high, you have two main paths: binding arbitration or a lawsuit in district court. You can’t do both.

Binding Arbitration

Arbitration is the simpler, cheaper option. You’re eligible if the ARB’s final value is $5 million or less, and for residence homesteads there’s no value limit at all.¹³ It’s limited to disputes over market value or unequal appraisal, so you can’t use it to challenge exemption denials or procedural violations. File the request with the appraisal district within 60 days of receiving the ARB order, using Comptroller Form AP-219 with the required deposit. The Comptroller publishes a fee schedule that sets the deposit based on property value.

District Court

A petition for review in district court gives you the broadest appeal rights and the highest cost. You must file within 60 days after receiving the ARB’s final order.¹⁴ Miss that deadline and the appeal is barred. Most owners hire an attorney for district court, which adds legal fees to the filing costs.

Paying Taxes While You Appeal

While your protest is pending at the ARB, the tax bill hasn’t been issued yet, so there’s nothing to pay. Once you appeal an ARB decision to district court, you must pay at least a portion of the taxes before the delinquency date or you forfeit the appeal. The required amount is the lesser of the taxes on the undisputed portion of your value, the taxes under the ARB’s order, or the prior year’s tax amount.¹⁵ If you genuinely cannot afford that payment, you can file an oath of inability to pay and ask the court to waive the prepayment requirement.

Using a Representative

You don’t have to handle any of this yourself. Texas law lets you designate an agent — a property tax consultant, attorney, or anyone else — to represent you at any stage. The designation is made in writing under Section 1.111, and once filed, your agent can attend meetings and hearings on your behalf.

Property tax consultants typically work on contingency, charging roughly one-third to one-half of the first year’s tax savings. You pay nothing if they don’t win a reduction, but a large share of the savings goes to them, especially on modest cuts. For straightforward protests built on a data error or clear comparable sales, many homeowners do fine on their own. Consultants earn their fee on complex cases, investment properties, and situations where you simply don’t have time to attend hearings.

1
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Appraisal Protests and Appeals
2
State of Texas. Texas Code TAX 25.19 – Notice of Appraised Value
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Valuing Property
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Owner’s Notice of Protest for Counties with Populations Greater than 120,000
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 41.44 – Notice of Protest
6
Harris Central Appraisal District. Residential Informal Meetings
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 1.111
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Appraisal Review Boards (ARB)
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 41.45 – Hearing on Protest
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Appraisal Review Board Training Manual
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Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 50-222 Notice of Final Order of Appraisal Review Board
12
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 23.23
13
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Regular Binding Arbitration
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State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 42.21 – Petition for Review
15
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code TAX 42.08