Texas Form 50-771: Filing an Appraisal Roll Correction Motion

Texas Form 50-771 is the Property Owner’s Motion for Correction of Appraisal Roll, a one-page form you file with your county appraisal review board to fix specific factual errors on the property tax appraisal roll under Tax Code Section 25.25. Download it free from the Texas Comptroller’s property tax forms page.¹

What Form 50-771 Can Actually Fix

Before you fill anything out, make sure this is the right form. Form 50-771 corrects factual and mechanical mistakes on the appraisal roll. It is not for arguing that your property’s appraised value is too high based on market evidence or condition — that argument goes through the Chapter 41 protest process, and the appraisal review board will not consider comparable sales at a Section 25.25(c) hearing.²

Under Section 25.25(c), the ARB can correct four types of errors going back up to five preceding tax years:

Clerical errors. Mistakes in writing, copying, transcribing, data entry, or calculation that affect your tax liability, or errors that prevent the roll from reflecting a decision the chief appraiser, ARB, or assessor actually made. Judgment calls — like an appraiser rating your roof “average” instead of “fair” — do not count.³
Multiple appraisals. The same property listed more than once for the same tax year.
Nonexistent property. Property on the roll that does not exist in the form or at the location described, such as a demolished improvement.
Ownership errors. The roll shows someone as owner who did not own the property on January 1 of the tax year in question.²

The line between a clerical error and a judgment call decides most motions. If your square footage was entered as 3,200 when the measurement showed 2,400, the ARB can fix it. If the appraiser assessed your property’s condition and you disagree with that assessment, you need a protest.

Two Other Situations the Same Form Covers

Section 25.25(c-1) handles errors or omissions in a rendition statement or property report filed under Chapter 22 that produced an inaccurate appraised value for tangible personal property. The lookback here is shorter: the current tax year plus the two preceding years. You cannot use it if you filed the rendition late and were penalized, if the property was already the subject of a Chapter 41 protest decided on the merits, if you already filed a prior correction motion on the same property, or if the value came from a written agreement with the appraisal district.²

Section 25.25(d) lets you correct an incorrect appraised value, but only when the overstatement is substantial: more than one-fourth over the correct value for a homestead, or more than one-third for non-homestead property. A subsection (d) motion must be filed before taxes become delinquent (typically February 1 of the following year), and it is blocked if the ARB already decided a protest on the merits for that year or if the value came from a written agreement with the district.²

Completing the Form

The form is short, but every field matters. Vague or incomplete entries give the district a reason to dismiss the motion.³

Property and Filer Information

At the top, enter the county and the name of the appraisal review board where the property is located. Enter your name as the movant. Describe the property, give its location, and provide the appraisal district property identification number, which appears on your annual appraisal notice or in your county appraisal district’s online records. Include the name of the appraisal district and the date the appraisal roll was certified.

Type of Error and Tax Year

The form has five checkboxes for the correctable error types. Check the one that fits, and write in the specific tax year or years you want corrected. Keep the lookback limits in mind: five preceding years for the four Section 25.25(c) errors, current year plus two preceding years for tangible personal property rendition errors under 25.25(c-1), and current year only (before delinquency) for substantial value errors under 25.25(d).

Describing the Error

Use the description field to state the specific mistake in concrete, measurable terms. “The appraisal is wrong” tells the chief appraiser nothing. “The roll lists the property as having 2,800 square feet of living area; the measured area is 2,100 square feet per the attached survey” gives the district something to verify and, if needed, gives the ARB something to rule on.

Taxing Units and Signature

List every taxing unit where the property sits — typically the county, city, school district, and any special districts. Sign, date, print your name, and include your phone number and current mailing address. If an agent signs for you, the appraisal district must already have your designation of agent form on file.

Filing and the ARB Hearing

Submit the completed form to the appraisal review board through your county appraisal district office. There is no filing fee. The chief appraiser then has 15 days to review the claim and either agree to the correction or decline. If the chief appraiser agrees, you can resolve the matter without a hearing.²

If no agreement is reached, request a hearing before the ARB. The scheduling window depends on when you request it:

Requested January 1 through August 31: hearing scheduled no later than 90 days after the ARB approves the appraisal records for that year.
Requested September 1 through December 31: hearing scheduled no later than 90 days after your request.

The ARB must send written notice of the hearing date, time, and place to you, the chief appraiser, and the presiding officer of each taxing unit at least 15 days beforehand. You, the chief appraiser, and each taxing unit can present evidence and argument, and you choose whether to present your case before, after, or between the other parties.²

Keep Paying Your Taxes While the Motion Is Pending

Filing Form 50-771 does not pause your obligation to pay. You must comply with the tax payment requirements of Section 25.26 — generally paying your property taxes or the undisputed portion — or you forfeit your right to a final determination. If taxes become delinquent, the appraisal district may treat the motion as forfeited.²

Refunds If the Correction Is Granted

If the ARB orders a correction that reduces your tax liability and you already paid the higher amount, each affected taxing unit must automatically refund the overpayment within 60 days of correcting the tax roll. If a unit misses that 60-day window, it owes 12 percent annual interest from the date the refund liability arose until it pays.⁴

Because clerical-error corrections can reach back five years, one successful motion can produce refunds across several tax years. Pull your payment receipts or tax account history before filing so you can verify each affected year is included.

If the ARB Denies the Motion

If the ARB rules against you, or determines that you forfeited the motion by not meeting the prepayment requirements, you have 60 days from the date you receive notice of that determination to file suit in district court to compel the correction. The same 60-day window applies to the chief appraiser if the ARB grants a correction the district disagrees with.²

Documentation That Wins These Motions

Bring proof that the error is factual, not opinion. For a square-footage mistake, attach a survey or building plan. For an ownership error, include the recorded deed showing the correct owner on January 1 of the relevant tax year. For a demolished improvement, a dated photograph or a demolition permit works. The ARB hearing is limited to whether a qualifying error exists on the roll, so comparable sales and valuation opinions have no place in a Section 25.25(c) presentation. Keep everything pointed at the specific factual mistake and the record that proves it.

1
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Forms
2
State of Texas. Texas Tax Code Section 25-25 – Correction of Appraisal Roll
3
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Form 50-771 Property Owner’s Motion for Correction of Appraisal Roll
4
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Property Tax Payment Refunds