The date that matters most: May 17, 2027
Texas Tax Code §41.44 sets the protest deadline at May 15 — or 30 days after your appraisal district mails your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later. In 2027, May 15 falls on a Saturday, so the deadline rolls to Monday, May 17 under Tax Code §1.06. Your notice's mailing date can push your deadline even later — read the date printed on your notice, not the calendar on your wall.
How Texas is different
If you're new to Texas property tax, three things will surprise you. First, the vocabulary: you don't "appeal," you protest; the county office that values your home is the appraisal district (CAD); and the citizen panel that hears your case is the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). Second, it's annual — Texas reappraises every property every year, which means you can (and should) protest every year. Third, filing is free, protesting can't raise your value, and the whole system is designed for homeowners to use without a lawyer. The Texas Comptroller publishes plain-English guidance for owners filing without representation, and every CAD has a version of it.
The process, end to end: your CAD mails a Notice of Appraised Value (usually late March through April) → you file a protest before the deadline → you get an informal hearing (a settlement sit-down with a district appraiser — many cases end here) → if you don't settle, a formal ARB hearing → a written decision → and if you still disagree, binding arbitration or district court. Let's take it county by county.
Filing county by county
Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD) — uFile online
Dallas runs its protests through uFile, the district's online protest and settlement system, which typically opens around April 15 and is DCAD's preferred filing method — it's the only way to file electronically (an emailed or faxed protest won't be accepted). When you finalize a uFile protest, you're scheduled for a telephone hearing before the Dallas County ARB.
- Evidence: submit after filing by dropbox (2949 N. Stemmons Fwy, Dallas — available 24/7), by mail to Dallas County ARB, P.O. Box 560348, Dallas, TX 75356-0348, or by email to arbdocs@dcad.org. Mail at least a week before your hearing; email at least two days before. Always include your property address and account number.
- Deadline: May 15 (or 30 days after your notice was mailed, whichever is later); postponed to the next business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday — so May 17, 2027.
- Details: DCAD's official protest procedures (PDF).
Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) — file online
Tarrant (Fort Worth, Arlington) accepts protests online through the district's website as well as by mail and in person. Look for the protest filing link on TAD's site once notices go out in the spring — you'll need the information from your Notice of Appraised Value to file. The same May 15 / 30-day rule and the same informal-then-formal hearing sequence apply. As with every Texas county, confirm the current year's portal and procedures on the district's site before you file.
Bexar Central Appraisal District (BCAD) — online portal
Bexar (San Antonio) calls online filing the most convenient way to protest: the protest section of its Online Services Portal opens when Notices of Appraised Value are mailed, usually in mid-April, and stays open until the filing deadline. You'll need the Owner/Agent ID and PIN printed at the top of your notice (a prior year's notice works too). Requesting a replacement PIN does not extend your deadline, so don't wait on it.
- Didn't get a notice? You can still protest — the deadline is still May 15 (or the next business day), and you can look up your value with BCAD's property search.
- Details: BCAD's official "How to File a Protest" guide.
Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) — online portal
Travis (Austin) offers online filing through its taxpayer portal: file the protest, upload your evidence, review the evidence TCAD plans to use against you, and accept or decline a settlement offer — all in one place. Mail works too (P.O. Box 149012, Austin, TX 78714), and you can drop off documents in person at 850 E. Anderson Lane. One Texas-specific note that matters a lot in Austin: Texas is a non-disclosure state, so sale prices aren't public record — lean on the evidence-exchange process (the CAD must share what it plans to use at your hearing if you request it in writing) and on realtor-pulled MLS comps.
A note on Harris County
Harris County (Houston, HCAD) is Texas's highest-volume protest county, and it's well covered by existing guides — so this guide focuses where the coverage is thinnest: Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, and Travis. The rules below apply identically in Harris County; file through HCAD's website and follow the same playbook. (HCAD's property-owner rights and remedies pamphlet (PDF) is worth reading wherever you file.)
Build your evidence packet: the 5-tab system
Walk into your informal hearing or ARB hearing with a single organized packet — five tabs, in this order. Appraisers and ARB panels decide dozens of cases a day; the organized packet gets taken seriously, and the shoebox of printouts doesn't.
- Tab 1 — Your one-page summary. Property address and account number, current appraised value, the value you're requesting, and three bullet points explaining why. This is the first and sometimes only page that gets fully read — make it count.
- Tab 2 — Comparable sales. Three to five recent sales of similar nearby homes, adjusted for differences, laid out in a grid with an indicated value for your home. Our comps walkthrough shows the full method, including the Texas non-disclosure workarounds.
- Tab 3 — Unequal appraisal analysis. The Texas-specific weapon — explained in full below. Even if your market-value case is thin, this tab can carry the protest on its own.
- Tab 4 — Condition documentation. Dated photos of deferred maintenance and damage, contractor repair estimates, anything showing the CAD's model doesn't know your house. The "ugly house" photos feel undignified; they also work.
- Tab 5 — Property record corrections. Your CAD's property record with every error flagged: wrong square footage, phantom improvements, wrong condition grade, wrong year built. Factual errors are the closest thing to a free win in this process.
The weapon most guides gloss over: unequal appraisal (§41.43)
Here's the argument that makes Texas different from every other state. Most homeowners protest on market value: "my home is appraised above what it would sell for." Texas gives you a second, independent ground — unequal appraisal — and it's often the easier one to win.
The idea is simple: your home is appraised at a higher percentage of its market value than comparable properties. Say your home is appraised at 100% of its true market value while similar homes on your street are appraised at 85%. You're paying more than your fair share relative to your neighbors — and Texas law says that's protestable on its own.
Here's the part that matters: you can win an unequal-appraisal protest even if your home's appraised value equals its market value. Texas taxpayers are entitled to pay based on the lesser of market value or equal-and-uniform treatment with similarly situated properties. Your home can be "correctly" valued and still unlawfully appraised, if everyone around you got a better deal from the CAD's model.
The statute (Tax Code §41.43) puts the burden where it belongs: once you raise unequal appraisal, the protest is decided in your favor unless the appraisal district proves your appraisal ratio is at or below the median of one of three things — (1) a reasonable, representative sample of other properties in the district, (2) a sample of similarly situated properties of the same general kind, or (3) a reasonable number of appropriately adjusted comparable properties. In plain English: you show your ratio is high compared to similar homes, and the CAD has to prove it isn't.
How to run the unequal-appraisal argument
1. Establish an independent indicator of your home's market value (a recent purchase price, a realtor CMA, or your adjusted comps from Tab 2). 2. Pull the appraised values and market-value indicators for 5–10 comparable properties — your CAD's website shows appraised values; request the CAD's sales data for your neighborhood in writing. 3. Compute each property's appraisal ratio (appraised value ÷ market value indicator). 4. Show the panel: yours sits materially above the median of the group. That's the whole argument — and it's the one the CAD's own mass-appraisal model is most vulnerable to, because models systematically over-value some homes and under-value others on the same street.
One caution from appraisal districts themselves: the evidence bar for unequal appraisal is stricter than for a plain market-value protest, so don't run it on vibes — run it on a clean ratio table.
Informal hearing vs. ARB hearing: what to expect
The informal hearing is a settlement sit-down with a district appraiser, not a trial. Bring your packet, walk through your summary page, and name your number. A large share of Texas protests settle here — the appraiser would rather correct an obvious error than defend it in front of the ARB. Be reasonable, be organized, and know your walk-away number before you arrive. If you settle, get the agreed value in writing.
The formal ARB hearing is before a panel of citizens appointed to the Appraisal Review Board. It's short — often 10–15 minutes — and less formal than it sounds: you present your evidence, the CAD presents theirs, the panel asks questions, and you get a written decision later (ARB panels generally wrap up by late July). Many districts offer telephone or video hearings — Dallas County's uFile system schedules telephone ARB hearings by default, so don't assume you need to take a morning off work; check your hearing notice.
If you lose: you're not done. Texas offers binding arbitration (for qualifying properties) and district court lawsuits as the next rungs, each with its own deadline. And remember — next year's protest starts fresh. Texas reappraises annually, so a loss this year says nothing about next year.
Don't forget the homestead exemption
Separate from protesting: if the home is your primary residence, file for the homestead exemption — it knocks a flat amount off your taxable value for school taxes ($140,000 since the 2025 increase) and caps how fast your appraised value can rise year to year. The general application deadline is April 30, and you can file late — up to two years late, in fact. Exemptions and protests stack: the exemption lowers your taxable value, the protest lowers the appraised value it applies to. Our homestead exemptions guide covers the full picture.
DIY or hire? The honest Texas math
Texas is the most DIY-friendly protest state in the country: free filing, online portals in every major county, telephone hearings, and a process the Comptroller documents for unrepresented owners. If you can build the five-tab packet above, you can run your own protest — that's exactly what The Property Tax Appeal Playbook ($29) walks you through, with Texas-specific worksheets.
The case for hiring: you're out of time before May 15, you own multiple properties, or your case is heading to arbitration or district court. Texas has a mature market of contingency protest firms (typically a percentage of first-year savings) and flat-fee packet services (around $49). If you hire, confirm in writing what they file, whether they attend the ARB hearing, and what happens in year two — some firms auto-renew. We're building a vetted shortlist so you can compare without the sales pitch.
Missed the deadline?
Texas allows late protests only for narrow reasons — "good cause" like a medical emergency or military deployment, filed before the appraisal roll is certified (typically late July) — and the ARB decides what counts. Don't plan around it. If you never received a required notice, you may have until the day before taxes become delinquent to file; bring that to your CAD immediately. Otherwise, start building next year's packet now: pull your property record, save your comps, and calendar May 15, 2028 today. (Our 50-state deadline table has the full calendar.)
Frequently asked questions
What is the Texas property tax protest deadline for 2027?
May 15, or 30 days after your appraisal district mails your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later (Tax Code §41.44). In 2027, May 15 falls on a Saturday, so the deadline rolls to Monday, May 17 under Tax Code §1.06. Confirm against the date printed on your notice.
What is unequal appraisal in Texas?
Unequal appraisal (Tax Code §41.43) argues your property is appraised at a higher percentage of market value than comparable properties — yours at 100% while similar homes sit at 85%, for example. You can win on this ground even if your appraised value equals market value, because Texas entitles you to the lesser of market value or equal-and-uniform treatment.
Can protesting raise my property taxes in Texas?
No. Filing a protest cannot raise your appraised value — the district reappraises every property on its annual cycle whether you protest or not. The realistic worst case is that your value stays the same.
Do I have to attend the ARB hearing in person?
Usually not. Start with the informal hearing — many cases settle there. For formal ARB hearings, many districts offer telephone or video options (Dallas County's uFile system schedules telephone hearings by default). Check your hearing notice for the options.
Keep going
Texas gives you the tools. The Playbook shows you how to use them.
Texas-specific worksheets, the five-tab evidence packet system, and the unequal-appraisal ratio table — all in the $29 Playbook.
Get the Playbook — $29