Editor’s note: The Dallas Morning News Watchdog Dave Lieber has reported on the Texas property tax system for more than a decade. Here are answers to questions he hears most. This is the first of a 2-part series.
Should I protest my property tax?
Yes! But to be clear everyone calls this process a property tax protest. Actually, it’s a protest of your assigned property appraisal and, mainly, market values, which lead to your property tax.
The protest deadline is May 15. Consider filing a protest before that date. The protest notice is included in your 2025 appraisal notice.
You don’t have to attend a hearing. You can cancel — or you can hope they let you play what I’ll call the Wheel of Fortune. It’s hit or miss, just like the TV show of the same name.
Here’s what I mean. In a lot of counties, there are so many protests, the review panels can’t get to them. They want to clear the deck as fast as possible.
What you hope for here is the appraisal district contacting you to ask what you think should be your values. That’s like spinning the wheel or settling a lawsuit in a court hallway before the big trial inside.
If your suggested numbers fall within the parameters of what the district finds acceptable, then BOOM! You win. But you can’t try this if you don’t file a protest before May 15. Unfortunately, not all counties offer this online Wheel of Fortune chance. But it’s worth a try.
Now let’s assume that didn’t work and you are assigned a hearing date. There are three possibilities: 1) prep for the hearing, 2) hire a property tax consultant, and 3) give up and pay whatever money they want.
Prepping is part of the game. You go online to your appraisal district’s website and look at your property in relation to your neighbors. Some houses like yours might have lower numbers than you do and pay less in taxes. They might have protested in past years and won when you didn’t follow suit.
How to protest
You can ask any Realtor to run you a list of comparable properties (called comps) that sold recently in your neighborhood. Even though Texas home sale prices are confidential, Realtors have easy access to this information via the Multiple Listing Service.
Next, you ask “If I were to sell my house now, what would I need to fix?”
New bathroom? Roof replacement? Leaky old windows?
Assemble a packet with photos, and if you can get them, estimates from, as shown in this example, a bathroom renovator, roofer and a window company.
You compile this in a packet and make five copies. One for each of the three panelists, one for the county appraiser and one for you.
Remember that the numbers they give you are estimates because they have not been inside your house. It’s your job to show them what they miss.
You don’t go to a hearing to complain about your taxes. You are only arguing that the listed market value is too high.
If you want to protest your tax rate, then you’d do that with local government leaders who will be setting their new budgets in the coming weeks.
Remember that your property tax bill is your appraised rate multiplied by your government’s tax rate.
Like snowflakes, no two houses are the same. They might differ in updates, pool or no pool, square footage or acreage.
The biggest way to save is to make sure you have a homestead exemption on your primary residence. You take $100,000 off the value of your home. A great discount, but under a new law you have to renew it every few years.
Additional exemptions (mostly on school taxes and some cities and counties) go to over 65, disabled and disabled veterans. Part of their property taxes are frozen.
Should you still protest, even with frozen rates as shown above? Why not?
Do it especially if you intend to pass your house on to family members. If you don’t protest parts of your tax bill not covered by exemptions, some of your numbers could keep going up.
As property tax consultants have explained to me, you want to keep your baseline as low as possible, so tax bills don’t grow too much, hurting the property owner down the line.
10% cap
Appraised values can only go up 10% in a year. Often, a district will raise your value by exactly that amount.
One way they do it is by placing a higher number for “land value.” That’s so nebulous that it truly frustrates most people.
You might believe the real estate market is poor, and your home is assessed too high. All that matters is the condition of your house on Jan. 1, 2025.
Find a tax consultant
One dilemma for many property owners is finding a good property tax consultant. I cannot make recommendations on this.
Consultants charge differently. Some charge a flat fee up front. Others take a percentage of any savings they get for you. Be suspicious of any company that promises tax savings. How could they possibly know?
In Texas, property tax consultants must be licensed. Unfortunately, there is no listing I could find. This is one of the big flaws. It forces you to rely on mailings, email pitches, and Internet searches to find a consultant.
Remember that simply because a company shows up high in paid (or sponsored) search results, that doesn’t mean they are the best company. It means they paid higher than others for a higher placement in digital ads.
Unfairness
Here’s why I believe the entire system is unfair. Owners of two identical properties likely pay different property tax bills. The whole system depends on you to protest the unfairness.
What separates the winners from the losers? Usually, the protest.
Bottom line: If you protest and win, you are slowing future increases.
Remember: May 15 deadline. Any questions? Contact your appraisal district.
Note: In my next Watchdog column, I’ll dig deeper for you before the May 15 deadline. Read past Watchdog stories from the last decade here.
By Dave Lieber – The Watchdog
