Texas vocabulary note: in Texas the formal challenge is called a "protest," not an "appeal." The body that hears it is the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) at the county Appraisal District (CAD). The CAD is a separate entity from the County Tax Assessor-Collector — the CAD appraises; the Tax Assessor-Collector collects. We use "appeal" and "protest" interchangeably below; the underlying procedure is the same.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Statutory residential appraisal ratio | 100% of fair market value (Texas Tax Code §23.01) |
| Statewide effective tax rate (median) | ~1.9% (6th highest in the U.S.) |
| Reappraisal cycle | Annual (every CAD reappraises every year, no 4-year cycle) |
| Homestead cap | 10% per year on appraised value (TX Const. Art. VIII §1-b(d)) — owner-occupied only |
| Protest filing deadline | May 15 or 30 days from notice, whichever is later (§41.44) |
| Appeal venue (Tier 2) | County Appraisal Review Board (ARB) — appointed 5-member panels |
| Appeal escalation paths | (1) Binding Arbitration · (2) SOAH · (3) District Court |
| Burden of proof — market value | Preponderance of the evidence |
| Burden of proof — equal & uniform | "Median of reasonable number of comparable properties, appropriately adjusted" (§41.43(b)(3)) |
| School district homestead exemption | $140,000 off school district appraised value (raised from $100K by 2025 SB4; codified in TX Constitution via Prop 13, approved 79% Nov 2025) |
| Over-65 / Disabled additional school exemption | $60,000 (raised from $10K by 2025 SB23) — combined with general homestead = $200,000 total exemption for seniors / disabled |
| Local-option homestead exemption | Up to 20% additional (minimum $5,000), set by each taxing unit (§11.13(n)) |
The Texas Property Tax Code (§23.01) requires all property to be appraised at 100% of market value as of January 1 each year. Unlike Illinois's 33⅓% fractional ratio, Texas applies the full market value directly to the tax computation — there's no equalization multiplier.
The math:
Appraised Value − Exemptions = Taxable Value
Taxable Value × Tax Rate (per $100) = Tax bill
Tax rates are set independently by each taxing unit — county, city, school district (ISD), college district, MUD, and any special districts the property sits inside. School district levies typically dominate, often 50-60% of the total bill in residential markets. Each unit publishes its tax rate annually after the appraisal roll is certified.
Two appealable issue types:
The 10% Homestead Cap is the killer feature. Once you've held the homestead exemption on a property for at least one year, the appraised value used to compute your tax bill cannot rise more than 10% per year, regardless of market value. New buyers don't have this protection in their first year — they pay tax on the full market value. This single mechanism produces enormous tax-bill divergence between long-time homeowners and recent buyers in fast-appreciating markets like Travis, Williamson, and Collin counties.
No townships. Texas does not have a township system. The County Appraisal District (CAD) handles all property valuations within the county, period. This simplifies the appeal jurisdiction question (one CAD per county) but eliminates the "informal township review" tier that exists in Illinois.
Texas's reassessment model is structurally different from acquisition-value states (CA) and quadrennial-cycle states (IL).
General/system-wide reassessment. Texas CADs reappraise every property every year. Unlike Illinois's 4-year quadrennial cycle or California's acquisition-value-only resets, Texas requires annual mass appraisal of every parcel. Notice of Appraised Value typically goes out by April 1 of the appraisal year. The 2025 protest season covers values as of January 1, 2025; the 2026 season covers January 1, 2026.
Mid-cycle individual reassessment. Even within an annual reappraisal, two situations trigger separate "supplemental" or "escape" assessments outside the regular cycle: change of ownership or new construction completed mid-year generates a supplemental assessment (proration from the change/completion date through end of tax year), and escape assessments allow the CAD to back-tax property that was missed or understated in prior years (typically up to 4 prior years under §25.21). Each carries its own 60-day protest window from the relevant notice.
Annual mechanisms. Three mechanisms can limit how appraised value translates into the taxable value used for billing: (1) the 10% Homestead Cap (TX Const. Art. VIII §1-b(d)) — owner-occupied appraised value can't rise more than 10% per year above the prior year's capped value, regardless of market value, once homestead has been held for at least one full year; (2) the Circuit Breaker Limitation (HB 1956, §23.231) — temporary 20% cap on non-homestead real property under the CPI-indexed threshold (~$5.16M in 2025), authorized only for tax years 2024-2026 absent legislative extension; (3) the Over-65 tax ceiling — school district taxes are frozen at the qualifying year's level for homesteaders age 65+, regardless of subsequent rate or value changes.
Your move: Pull up your CAD's online property record. Verify the listed square footage, bedroom/bath count, year built, lot size, and condition rating against your actual home. Check that any homestead, over-65, disabled, or disabled-veteran exemptions you qualify for are reflected (including the 2025 SB4 / SB23 increases — the General Homestead is now $140K and Over-65/Disabled adds another $60K, totaling $200K for qualifying seniors). Factual errors and missing exemptions are the easiest, lowest-cost wins — many can be corrected by the CAD informally without a formal ARB protest.
Most Texas CADs charge no fee for filing the regular ARB protest (Form 50-132). The real costs are:
Risk of protesting. ARBs in Texas cannot raise the appraised value as a result of a residential homestead protest — the worst-case outcome is denial leaving the appraisal unchanged. There is no "punitive reappraisal" risk for filing a good-faith protest, and the process explicitly contemplates protest as a routine annual mechanism (Travis CAD reports protest filing rates exceeding 30% of residential parcels).
Most CADs offer informal one-on-one review with an appraiser before the formal ARB hearing. Many cases resolve here — particularly factual-error corrections and exemption reinstatements.
Lowest-cost step. Always start here.
5-member appointed panel hears formal protest. Both parties present evidence; the panel issues a written order. Hearings can be in person, by phone, or by written affidavit (§41.45).
Hard deadline. Miss it = wait until next tax year.
Binding arbitration: $450-$1,500 deposit, residential ≤ $5M, fast (~3-6 months). SOAH: for higher-value commercial, administrative law judge. District Court: judicial, attorney typical, slowest but allows full discovery.
Pick one — they're mutually exclusive.
Agent representation. Texas allows licensed property tax agents (registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation as Senior Property Tax Consultants) to represent owners at every level. Many homeowners use agents — particularly the high-volume firms that file thousands of protests per CAD per year. ARB hearings don't favor or disfavor represented appellants; the evidence rules apply identically.
For market-value protests:
For equal-and-uniform protests:
Subject-property evidence:
Procedural prerequisites (§41.461):
Pick the right theory. If your home appraises high in absolute terms but also relative to neighbors, you have both a market-value and an equal-and-uniform argument. In Texas, equal-and-uniform protests succeed at higher rates than market-value protests for residential properties — partly because the burden compares appraised values (CAD's own data) rather than requiring you to prove market value with sales evidence. When in doubt, lead with equal-and-uniform and use market value as a backup theory.
Texas does not have a single-administrative-agency analog to Illinois PTAB whose decisions become a searchable case-law corpus. The protest decision landscape is fragmented across four venues:
The most authoritative aggregate data source is the Texas Comptroller's Methods and Assistance Program (MAP) report, which audits every CAD biennially and publishes summaries of appraisal accuracy, protest volume, and adjustment rates.
E&U protests succeed at higher rates than market-value protests in residential. Burden compares CAD's own appraisal data, not sale prices.
Agent-filed protests get reductions in 70-85% of cases, but pro se homeowners with strong CAD-pulled E&U comps match agent percentages on the merits.
Cap miscalculations happen — mid-year exemption filings, intra-county moves, surviving-spouse transfers. These usually resolve at informal CAD review.
§41.44 deadline is jurisdictional. Late protests dismissed without merits hearing. §25.25(c) provides narrow 5-year lookback for clerical errors only.
Aggregate ARB data from large CADs (Travis, Harris, Tarrant, Bexar) consistently shows equal-and-uniform protests producing higher value-reduction rates than pure market-value protests for residential properties. Two structural reasons:
For homeowners protesting on their own, equal-and-uniform is also procedurally easier — the data lookup is mechanical (parcel records on the CAD website), where market-value protests require MLS access and sales documentation many homeowners don't have.
Texas property-tax-agent firms (Texas ProTax, O'Connor, Texas Tax Protest, Five Stone Tax Advisers, and others) file the majority of protests in the major urban CADs. The high-volume model files protests on most or all of an agent's clients automatically each year, then negotiates settlements informally with the CAD before formal ARB hearings.
Aggregate outcome data shows:
The takeaway: agents are valuable for filing volume and settlement negotiation. They are not gatekeepers of better evidence. A motivated homeowner with strong CAD-pulled equal-and-uniform comps can match agent outcomes on the merits.
The 10% homestead cap (Article VIII §1-b(d)) is implemented annually by every CAD, but errors do occur — particularly when:
Protests citing homestead-cap miscalculation are typically procedural rather than evidentiary — the homeowner shows the CAD's own data has the cap applied incorrectly, and the CAD adjusts. These tend to resolve at the informal CAD review stage rather than progressing to the ARB.
Texas Tax Code §41.44 sets the protest deadline at May 15 (or 30 days after notice, whichever is later). Late protests are dismissed without a hearing on the merits, regardless of how strong the evidence is. The major exceptions are narrowly defined:
Procedural failures account for a large fraction of dismissed protests in Texas — likely the largest single category by volume.
Methodology: Patterns synthesized from the most recent Comptroller MAP cycle, large-CAD annual reports for 2023-2025 protest seasons, and Texas Tax Code statutory framework. Texas does not have an Illinois PTAB-equivalent searchable case corpus for residential protests; binding arbitration decisions are confidential by statute. A docket-by-docket SOAH analysis layer is planned for a Q3 2026 update once the next MAP cycle data is published.
| Exemption | Amount | Eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| General Homestead (school district, §11.13(b)) | $140,000 off appraised value (raised from $100K by 2025 SB4; ratified by voters as Prop 13, Nov 2025) | Owner-occupant of primary residence, file Form 50-114 |
| Local-option Homestead (§11.13(n)) | Up to 20% additional (minimum $5,000) | County, city, MUD may each adopt |
| County Farm-to-Market / Flood Control (§11.13(a)) | $3,000 off | Owner-occupant primary residence in counties with FM/Flood-Control taxes |
| Over-65 / Disabled Person Homestead (school, §11.13(c)) | Additional $60,000 off school district (raised from $10K by 2025 SB23) — combined with General Homestead = $200,000 total | Age 65+ or disabled per SSA standards. Plus tax ceiling (school taxes frozen at qualifying year level) for over-65 |
| Local-option Over-65/Disabled (§11.13(d)) | Minimum $3,000 off | Each taxing unit may adopt |
| Disabled Veteran's Exemption (§11.22, tiered) | $5,000 / $7,500 / $10,000 / $12,000 | 10-29% / 30-49% / 50-69% / 70%+ service-connected disability |
| 100% Disabled Veteran Homestead (§11.131) | Full exemption on residence | 100% service-connected disability or unemployability |
| Surviving Spouse — 100% Disabled Veteran (§11.131) | Full exemption on residence | Surviving spouse hadn't remarried; deceased veteran was 100% disabled |
| Surviving Spouse — Armed Services KIA (§11.133) | Full exemption | Member killed/fatally injured in line of duty; spouse hasn't remarried |
| Surviving Spouse — First Responder KIA (§11.134) | Full exemption | First responder killed in line of duty; spouse hasn't remarried |
| Surviving Spouse — Qualifying Veteran (§11.136) | Total exemption regardless of disability rating | Surviving spouse of qualifying veteran |
| Ag-Use / Open-Space (1-d-1, §23.51) | Use-value appraisal (typically 80-90% lower than market) | Land used for agricultural production for 5+ years |
Local-option homestead exemptions vary materially by jurisdiction. The state-mandated $140,000 school district exemption is uniform statewide (with the additional $60,000 for seniors/disabled, $200K total), but cities, counties, and special districts can adopt their own additional homestead percentages (up to 20%, minimum $5,000). Travis CAD's Austin ISD adds local-option exemptions that materially reduce the effective rate. The appraisal notice itemizes which exemptions apply — local-option amounts vary by taxing unit and should be confirmed there.
Filing deadline: Homestead exemption applications are due April 30 of the year you're claiming (Tax Code §11.43). Late applications can be filed up to two years late with documentation. Disabled-veteran exemption applications can be filed any time but apply only prospectively unless filed within the §25.25 window.
Travis CAD is one of the most-protested CADs in Texas — in some recent years, more than 30% of residential parcels filed protests. Austin's post-2020 housing run-up produced years of double-digit appraisal increases that the homestead cap absorbed for long-time owners but exposed new buyers to fully.
The Travis CAD ARB and informal-review processes are unusually well-documented online. The CAD publishes its reappraisal plan, parcel-level data, and annual statistical reports.
Appeals path: Travis CAD informal review → Travis County ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
Austin ISD local-option homestead. Austin ISD adopts the maximum 20% local-option homestead exemption on top of the $140,000 state homestead. This stacks meaningfully — for a $600,000 home, the combined homestead reduction for school district taxes alone exceeds $260,000 of appraised value. Missing local-option homesteads are a common Travis CAD error category; confirming this is reflected on the appraisal notice is worth doing annually.
Harris CAD (HCAD) is the largest in Texas by volume — over 1.7 million parcels and routinely 500,000+ protests per year. Houston's geography means most parcels sit inside multiple overlapping taxing units (county + city + ISD + MUD + community college district + emergency services district). Total tax bills can exceed 2.5% of appraised value before exemptions in heavily MUD-burdened subdivisions.
Appeals path: HCAD informal review → Harris County ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
MUD and special-district taxes can dominate the bill. Outside Loop 610, many newer Houston subdivisions (Cypress, Katy, The Woodlands portions) are inside Municipal Utility Districts whose tax rate can equal or exceed the school district's. The protest only addresses appraised value, not the rate — but understanding which units appear on your bill helps you know what a percentage reduction is actually worth.
Tarrant CAD covers Fort Worth plus a wide ring of mid-major suburbs (Arlington, Mansfield, Euless, Grapevine, Southlake, Keller). Parcel mix is heavier on suburban tract housing than Travis or Harris, which makes equal-and-uniform protests procedurally cleaner — large numbers of materially similar comparable properties exist within most Tarrant subdivisions.
Appeals path: TAD informal review → Tarrant ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
Strong subdivision uniformity in Tarrant. The tract-development pattern in Tarrant suburbs means equal-and-uniform comp lookups frequently turn up 20-50 nearly identical comparable appraisals on the same street or subdivision. For pro se protesters, Tarrant is one of the easier counties to build a clean E&U case in.
Bexar CAD covers San Antonio and surrounding metro. The market historically appreciates more slowly than Travis or Harris — appraisal increases in the 2024-2025 cycles have been more moderate, and protest volume is correspondingly lower as a percentage of parcels. The 10% homestead cap matters less in Bexar than in Travis because many homesteaders' market values track close to appraised values anyway.
Appeals path: Bexar CAD informal review → Bexar ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court. The CAD publishes parcel data and annual reports at bcad.org.
Disabled veteran population is meaningful here. San Antonio hosts substantial active-duty military and veteran populations linked to Joint Base San Antonio (Lackland AFB, Fort Sam Houston, Randolph AFB). The disabled veteran's exemption, particularly the 100% disabled veteran full exemption, applies to a larger share of Bexar homesteads than in most other counties. Confirm this exemption is applied if you qualify.
Dallas CAD covers the city of Dallas plus a fragmented ring of incorporated suburbs (Garland, Irving, Mesquite, Carrollton, Richardson). Housing stock is older on average than Collin or Denton (the fast-growth northern collar) — which makes comp-similarity matching more complex, particularly in older neighborhoods like Lakewood, Oak Cliff, and East Dallas where lot sizes and house ages vary heavily within blocks.
Appeals path: DCAD informal review → Dallas Central ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
Comp matching is harder in older neighborhoods. A 1925 Tudor on Swiss Avenue and a 1995 tract home in Far North Dallas are not interchangeable comps regardless of square footage. Dallas equal-and-uniform protests for pre-WWII inventory should focus on structurally similar properties within ¼-mile, not township-level aggregates.
North Dallas suburbs — Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Wylie, Prosper, Celina. Among the fastest-growing counties in Texas through 2020-2025. Appraisal increases have been substantial, and the 10% homestead cap has been highly protective for owners who held continuously through the run-up. New buyers face full market value with no cap-protected baseline.
Appeals path: Collin CAD informal review → Collin ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
New-construction comp aggression. CADs frequently use new-construction comps to support appraisal increases on existing homes in the same subdivision. Frisco ISD and Prosper ISD subdivisions are particularly affected. If your protest evidence includes resale comps but the CAD is leaning on new-construction comps, document the differences in finish quality, lot orientation, and amenities — new-construction premiums (10-25%) over equivalent resale are well-established and adjustable.
North of Travis County along the I-35 / SH-130 corridors — Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Liberty Hill, Hutto. Williamson absorbed substantial Austin-spillover demand 2020-2024, producing some of the largest year-over-year appraisal increases in the state. The 10% homestead cap binding-constrained most owner-occupied parcels for multiple consecutive years.
Appeals path: WCAD informal review → Williamson ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court. WCAD publishes parcel data and reports at wcad.org.
Cap-bound homestead opportunity. If the 10% cap has been binding on your homestead for multiple consecutive years (which it has been for many Williamson homestead parcels through 2022-2024), your appraised value may now be materially below market — but the protest still concerns the appraised value, not the market value. Pulling equal-and-uniform comps from other cap-bound homesteads in your subdivision is the cleaner approach. Comparison to non-homestead resale comps is a weaker theory.
Northwest Dallas suburbs — Denton city, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Little Elm, Argyle, Aubrey. Northern half of the county includes substantial agricultural and ranchland inventory — many parcels qualify for 1-d-1 Open-Space (Ag) appraisal which is a separate framework from residential 100% market value.
Appeals path: Denton CAD informal review → Denton ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
Ag-Use parcels have separate protest mechanics. Open-space/agricultural parcels appraised under §23.51 (1-d-1) are valued on use, not market — typically 80-90% below the residential market value. Protests of ag-appraised parcels argue use-value methodology, not market comps. If your Denton parcel is partly residential homestead and partly ag-use, the protest mechanics differ on each portion.
Southwest Houston suburbs — Sugar Land, Missouri City, Katy (split with Harris and Waller), Richmond, Rosenberg, Stafford. Heavily master-planned community geography (First Colony, Sienna, Cross Creek Ranch, Riverstone). Most parcels sit inside Municipal Utility Districts whose taxes can equal or exceed school-district levies.
Appeals path: Fort Bend CAD informal review → Fort Bend ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court. CAD at fbcad.org.
Master-planned community E&U protests work well here. Master-planned subdivisions like Sienna or Cross Creek Ranch contain hundreds of nearly identical floor plans on similar lots, making equal-and-uniform comparable lookups very clean. Pull your subdivision's MUD-and-section-specific comps for the strongest E&U arguments.
North Houston suburbs — The Woodlands, Conroe, Magnolia, Willis, Montgomery city. The Woodlands is one of the most successful master-planned communities in the U.S. and dominates the southern half of the county; northern Montgomery is more rural with substantial waterfront (Lake Conroe) and ranch acreage.
Appeals path: Montgomery CAD informal review → Montgomery County ARB → arbitration / SOAH / district court.
Lake Conroe waterfront premium is appealable. Lake Conroe waterfront parcels carry substantial water-frontage premiums in CAD valuations. Premiums vary by water depth, dock potential, view orientation, and bulkhead condition. Generic same-subdivision comps that don't account for waterfront-specific differences often miss material adjustments — both upward (deeper water) and downward (poor dock potential, drainage issues).
Your closing statement, the original MLS listing sheet, and a current appraisal (USPAP-compliant by a Texas-licensed appraiser dated as-of January 1) are the strongest single pieces of evidence. Texas ARBs treat a recent arms-length purchase price as highly probative for market value if the sale was within roughly 12-18 months of January 1. If the purchase was longer ago, supplement with current comparable sales.
Market value asks "is this home worth less than $X?" — you prove with comparable sales. Equal and uniform asks "is this appraisal high relative to comparable properties' median appraised value?" — you prove with comparable parcel appraisals from the CAD's own data, with appropriate adjustments. In Texas, equal and uniform tends to succeed at higher rates because the CAD has to defend why its own appraisal data shows your home as an outlier. You can present both theories in the same protest, but lead with whichever is stronger and treat the other as backup.
No. Texas allows owners to protest pro se at every level — informal CAD review, formal ARB hearing, and the Tier 3 venues (arbitration, SOAH, district court). Licensed property tax agents (registered with TDLR as Senior Property Tax Consultants) and attorneys can also represent you. The ARB doesn't favor or disfavor represented vs. pro se appellants. Most homeowners DIY the informal review and ARB stages; agents and attorneys become more common at SOAH and district court.
Texas Constitution Article VIII §1-b(d) caps the appraised value used for tax computation on owner-occupied homestead property at no more than 10% above the prior year's capped value, regardless of market value. Once you've held the homestead exemption for at least one full year, the cap kicks in. Your appraisal notice should show both the "Market Value" (what the CAD says it's worth) and "Appraised Value" (what's used for taxes after the cap). If the difference is less than 10% in a year when the market value rose more than 10%, the cap is being applied. If the difference equals the cap math, you're cap-bound.
For a regular protest, no — the deadline is jurisdictional and missed protests are dismissed without a hearing. Two narrow exceptions: (1) §41.411 if you can prove you didn't receive notice (very high bar given certified mail records); (2) §25.25(c) for clerical or factual errors discovered later — wrong square footage, listed structures that don't exist, denied exemptions you were entitled to. The §25.25(c) window reaches back up to 5 tax years and produces refunds with interest, but it's narrow and doesn't apply to mere disagreement with the appraisal.
All three are Tier 3 escalations after an ARB order you don't accept. Binding arbitration is administrative, fastest (3-6 months), cheapest ($450-$1,500 deposit refunded if you win), and limited to residential ≤ $5M and commercial ≤ $5M. SOAH (State Office of Administrative Hearings) is for higher-value commercial and has administrative law judges; rare for residential. District court is judicial, allows full discovery, attorney typical, slowest, and most expensive — but the only path for very high-value or legally complex cases. You pick one; they're mutually exclusive for the same tax year. For most residential homeowners considering escalation, binding arbitration is the right venue.
Protests can only result in the appraised value being lowered or unchanged — they cannot raise it. The CAD does not retaliate by appraising higher next year for protested properties; in fact, ARBs are required to apply the same evidence rules whether you protested or not. Many homeowners protest every year as a routine practice. The 10% homestead cap also caps year-over-year increases regardless of whether you protested.
Informal CAD review typically resolves within weeks if it's going to resolve at all. ARB formal hearings tend to be scheduled into Q3-Q4 of the protest year, with most decisions issued within several months of the hearing. Tier 3 escalations vary materially: binding arbitration typically resolves within 3-6 months from filing; SOAH can take 6-12+ months for an administrative law judge decision; district court can stretch into years depending on docket and complexity. Most homeowners stop at the ARB level — ARB-final cases are usually resolved within the calendar year of filing.
The CAD adjusts the appraised value down to the agreed or ordered amount, which flows through to the taxable value and ultimately the tax bill. If a tax bill has already been issued at the higher amount, the CAD or tax collector typically issues a refund (or applies a credit to subsequent installments). The reduced value applies for that tax year only — Texas's annual reappraisal model means each year is independent (unlike Illinois's §16-185 PTAB rollover for owner-occupied homes). The 10% Homestead Cap on owner-occupied properties does build the lower value into the prior-year basis used to compute next year's cap.
The appraised value remains as the CAD set it — the loss does not increase the appraisal as a punitive consequence. Within 60 days of receiving the ARB order, you can escalate to binding arbitration, SOAH, or district court (subject to the property-value thresholds for each venue). Or you can simply wait until next year's protest cycle and refile with stronger evidence — Texas's annual reappraisal model means each year is a fresh opportunity.
The financial risk in Texas is generally low: ARBs cannot raise the appraised value as a result of a residential homestead protest. The real costs are time (5-10 hours typical for DIY) and, for Tier 3 escalations, deposit/filing fees ($450-$1,500 for arbitration, $1,500 for SOAH, plus court costs for district court). If you hire a service company, contingency fees of 25-40% of one year's savings apply — read the contract carefully for auto-renewal terms (which are common). A weaker risk: filing without supporting evidence may establish a record that the CAD's value is well-documented, but in practice this rarely affects future protests because each tax year is reappraised independently.
The Texas property-tax-agent industry is large and concentrated: O'Connor & Associates (Houston-based, dominant in Harris CAD), Texas ProTax (statewide), Texas Tax Protest (Austin-based, dominant in Travis CAD), Five Stone Tax Advisers (statewide), and a long tail of mid-sized firms. National players like Ownwell also operate in Texas.
Pricing models vary more in Texas than in other states. Common structures:
Many agents auto-renew clients each year and file protests automatically — read the contract for opt-out terms. The agent's value is concentrated in filing volume (they file thousands of protests simultaneously and negotiate settlements informally with the CAD before formal ARB hearings reach the merits).
Ask about §25.25 motions specifically. If you discover after the fact that your CAD has the wrong square footage, listed a demolished structure, or denied an exemption you qualify for, the §25.25(c) lookback can reach 5 tax years back and produce refunds with interest. Most agent firms file standard protests but don't routinely pursue §25.25 motions for past-year corrections. If you have a factual-error case that pre-dates this year's protest window, ask explicitly whether the agent will file the §25.25 motion.
For the cross-state economics of DIY vs. hire (time, fee structures, when each route makes sense), see our DIY vs. hire decision matrix (coming soon).
What we don't claim. This page is general orientation about how the Texas property tax protest system works. It is not legal advice, not a recommendation about whether to protest a specific appraisal, and not a guarantee that following these patterns will produce a favorable outcome. CAD rules, deadlines, and contact information change annually — always verify current details on the linked CAD sites before filing. For case-specific advice, consult your CAD, a licensed Texas property tax consultant, or a Texas-licensed attorney.
For property tax terminology used in this guide (assessment ratio, equalization rate, lien date, USPAP, etc.), see the property tax glossary.