Every spring, Travis County homeowners receive a Notice of Appraised Value from TCAD. If your value went up — or if it simply looks too high — you have the right to protest. Roughly 70–90% of protests are resolved before ever reaching a formal ARB hearing, which means filing is almost always worth doing.
This guide walks through the entire process: understanding your notice, filing your protest, building evidence, and what to expect at your hearing.
How the Texas property tax system works
Your annual property tax bill is the product of two numbers: your property value (set by the county appraisal district) multiplied by the tax rate (set each year by local taxing authorities like your school district and city). Protesting only addresses the value side — the appraisal district does not control the tax rate.
The three key players are:
- Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) — sets your property value, sends the Notice of Appraised Value, handles protests, and administers exemptions.
- Taxing entities (city, school district, community college, etc.) — adopt budgets and set the tax rates applied to your value.
- Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector — calculates your actual tax bill and collects payments.
Understanding your Notice of Appraised Value
TCAD mails notices each spring (typically by April 15) whenever your value increases by more than $1,000 from the prior year. The notice contains three figures:
- Market Value — what TCAD believes your property would sell for as of January 1. This resets every year based on comparable sales.
- Net Appraised Value — market value after your homestead exemption and appraisal cap are applied. If you have a homestead exemption, your net appraised value cannot increase more than 10% per year (unless you added new construction like a pool or addition).
- Taxable Value — net appraised value minus any additional exemptions (over-65, disabled veteran, etc.). This is the number used to calculate your actual tax bill.
Key dates to know
- January 1 — Property values are set for the year.
- Mid-April — Notices of Appraised Value are mailed out.
- April 30 — Deadline to file for homestead and other exemptions.
- May 15 — Deadline to file a protest (or 30 days after your notice, whichever is later).
- June–August — ARB formal hearings are held.
- October — Tax bills begin to be mailed.
- January 31 — Property tax payments due.
What you can protest
Texas law allows you to protest for several reasons:
- Excessive value — you believe the market value is too high.
- Unequal appraisal — your property is appraised at a higher proportion of value than similar nearby properties.
- Failure to grant exemptions — TCAD incorrectly denied or modified an exemption you applied for.
- Failure to provide notice — TCAD did not send you a required notice.
Most homeowners protest on the first two grounds — excessive value and unequal appraisal — and often file both simultaneously.
How to file your protest in Travis County
You can file online, by mail, or in person. Filing online through the TCAD portal is fastest.
Online filing (recommended)
- Create a TCAD portal account at protest.traviscad.org.
- Add your property using the PIN printed on your Notice of Appraised Value.
- File your protest — select “value is over market value” and/or “value is unequal compared to other properties.”
- Request and review TCAD's evidence packet — this shows what comparables they used.
- Upload your own evidence before your scheduled informal hearing.
- Review and accept or reject the settlement offer TCAD sends by email.
By mail or in person
- Download and complete the Property Owner's Notice of Protest form (Form 50-132) from the Texas Comptroller's website.
- Mail or deliver to TCAD (850 East Anderson Lane, Austin, TX 78752) before May 15.
- Attend your informal hearing with your prepared evidence.
- Accept or reject the settlement offer at the meeting.
Homestead and other exemptions
Before focusing on protest, make sure you have claimed every exemption you qualify for — they reduce your taxable value dollar-for-dollar and are often more impactful than a protest.
- General homestead exemption — up to 20% off appraised value from Travis County, City of Austin, and Travis County Healthcare District; $140,000 off for school districts.
- Age 65 or older — additional $60,000 exemption plus a school district tax freeze.
- Disabled person — exemption amount varies by taxing entity.
- Disabled veteran — $5,000–$12,000 depending on disability rating; 100% disabled veterans are fully exempt.
Apply by April 30 at tcad.org or in person at the TCAD office. You must apply — exemptions are not automatic.
Building your evidence case
There are two appraisal approaches used in Texas property tax protests:
- Sales comparison — compare your property to 5–10 recent sales of similar homes (“apples to apples”: same neighborhood, similar size, age, and features).
- Equity (uniform and equal) comparison — compare your appraised value to your neighbors' appraised values to show you're being assessed at a higher rate.
Your evidence packet can also include photos of property condition, repair quotes for structural issues, your settlement or closing statement if you purchased recently, or written market analyses.
Use the TCAD property search tool to look up comparable properties and their appraised values. Pull 5–10 comparable sales from MLS or a real estate professional — comps within your CAD-determined neighborhood carry the most weight.
What happens at the informal hearing
The informal hearing is a brief review with a TCAD appraiser — usually by phone, video, or through the online portal. You present your evidence, the appraiser reviews it against their own data, and they either offer a reduction or hold their value.
You have no obligation to accept the informal offer. If you reject it, you proceed to a formal ARB hearing. Note: at the formal hearing, there is a risk the panel could award less than the informal offer — though they cannot set your value higher than the original Notice of Appraised Value.
18 tips to avoid losing your protest
These tips apply to both informal and formal hearings:
- Do not get into a shouting match.
- Forget about tax rates — the appraiser doesn't set them and they are irrelevant at the hearing.
- Do not talk about your inability to pay taxes — it is legally immaterial.
- Do not assume your purchase price reflects market value unless you bought within six months of January 1 of the appraisal year.
- Only compare properties within your CAD-determined neighborhood — find out your neighborhood boundaries before the hearing.
- If you show photos of neighbors' properties, also show a front-view photo of your own property.
- Crime and noise are hard to establish — if sales have actually been affected, that makes a stronger argument.
- Minor settlement cracks alone are weak evidence; get a construction bid if you believe the issue is serious.
- Leaking roofs are often treated as a maintenance issue and may not justify an adjustment.
- Do not volunteer information about improvements you have made.
- You have the right to cross-examine the TCAD appraiser during a formal hearing — use it.
- Use your knowledge of detrimental aspects of your neighborhood and property.
- If the appraiser is using non-comparable properties, point it out clearly.
- Dress professionally — first impressions matter.
- Avoid any discriminatory remarks.
- Make eye contact with the ARB panel; use handouts to direct their attention to your key facts.
- Keep your presentation simple and organized.
- Bring handouts — organized, clearly labeled evidence is more persuasive than verbal claims.
Should you hire a protest agent?
If gathering comps and managing the portal feels like too much, a licensed protest agent handles everything: filing, evidence, informal review, and ARB representation. Under a contingency arrangement, you pay nothing unless your value is reduced — typically 25% of the first year's tax savings. If there's no reduction, you owe nothing.