Property Tax Protesting 101

May 12, 2011 at 1:44 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

 Property Tax Notices Out

It’s that time of year again!  As we do every year, you’ve probably already received an appraisal update from your appraisal district on the value of your home.  Appraisal notices have been mailed to 200,000 residential property owners in the county. Another 60,000 will be mailed soon.  Last year, the Travis district was swamped with 94,325 protests – 50 percent more than usual – and mailed settlement offers to 21,605 homeowners, something it had not done before.

A new option for those who want to protest their taxes? You’ll now be able to handle the process online.  This online option will be available for homeowners whose homes are valued at lower than $300,000 and where the neighborhood the home is in is very consistent.  If  you want to learn more about how to protest your taxes – read on!

Protesting Your Property Taxes

Now that you’ve received your appraisal and if you believe that your appraisal does not reflect the actual value of your property, here are some tips for how to go about challenging the appraisal. 

• First, you’ll want to submit your protest by May 31st.
• The appraisal district will schedule an appointment for you sometime in the next several months – please be aware that this is expected to be another record year for protests, so the timeframe will be slightly longer than in prior years.
• Bring any information that you think will be of help to your hearing – pictures of your property/neighborhood, engineering reports, other documentation that you believe supports your protest.
• You’ll need to determine that you’re not paying more than similar houses in your neighborhood. You can research this information on TCADs website.

We have developed a tool (in Excel) to help you protest your appraisal. Feel free to contact your Juice Realtor and he/she will be able to send this along to you. It’s worked well for other clients in last year’s protests.

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