FIVE GREAT REASONS TO PROTEST YOUR PROPERTY TAXES
It’s likely your home has never been individually appraised by the tax assessor.
Instead, the proposed value of your home is based on a mass appraisal. The Appraisal District does not have the manpower or time available to appraise each individual home.
Every home is unique.
Every home is different, so if you expect to reduce your property tax burden you will need a custom analysis of your home, a comprehensive analysis of your neighborhood, an analysis of comparable properties to your home, and a strategy when meeting with the Appraisal District.
Assessed home values are sensitive to economic growth & decline.
Appraisal Districts are quick to raise values when the market rises — and slow to lower them when it falls.
Homes that sold at foreclosure can now be used to reduce your property value.
As of January 1, 2010, the Chief Appraiser, in appraising a residence homestead, may not exclude comparable homes that sold at foreclosure in any of the three years preceding the tax year.
Winning This Year Changes the Rules Next Year
Texas Tax Code § 23.01(e)
Most owners think a protest only affects one year. It does not. Under Texas law, when your appraised value is lowered through the protest process, that lowered value becomes your value for the year, and it follows you forward.
In the next tax year in which your property is appraised, the Chief Appraiser may not increase your appraised value unless the increase is reasonably supported by clear and convincing evidence, considering all of the reliable and probative evidence in the record as a whole. The statute puts the burden of proof on the Chief Appraiser, not on you.
Translation | A district that raises your value after a protest win has to carry the heavier evidentiary load. That is the highest burden of proof in the Property Tax Code short of a courtroom, and it applies to them, not to you.
What this does and does not do
1 | It is a burden, not a freeze. Your value can still go up. The district simply has to prove the increase to a much higher standard than it normally would.
2 | It reaches the next appraisal, not every year forever. The protection applies to the next tax year in which the property is appraised. That is exactly why we protest every single year for our clients.
3 | If your win came on unequal appraisal, the district can meet its burden by showing it has corrected the inequality as to the comparable properties used in your case. It is a real protection, not an impenetrable wall.
4 | Doing nothing forfeits all of it. An owner who never protests never triggers the statute. The appraisal district faces no elevated burden at all, in any year.
Every year you skip is a year you hand the appraisal district a free pass.
This is a general summary of Texas Tax Code § 23.01(e) provided for information only. It is not legal advice, and it is not a guarantee of any particular result in any tax year. Statutory protections depend on how a value reduction is obtained and finally determined. Consult a qualified attorney for advice about your situation.