The May 31 deadline for property tax protestors to file a protest in Texas is quickly approaching. If you received your Appraisal Notice late, you will have 30 days from the date on the Notice to file your protest.
Property Tax Protest Tips:
Since Texas property taxes are based on value, in order to evaluate your chances of success, it is important to first know if there’s evidence to support your opinion of value for your property. Property owners who use professionally gathered evidence have a higher chance of success when they protest their Texas property taxes. Houston property tax protests that utilize valuations performed by a professional appraiser save substantial savings.
Property tax protesters should retain the assistance of a professional appraisers, but there are some circumstances in which you might already have what you need:
- If you recently purchased your property (in the last 12 months) for less than the appraisal district’s valuation, you can provide a closing statement indicating your purchase price, and in the vast majority of cases you’ll be successful.
- May you refinanced your house, or ordered an appraisal for some other reason. If you have a recent appraisal (in the last 12 months) from a certified appraiser and it supports a lower value than the appraisal district’s valuation, you’re likely to get some property tax relief by providing this as your evidence.
The important thing to remember with using either a closing statement or an appraisal is that they must be recent, since the appraisal district’s valuation is based on January 1 of the current year, however if they are relatively current, they are extremely powerful indicators of value.
