If you live in Texas, you need to understand the nature of the property tax situation in your state. The state operates on property taxes. Local appraisal districts determine the annual valuations, and you can save on property tax by protesting the way these taxes were calculated.
You can dispute your property tax if you feel that it was not determined in a fair and equitable way, if your property appraisal is high, or current market values in the area are lower. You must be notified if they increase your appraised value, and if a fair means wasn't used to determine the taxes, you have a right to protest.
Appealing your property tax will involve your disagreement with the action that was taken by your appraisal district. You can challenge the district for several different reasons. You might not agree with the market value assessed, or the district might not have taken into account any special valuations or exemptions you qualify for. You may feel that your property was not assessed fairly or equitably, or that their records contain errors such as multiple property appraisals or the inclusion of additions that you do not have. You can also protest simply on the tenet that the manner by which your taxes were assessed was not fair.
When you file your protest, you will get your full property tax information from the appraisal district. Then there will be a process of appeals, whether they are informal or formal. After the hearings, most of which are successful, the ARB will approve the new tax.
If you wish to file an appeal to save on property tax monies paid in Texas, be sure to file the protest or appeal before the tax payment is due, whether you have received your tax bill by that time or not. You can request your tax information at the same time, if you have not received it yet. Protests need to be done with the proper forms, which you may be able to get online, or which you can ask your appraisal district for. On these forms, you will want to note the reason for your protest, whether it is an unfair market value assessment or whether you are saying that the tax is unfairly assessed on your property.
In most counties in Texas, you and your representative can have an informal hearing at the appraisal district office. If you don't receive positive response to your appeal, you may seek a hearing before the Appraisal Review Board. You will also always have a chance to go through the court system if the ruling of your ARB isn't acceptable to you.
Tom Jackson is a writer for www.propertytaxmaster.com. PropertyTaxMaster.com are experts who help you save on property tax. They cover most of Texas including Dallas Appraisal District and Denton Appraisal District.
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