How to protest your appraisal (DRAFT – not published)

In short

If you think the appraisal district’s value for your property is too high, you can protest. File by May 15, or 30 days after your notice was mailed, whichever is later. Most protests end at an informal meeting with district staff. If that fails, a citizen panel (the ARB) hears your case. In 2025, about 78% of Williamson County protests were filed by paid tax agents. Owners can file on their own for free. (Sources: Texas Comptroller; WCAD Annual Report 2025.)

New to the notice itself? See reading your appraisal notice. This page explains the process. It is not legal or tax advice. The appraisal district and the ARB set the rules for each year’s hearings, so check the papers they send you.

Who does what

• Williamson Central Appraisal District (WCAD) sets your property’s value each year. See appraisal district.
• Appraisal Review Board (ARB) is a panel of residents who hear protests. Its members do not work for the district.¹
• Your tax rate is set by the county, city, school district and others. A protest can change your value, not the rate. See how your property tax bill works.

Step 1: read your notice

Homestead owners usually get a notice of appraised value by April 1. Other owners get one by May 1 if the value went up.² The notice explains how to protest.

Step 2: file on time

• Deadline: May 15, or 30 days after the district mails your notice, whichever is later.²³
• How: use Comptroller Form 50-132, or any written notice that names the property, the owner and what you disagree with.² WCAD also takes protests online (see wcad.org).
• Missed it? The ARB can allow a late protest for good cause. Some errors can be fixed later by a “motion for correction”.²

Protest calendar

When	What	Law
Jan 1	Your value is set as of this date.	Comptroller4
By Apr 1 (or soon after)	Homestead value notices mailed.	§25.19(a)4
By May 1 (or soon after)	Other value notices mailed.	§25.19(a)4
May 15, or 30 days after your notice is mailed (later one)	Last day to file most protests.	§41.44(a)(1)4
Around May 15 on	ARB hearings begin.	Comptroller4
July 20	ARB must approve the records.	§41.124
July 25	Final values sent to each taxing unit.	§26.01(a)4
See the whole year: [[county/property-tax-calendar	property tax calendar]]. Lost at the ARB? See [[county/after-the-arb-appeals	after the arb appeals]]. New words: [[county/glossary

Step 3: the informal meeting

You can meet with district staff before the formal hearing. Many cases settle here.² In 2025, WCAD held 82,163 informal hearings.¹ Owners who file online can get a settlement offer; 2,925 were accepted online in 2025.¹

Step 4: the ARB hearing

• You get written notice at least 15 days ahead. You can ask for the evidence the district will use.²
• You can attend in person, by phone or video, or send a written affidavit.²
• Both sides present evidence. The ARB rules on market value, not on whether taxes are too high or your personal finances.²
• In 2025, WCAD’s ARB held 5,283 hearings. 2,414 ended with a value change.¹ Another 7,622 protests were dismissed because no one attended.¹ In 2026, the ARB held 5,174 hearings and 1,802 ended with a value change.⁵

What evidence helps

The Comptroller suggests bringing:²

• photos of your property and of similar ones
• repair estimates or receipts
• your purchase price papers (closing statement, listing)
• recent sales of similar nearby homes
• surveys, plans or engineering reports, if they matter

Saying “the value is wrong” is not enough. You have to show why.

Agent or do it yourself?

Year	Protests	Filed by agents	Share
2021	63,220	37,940	60%
2025	106,418	82,794	78%
2026	113,238	92,192	81%

Sources: WCAD Annual Reports 2025 and 2026.¹⁵

• Doing it yourself costs nothing to file. You do the research and attend.
• A tax agent files and argues for you. You sign Form 50-162 to appoint one.² Agents usually charge a fee, often a share of any savings. Read the contract.
• How did 2026 protests turn out? WCAD’s open data lists each 2026 protest. For homes, about two in three protests filed by agents ended with a lower value. About four in five filed by owners did. The typical cut, when there was one, was about 2% for agent protests and about 4% for owner protests.⁶ These are market values, not tax bills. Owners who file on their own may differ from those who hire agents, so this does not prove one way works better. See who protests, and what changes.

If you still disagree

After the ARB order, you may be able to:²

• go to district court within 60 days (you must pay the undisputed taxes on time);
• ask for binding arbitration within 60 days, if it is your homestead or the value is $5M or less;
• appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings within 30 days, if the value is over $1M.

Sources

The other side

• The appraisal district must value property at market value under state law.² A higher value is not a mistake by itself.
• A protest can lower your value. It does not change the tax rates, which the taxing bodies set, not the appraisal district.²

Questions to ask

• Why did home protests filed by owners end with a lower value more often than those filed by agents this year?
• How can an owner ask the appraisal district for the evidence it will use at a hearing?
• Does the appraisal district report protest results for agents and owners apart?

Changes to this page

• Nov. 4, 2026: Added 2026 protest results by who filed, from the appraisal district’s open data. The page had said no such data existed.
• Nov. 2, 2026: The deadline table now counts the 30 days from when the notice is mailed, as state guidance says, not from when it arrives.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Revised the questions to ask after a second review.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Rewrote the questions to ask so each is open, neutral and addressed to the public body.
• Nov. 2, 2026: Added questions to ask.
• Nov. 2, 2026: We re-checked the deadlines and appeal figures against their sources. We reworded the other side so each point has a source.

Your property tax, step by step

1. Start: how your bill works → 2. Key dates → 3. Exemptions → 4. Protest your value → 5. Paying and getting help → 6. Appeals after the ARB → 7. Who does what → 8. Rate limits

Short reference pages: Where your tax bill goes · A 2026 bill, worked out · Estimated-tax website · Exemption checklist · Glossary

Footnotes

1. WCAD Annual Report 2025, “Property Appeals Results”, pp.22–24. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Texas Comptroller, “Appraisal Protests and Appeals”, https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/protests/ (read 2026-11-01). Texas Tax Code ch. 41–42, https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.41.htm. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

3. WCAD Annual Report 2025, property tax calendar, citing Tax Code §41.44(a)(1). ↩

4. Texas Comptroller, “Property Tax Law Deadlines,” https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/calendars/deadlines.php (saved copy, retrieved Nov 2026). Dates are as written in law; a weekend or holiday moves a deadline to the next business day (§1.06). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. WCAD 2026 Annual Report, “General Appeal Statistics” and “Property Appeals Results”, pp.21–23, https://www.wcad.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-Annual-Report.pdf (read 2026-11-01). ↩ ↩²

6. Williamson Central Appraisal District, Open Data, “Appeals” dataset, tax year 2026, data through July 30, 2026, CSV download read Nov. 4, 2026 (data.wcad.org). Counted by property; homes only. ↩