Calculator · Tax Code §41.44
Protest your appraisal: the deadline and what it's worth
Every spring the appraisal district mails a number. You're allowed to disagree with it — by May 15 or 30 days after the notice, whichever is later. Put in your notice and your own estimate; we'll show the deadline, what a win could save, and where to file.
Nobody at the appraisal district takes it personally. They book hearings for it all summer.
Example inputs. Replace them with yours.
For a homestead this is the capped value. It can be lower than the market value.
Same as the appraised value unless the 10% cap kicked in.
Back it with recent sales of similar houses, repair bids and photos.
Add up the rates on your tax statement. They're per $100 of value, which is the same as a percent. 2.1 is an example — enter your rate from your tax statement.
The date printed on it. Not here yet? We assume April 15.
Your numbers
Potential savings this year
$420
if the appraisal review board agrees with your number · at 2.1%
Three years, if the market stays flat: $1,260
Protest deadline
Monday, May 17, 2027
May 15 or 30 days after the notice was mailed, whichever is later: Saturday, May 15, 2027.
That's a Saturday, so the deadline moves to the next business day (Tax Code §1.06).
File early. A protest only has to name you and the property and say you disagree (§41.44(d)); the evidence comes later, at the informal meeting or the hearing.
Where to file
Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD)
Look up your account under Search Appraisals, open it, and choose uFile Online Protest. You'll need the PIN printed on your notice.
| Tax year | If you don't protest | If you win | You'd save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $300,000 | $280,000 | $420 |
| 2028 | $300,000 | $280,000 | $420 |
| 2029 | $300,000 | $280,000 | $420 |
| Three-year total | $1,260 | ||
65 or older, or disabled? Your school taxes are frozen at a ceiling (Tax Code §11.26), so a win may save less on that line.
This page is a do-it-yourself guide. We don't file protests for anyone, paid or free. In Texas, representing someone else in a protest for pay generally takes a property tax consultant registration with TDLR (Occupations Code §1152.151), with narrow exceptions (§1152.002).
How we figured this
- Savings = (appraised value − your number) × your combined tax rate. Flat-dollar exemptions, like the school homestead exemption, don't change that math unless they already take your taxable value to zero. A percentage exemption does: a city or county that takes 20% off a homestead (Tax Code §11.13(n)) taxes only 80% of any reduction, so that unit's share of the savings is 20% smaller.
- Homestead cap: a homestead's appraised value can rise to the lesser of market value or 110% of last year's appraised value plus new improvements (Tax Code §23.23). This year's appraised value is next year's starting point, which is why protesting the market value still matters in a year the cap means you save nothing.
- The three-year view assumes a flat market: the district keeps its number if you don't protest, and your number holds if you win. After a protest lowers a value, the district has to back any increase the next year with clear and convincing evidence (§23.01(e)).
- Deadline: May 15 or the 30th day after the notice was delivered, whichever is later (§41.44(a)(1)). A mailed notice counts as delivered the day it's mailed (§1.07(c)). A deadline on a Saturday, Sunday or a Texas state or national holiday (Gov't Code §662.003) moves to the next business day (§1.06). We don't count observed Mondays, so if your district closes that day, file before it.
- Missed it? The appraisal review board may still hear a late protest filed before it approves the records, if you show good cause (§41.44(b)).
- Rentals and other non-homestead property under about $5 million had a 20% cap for tax years 2024–2026 (§23.231). As the law reads today, it expires December 31, 2026, so this estimator applies no cap to non-homestead property.
If the tax bill is part of why you're thinking about selling, get the three numbers first — cash, list and creative, in writing within 24 hours.
We'll carry it to the form so you don't type it twice. It stays in this browser tab, never in the link, and nothing is sent until you submit that form.
Before the hearing
Evidence that works
- Closed sales of similar houses near yours from the last year — the district's own evidence packet is a good place to start.
- Written repair bids for anything a buyer would price in: foundation, roof, plumbing.
- Dated photos of the problems.
Sources
- Texas Tax Code §41.44 — notice of protest
- Texas Tax Code §23.23 — homestead appraisal cap; §23.01(e); §23.231
- Texas Tax Code §1.06 and §1.07 — weekends, holidays, delivery
- Texas Government Code §662.003 — holidays
- Texas Occupations Code ch. 1152 — property tax consultants
- Comptroller Form 50-132 — Notice of Protest
Statutes checked and district links opened October 5, 2026.