Texas Property Tax: How to Protest Your Appraisal (2026)

Texas has no income tax - but your property tax bill will remind you of that every January. Here’s how to keep it as low as legally possible.

Texas homeowners pay some of the highest property tax rates in the country, typically running 2.0–2.6% of the assessed value depending on where you live. On a $500,000 home, that’s $10,000–$13,000 per year - $833–$1,083 per month sitting in your escrow account.

The good news: Texas law gives homeowners significant tools to fight their appraisals, and thousands of Collin and Dallas County homeowners successfully lower their assessments every year. This guide explains exactly how the system works and how to use it.

How Texas Property Taxes Work

Your property tax bill is a product of two numbers: your appraised value and your tax rate. Each is determined separately:

• Appraised value: Set each January by your county’s Central Appraisal District (CAD). In Collin County, this is the Collin Central Appraisal District (CCAD). In Dallas County, it’s the Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD).
• Tax rate: Set by local taxing entities - your city, your school district, your county, and any special districts (MUD, hospital, college). Each entity sets its own rate; they stack together to create your total rate.

Your tax bill = (Appraised value − exemptions) × combined tax rate.

Example: A $550,000 home in Plano with a homestead exemption might be taxed on $535,000 at Plano’s 2025 combined rate of 1.71%, yielding an annual bill of approximately $9,150. The exemption figure here is illustrative — your actual homestead exemption depends on which entities you qualify with.

Tax Rates by City: What You’re Actually Paying

Rates shown are the 2025 tax year, reconciled against the Collin and Dallas county rate tables. They came down sharply in Collin County after the state’s school-tax compression — if you are working from a number closer to 2.2% for Plano or Frisco, it is out of date. Collin County levies no hospital district, which is the structural reason its cities sit below their Dallas County neighbors. MUD, PID and MMD districts add roughly 0.3–1.2% on top in many new-construction communities and are not included above. Always verify your specific address’s rates before buying.

Step 1: File Your Homestead Exemption (Do This First)

If you own and occupy your home as your primary residence, you qualify for the Texas homestead exemption. This is free money - but you have to apply for it. It doesn’t happen automatically.

• What it does: Reduces your taxable assessed value by $140,000 for school district taxes, plus a percentage exemption from your city and county. The school-district figure went from $100,000 to $140,000 under SB 4, approved by voters as Proposition 13 on November 4, 2025 and effective for the 2025 tax year. At Plano ISD's 2025 rate of roughly $1.04 per $100 of value, that exemption alone is worth about $1,455 a year; combined with the local-option exemptions, most homeowners here save somewhere in the $1,700-$3,000 range.
• When to apply: Any time after January 1 of the year you qualify. You can now apply up to two years retroactively.
• How to apply: Download Form 50-114 from your county appraisal district website (CCAD.net for Collin County; DCAD.org for Dallas County). Submit with a copy of your driver’s license showing the property address.
• Annual cap: With a homestead exemption, your appraised value can only increase 10% per year for tax purposes regardless of market value - a major protection in rising markets.

The homestead exemption application deadline is April 30 for the current tax year. File it the moment you close - don’t wait.

Step 2: Review Your Appraisal Notice (Arrives April–May)

Each spring, the appraisal district mails a Notice of Appraised Value. This is the number they’re using to calculate your tax bill. Review it carefully:

• Is the description of your property correct? (Square footage, bedroom count, lot size)
• Does the appraised value seem significantly higher than your home’s actual market value?
• Has it jumped dramatically from last year?

If the answer to any of these is yes, you have grounds to protest. The protest deadline is typically May 15 or 30 days from the date on the notice, whichever is later.

Step 3: How to Protest Your Appraisal

Texas property owners have the right to protest their appraisal every year. Most protests are settled through an informal hearing - you don’t need a lawyer.

What Evidence Works in a Protest

• Comparable sales: Recent closed sales of similar homes in your neighborhood that sold for less than your appraised value. Pull these from Zillow, Realtor.com, or request them from your real estate agent.
• Your purchase price: If you bought your home recently and paid less than the appraised value, that’s compelling evidence - especially within 12–18 months of purchase.
• Condition documentation: Photos of needed repairs, inspection reports noting significant deferred maintenance, foundation issues, roof condition - all reduce market value and support a lower appraisal.
• Property description errors: If the appraisal district has the wrong square footage, wrong bedroom count, or incorrect lot size - correcting these facts can reduce your bill.

Other Exemptions Worth Knowing

• Over-65 exemption: An additional $60,000 school district exemption on top of the $140,000 general homestead amount, plus a ceiling that freezes your school district taxes at the level set the year you qualify. The additional amount rose from $10,000 to $60,000 under SB 23, approved by voters as Proposition 11 in November 2025. Stacked, that is $200,000 off your taxable value for school taxes before the city and county exemptions.
• Disability exemption: Similar benefits to the over-65 exemption for qualifying disabled homeowners.
• Veteran exemptions: 100% disabled veterans may qualify for full property tax exemption on their primary residence.
• Agricultural exemption (ag exemption): For qualifying agricultural use - relevant for buyers purchasing rural properties in Collin or Denton counties.

All exemption forms are available at your county’s appraisal district website. File early - most have deadlines of April 30 or May 1.

If You’re Protesting and Thinking About Selling

A lot of people land on their appraisal notice in the same year they start wondering what the house is actually worth. It’s worth being clear that these are two different numbers. Your appraisal district’s value is a mass-appraisal estimate produced without anyone walking through your home. What a buyer will pay is set by condition, finishes, and what else is on the market that week - which is why a protest and a pricing conversation use different comparable sales and often land in different places.

Winning a protest does not lower your sale price, and a high appraised value is not evidence your home will sell for that. If you’re weighing a sale in the next year or two, the number that actually matters is what you’d net after commissions, title, and payoff - not what the county thinks.

New Buyers: Your First Year Action List

1. File your homestead exemption within the first few weeks of closing.
2. Set a calendar reminder for April 30 each year to check your Notice of Appraised Value.
3. Review the appraisal against recent comparables before the protest deadline.
4. File a protest every year - even if you only get a small reduction, the process costs nothing and compounds over time.

Property taxes are the ongoing cost that most buyers underestimate when they’re focused on getting their offer accepted. I walk every buyer I work with through the tax picture for their specific address before closing - because surprises at year-end tax season shouldn’t be surprises.