Texas property tax law changes every few years. See the latest posts for the most up-to-date information.
For Texas property owners, there’s a good chance you’re paying more in taxes than you need to. Ostensibly, home values and property tax rates for Texas homeowners have become much trickier. On the plus side, median home prices shot up significantly — a 2020–2022 Texas real estate report shows that median home prices rose to 15.5% in the Houston metro, 19% in DFW, and an incredible 22% in the Austin-Round Rock area.
Overall, median prices rose 15.7% across Texas. Of course, this also means median taxable values have skyrocketed accordingly. As we’ll discover, there’s much more to it than meets the eye. Higher median rates are a mighty double-edged sword in states with higher property tax rates.
Texas homeowners can help level the playing field by exercising their right to a property tax protest and providing evidence of a more accurate assessment of their property. With the streamlined, algorithm-powered tax protest services available today to help homeowners, this process has never been easier.
Bittersweet Real Estate Gains and Its Affect on Property Tax Rates in Texas
It’s difficult for Texas homeowners to know what to root for. As far as the market value of one of their most essential assets goes, nothing beats seeing property values rise substantially in a few short years.
At the same time, this causes an immediate cash-flow crunch as taxable property values also rise. The bitter-sweet victory Texas homeowners just experienced becomes a bit sweeter, however, with a better understanding of how Texas’ property tax rates can be better calculated to your advantage.
Without impacting the actual marketable value of your home, it’s possible to work with local taxing authorities to get a lower taxable value of your property than they initially calculated. Tax assessments are often based on crude estimates that fail to consider the nuances that impact your property’s actual market value in any given year, which in turn affects the amount you end up paying. If you think this may be the case with your property, your next step is initiating a property tax protest.
With the correct data on your side, you can prove that the valid taxable value of your home is lower by showing that a more appropriately appraised value of your home is less than the median value they presume.
What Is a Homestead Cap and How Does it Affect My Property Tax Rates?
The Texas Property Tax Code states that home values or taxes cannot increase more than 10% per year under the homestead exemption (if the residence in question is your primary residence). This is also known as the “homestead cap.” This is good news if you are able to lower your property tax assessment through a property tax protest because it means that your taxes will remain lower in the following years as well.
As explained above, assessments are not always made on a house-by-house appraisal. This is key, as the exact terminology used in Texas’ Title 26 Tax Code is “appraised value.” It’s not necessarily true that the market value used by most CADs, which is an estimate, must be used to determine your property’s taxable value. It is only relied on in the absence of accurate appraisals on each property, which can vary significantly.
The takeaway here is that there is flexibility in the assessed value of your home, and this is why Texas offers a property tax protest to its citizens. Keep in mind the county does not have to accept your argument if they determine it is invalid or inaccurate, but the process exists to give homeowners a chance to show evidence of information the taxing authorities may not have had when making their initial determination.
Related: What Is the Texas Property Tax Appraisal Increase Limit, and How Can it Save You Money?
Using Exact Figures Over Estimates to Lower Your Property Tax Rates
Fortunately, filing a protest and going through the process of ensuring the appraisal that determines your property tax amount is, in fact, correctly calculated doesn’t need to be complex or expensive.
The power of data science and advanced algorithms is now in the hands of experienced tax protest professionals highly familiar with your options, which may vary throughout the state of Texas. If gathering appropriate information or attending a hearing sounds intimidating or like a hassle, it’s easy to get professional help to ensure your taxes are accurate and fair.
A property tax protest service can represent you and help you with every part of the process, from gathering information to meeting with the board to state your case. Experienced tax protest professionals know precisely how to conduct a tax protest, having saved innumerable Texans thousands of dollars, and using this method will not only help you ensure your tax bill is accurate this year but will also keep your tax bill lower in future years as well.
Related: 8 Reasons to Protest Your Tax Appraisal in Texas
The Impact of Exemptions on Property Taxes in Texas
While exemptions don’t impact your property tax rates in Texas, they can impact the amount that is subject to that property tax — and in a pretty big way. For example, a Homestead Exemption will take $40,000 off your property’s taxable value before the school tax you must pay is calculated. This can decrease your final bill by hundreds of dollars.
It’s now possible to apply for an exemption right away, even immediately after purchasing a home. Because the state of Texas recently did away with exemption deadlines, there is no longer a limited time window to begin leveraging exemptions as fully as possible. Take advantage of this by sending in your exemption applications early.
We won’t cover exemptions in detail in this blog or delve into the questions you might have about them, but be sure to investigate all your options to get the maximum benefit for your unique situation.
When you come to a property tax protest expert ready to reduce your Texas property tax values even further, you’ll have a powerful one-two punch that can phenomenally reduce your property taxes to record lows.
Correcting Property Value Records
At the heart of examining property tax values, exploring exemptions, and initiating tax protests, you’ll find the goal of determining the correctly appraised value of your property, which is how you determine the most accurate taxable value of that estate.
This can quickly become complex if you let it, but it becomes much clearer after establishing the actual value of your property. Once you petition the taxing officials to use your more accurate figure and adequately show that they are liable to use it, everything comes together in your best interest. Texas property tax rates can once again work in your favor — but only for those who don’t slumber on their rights.
Finding the Right Tax Protest Ally
Hiring a local property tax expert helps you ensure you’ve filled out the proper applications with the correct information and sent them to the right places at the right time. It also helps ensure you have the support you need to make the entire process simple and efficient. As a result, you’ll make the most of what’s already available, ensuring you pay only the fairest and most reasonable taxes.
Dealing with a bureaucratic labyrinth like the tax codes can become like taking on an unpaid side job to ensure everything is done fairly and to your best advantage. With increasingly stringent tax policies, though, more taxpayers than ever see it as less costly to take the time to learn how to improve their relationship with taxing agencies.
And with Texas’ property tax rates climbing higher, heeding actual figures over crude estimates should be considered the new minimum standard. As always, it’s up to the fourth branch of government (and that’s you) to make it easier for government officials to have your record straight.
One solution for this is partnering with those who know the ins and outs of property tax laws and have interests that align with your own. Their mission is to help ensure the figures used to calculate your property’s taxable value are based on your home’s real, provable market value.
Tax Protesting Done the Right Way
When it comes to protesting your taxes and ensuring you only pay what you legitimately owe, Home Tax Shield can help. We are the preeminent property tax experts serving homeowners across Texas and provide the most professional property tax services. Other property tax services charge up to 40% more and may drag you through lengthy and laborious sign-up procedures — ours is a one-step process that takes only 3 minutes. Sign up with Home Tax Shield today if you’d like help keeping your taxes low with an affordable and effective tax protest service.