Your property appraisal notice is the county’s opening position on what your home is worth, and it starts a short, strict clock for disagreeing with that number.
- Every property tax notice in Texas goes out by April 1 for homesteads and May 1 for other property, and must show prior-year values, current-year values, and every exemption on file.
- Three different dollar figures appear on the same page, and only one of them is the number you actually protest.
- If your value rises by more than $1,000, the district is legally required to mail you a notice, and larger counties now post updated records online weekly so you can check before it arrives.
- The filing deadline is May 15 or 30 days after the district mails your notice, whichever falls later.
Read the notice the week it arrives, check the value against real closed sales, and file your protest instead of deciding whether the increase feels big enough to bother with.
Each spring, one envelope arrives that quietly shapes the largest local bill you will pay all year. It carries no payment stub and no amount due, which is exactly why so many people set it aside. The property appraisal notice that Texas homeowners receive is the county’s proposed value for their property, and it opens the only window in the calendar year for disagreeing with that figure.
That window matters even after historic tax relief. In November 2025, Texas voters approved 17 constitutional amendments, six aimed at lowering property taxes, including Proposition 13, which raised the school district homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000, and Proposition 11, which added $60,000 more for seniors and homeowners with disabilities. Exemptions shrink the slice of value that gets taxed. They do nothing about whether the number on your Texas property appraisal notice was accurate to begin with.
What Is a Property Appraisal Notice in Texas?
The document is officially titled the Notice of Appraised Value, and it comes from your County Appraisal District (CAD), the local body that values every property in the county. Under Texas Tax Code Section 25.19, the chief appraiser must mail it by April 1 for a single-family residence or by May 1 for other property, or as soon after as practicable.
It is not a bill. Your actual tax bill arrives months later from a separate office, the County Tax Assessor-Collector, after local taxing entities adopt their rates in September and October. What the notice tells you is what your CAD believes your property was worth as of January 1. That is the valuation date, meaning the figure reflects your property’s condition and the market on the first day of the year, no matter when the envelope lands.
Why Did You Receive a Notice This Year?
Districts do not mail a notice to every owner every year. State law triggers one when your value rose above the previous year, when it exceeds what you reported on a rendition, when the property was not on the district’s records the year before, or when an exemption approved last year was canceled or reduced. District boards may also opt to send notices only when a value climbs by more than $1,000.
That last trigger is the one homeowners most often miss. If your homestead exemption was removed or reduced, a notice is coming even if your value barely moved, and it is your early warning that taxable value is about to jump. Appraisal districts are required to audit exemption records at least once every five years under Tax Code Section 11.43(h-1), and homeowners who ignore a verification request can lose the exemption altogether. Answer anything your CAD sends promptly.
What If Your Notice Has Not Arrived Yet?
You are entitled to a notice whenever your value goes up, and a district board can set that floor no higher than $1,000. So if your value climbed by more than that, a notice is owed to you. Mail still goes astray, though, and you do not have to wait on it. Under House Bill 1533, effective September 1, 2025, every appraisal district in a county of 120,000 or more must maintain a website and post its completed appraisal records there, updated at least weekly to reflect any change in appraised value.
For most Texas homeowners, the number is online in early April whether or not paper arrives. Look your property up on your CAD’s site, note the account number and current value, and treat that as your working copy of the notice. If your value moved and nothing ever reached you, contact the district, because a missing notice does not shorten your right to protest the tax appraised value.
How Do You Read the Values on Your Notice?
The layout varies by county, but the required contents do not. State law requires every notice to list the taxing units involved, last year’s appraised and taxable values, this year’s appraised value, each approved exemption for both years, a circuit breaker statement for non-homestead property, an explanation of how to protest, and the date the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) begins hearings. The side-by-side prior-year columns are the fastest read on the page, since a double-digit jump against a flat local market is the clearest sign the district is working from stale data. Here is your appraisal notice explained figure by figure.
Market Value, Tax Appraised Value, and Why They Differ
Your notice will show a line labeled “Market Value.” That is the CAD’s estimate of what your property would sell for under normal open-market conditions as of January 1. Throughout the protest process this figure is called your tax appraised value, because it is the number the county assigns for tax purposes and the number a protest actually challenges. Both terms describe the same dollar amount, so when your market value notice arrives, that single line is the one your protest targets.
Directly beneath it you may see a separate “Appraised Value” line showing a lower amount. For homesteads, Tax Code Section 23.23 caps how fast that figure can climb, limiting the annual increase to 10 percent plus the value of any new improvements. The cap applies only once your homestead exemption has been in place for both the preceding and current year, which usually means it does not begin until your second year of ownership. Understanding tax appraised value versus market value separates reading your notice accurately from guessing at it.
Taxable Value, or Net Appraised Value, and Your Exemptions
The last figure in the chain is taxable value, what remains after exemptions are subtracted. Many counties print this line as Net Appraised Value, so take care not to read it as the Appraised Value line above it. One is your capped value before exemptions come off. The other is the number your tax rate actually gets applied to. The increases voters approved in November 2025 are not something to wait for. The higher homestead exemption applied to the 2025 tax year and forward, so it should already appear on your notice. Seniors and homeowners with a qualifying disability now carry a combined $200,000 school district exemption.
Confirm every exemption you qualify for shows up in the current-year column, then compare it against last year’s. Exemptions reduce the value that gets taxed, while a protest reduces the value those exemptions are subtracted from, so the two work on different parts of the same calculation.
Counties do not use identical labels, which is the single most common reason homeowners misread their notice. Here is how the same three figures tend to appear.
| What it represents | Labels you may see | Is this the number you protest? |
| The county’s opinion of what your property would sell for | Market Value, Total Market Value, Total Value | Yes. This is your tax appraised value. |
| The capped figure for a qualified homestead | Appraised Value, Capped Value, Assessed Value | No |
| What your tax rate is applied to after exemptions | Net Appraised Value, Taxable Value, Net Assessed Value | No |
If your county’s wording does not match any of these, call the appraisal district and ask which line is the market value. That is the figure a protest challenges.
What Deadlines Does Your Texas Property Appraisal Notice Trigger?
The filing deadline is May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal district mails your notice, whichever falls later. The clock runs from the mailing date, not the day you opened the envelope, so a notice mailed April 28 gives you until roughly May 28. A notice mailed in mid-March does not extend anything past May 15.
Once a protest is filed, the ARB must send notice of your hearing at least 15 days in advance. At least 14 days before it, the appraisal district must send the ARB hearing procedures and a statement that you may request copies of the information it plans to use. Requesting that packet is one of the highest-value steps available, because it shows which comparable sales the district built its case on. Our breakdown of the Texas property tax protest deadline covers the timing in detail.
6 Things to Check on Your Property Tax Notice in Texas
Working through these six items takes about fifteen minutes.
- The property description. Confirm the address, legal description, and account number match.
- The market value line. This is what a market value notice really exists to deliver. It is your tax appraised value, the number a protest challenges.
- Every exemption listed. Compare current-year against prior-year and flag anything missing or reduced.
- The year-over-year change. Measure it against what comparable homes in your area actually sold for in the twelve months before January 1.
- The taxing units. The homestead exemption applies to school district taxes specifically.
- The protest instructions and ARB start date. Every notice carries both, plus a protest form.
What Should You Do After You Read the Notice?
Reading the notice is step one. What you do in the following two weeks is what changes the outcome, because a property tax notice in Texas is only useful if it prompts action before the filing window closes.
Protest the Value Every Year, Without Exception
Protesting annually is worthwhile whether the value looks high, looks fair, or barely moved. The only way to know your value is fair is to run the process and find out, and filing costs nothing.
For most homeowners, a reduction in tax appraised value flows straight through to a lower tax bill. A narrower group, typically long-tenured homesteaders whose tax appraised value has outrun the 10 percent cap for years, may find the cap is already holding taxable value below the appraised figure. Even then, the protest lowers the baseline every future year is measured against, which is why how Texas caps appraisal increases matters to the long-term math.
Build Your Case on Closed Sales and Written Estimates
Two categories of evidence carry weight. The first is closed comparable sales, meaning homes similar to yours that sold in the twelve months before January 1 of the protest year. Texas is a non-disclosure state, so sale prices are not in public records, and unverified numbers from general real estate websites do not hold up at a hearing. Active and pending listings are not evidence, because nothing has been proven about what a buyer will pay.
The second is written contractor estimates for condition problems that existed before January 1. A foundation issue documented in February of the protest year falls outside the valuation window. Our guide to evidence that holds up at hearings covers how these fit together.
Pulling those sales and adjusting them properly is where most homeowners run out of time, which is why Texas lets you appoint a representative to file and appear for you. Licensed, local property tax professionals do this daily and know which sales a given district accepts. If you hire help, be wary of anyone promising a specific dollar reduction, because no company can legally promise a particular outcome.
Send Record Errors and Exemption Issues Straight to the CAD
If your notice shows the wrong square footage, an extra bathroom, or a garage you do not have, that is a records problem. Record corrections are handled directly with the appraisal district as an administrative matter, not through a protest. The same applies to exemptions: filing for a homestead, over-65, or disabled veteran exemption goes directly to your CAD, and it is simple enough that most homeowners do it themselves without paying anyone.
Fixing the record will not lower your value on its own, but it means next spring’s valuation starts from accurate data. Keep the two tracks separate: a protest challenges the tax appraised value and nothing else.
Frequently Asked Questions About Your Texas Property Appraisal Notice
My value went up more than 10 percent. Is that allowed? Yes. The 10 percent limit applies to the appraised value of a qualified homestead, not to the market value line, and it requires the exemption to have been in place for both the preceding and current year. New improvements that add square footage sit outside the cap.
My value dropped, but I think it should have dropped further. Can I still protest? Yes. You may protest any tax appraised value you believe is inaccurate. A decrease that lags behind a cooling local market is a legitimate basis for challenging the figure.
What if I never received a notice I was entitled to? You can still protest your tax appraised value. Missing paperwork does not remove your right to challenge the number, though you need to act before the delinquency date and keep your taxes current. Checking your CAD’s website in early April is the simpler safeguard.
I missed the deadline entirely. Is anything left? Rarely, and it is not a substitute for filing on time. A motion for correction exists for extreme cases, requiring the district to have appraised your residence homestead at least one-fourth higher than its correct value, with the threshold at one-third for non-homestead property. Errors that large are uncommon. Taxes on the undisputed portion must still be paid before the delinquency date, and the option disappears entirely if the property was already protested that year. Treat the May 15 window as your only real opportunity and the motion as a long shot.
Does protesting risk my value going up? Filing is your statutory right and costs nothing. The ARB decides on the evidence both sides present, and a protest is the only way to test whether your tax appraised value is accurate.
Turn This Spring’s Notice Into a Fair Value
The notice in your mailbox is a proposal, not a verdict. Texas built an annual protest right into the system because mass appraisal, applied across hundreds of thousands of properties at once, cannot see the condition of your roof or the drainage problem in your backyard. The homeowners who pay a fair share are the ones who read the notice and file every year.
Doing that well takes closed sales data, adjusted comparables, and someone willing to sit through the hearing, which is why many homeowners hand the process to a professional instead. Our licensed, local professionals work your case entirely online, and our hybrid pricing, a modest upfront fee plus a percentage of savings, is built so every property gets a full protest rather than only the ones that look like easy wins. For a protest carried all the way through, that is the best value a Texas homeowner can get. At Home Tax Shield, we handle it start to finish, every year, so you never have to wonder whether your value is fair. Get started with our team and let us take this spring’s notice from here.