How do I protest my property taxes in Texas?

File a written notice of protest with your appraisal district by May 15, or 30 days after the district mails your notice of appraised value, whichever is later. Comptroller Form 50-132 works. The appraisal review board must give at least 15 days notice of the hearing, which you may attend in person, by phone, by video or by affidavit.

You are not protesting the tax. You are protesting the value.

This distinction decides whether a protest goes anywhere. The appraisal district determines value and administers exemptions. Tax rates are set by each taxing unit's governing body — the school board, the city council, the commissioners court. The appraisal review board cannot lower a rate, and arguing at a hearing that your bill is too high is arguing to the wrong body.

What you can protest at the appraisal district is the district's work: the appraised value, whether it is unequal compared with similar properties, whether the district has your property's characteristics right, whether an exemption was wrongly denied, and other determinations that affect your liability (Texas Comptroller).

The deadline, stated exactly

May 15, or 30 days after the appraisal district mails the notice of appraised value, whichever is later (Texas Comptroller).

Three details inside that sentence do real work:

"Whichever is later." A late-mailed notice extends your deadline. It does not shorten it. If the district mails on May 20, you get 30 days from May 20, not until May 15.
Counted from mailing, not delivery. The clock starts when the district drops it in the mail. Mail that sits in a forwarded box or a vacation hold is still running. Ask the district for the mailing date if the postmark is gone.
Weekends and holidays roll forward. A deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next business day.

The district is required to send the notice of appraised value by May 1, or by April 1 for a residence homestead, or as soon as practical after (Tax Code §25.19, via the Comptroller). Homesteads get the earlier notice, which in practice means homeowners have more runway than owners of other property types.

Filing it is simpler than people expect

A protest is sufficient if it is in writing and identifies:

the property,
the property owner, and
a subject showing the owner is dissatisfied with some determination of the appraisal district.

(Texas Comptroller)

That is the whole bar. There is a standard form — Comptroller Form 50-132, Notice of Protest — and most districts accept online filing, but the statute does not require a specific format. A letter that identifies the property and says what you disagree with works.

Because the bar is that low, there is no strategic reason to skip filing while you decide whether to pursue it. File, then work the case. Withdrawing later costs nothing.

For a Boerne or Kendall County property, this goes to the Kendall Appraisal District (kendallad.org). Boerne is in Kendall County, not Bexar County and not in the City of San Antonio, so Bexar CAD's deadlines, portals and procedures are not yours.

What happens next

The appraisal review board must give you at least 15 days notice of the hearing date, time and place (Texas Comptroller).

You may appear:

in person,
by telephone or videoconference, or
by written affidavit.

The affidavit option gets overlooked. An owner who cannot take a weekday morning off, or who has moved out of state, can still put evidence in front of the board in writing. It is a real option, not a formality.

Many districts also offer an informal conference with an appraiser before the formal hearing. A large share of protests resolve there. It is worth asking whether the district offers one and taking it.

What evidence actually moves a value

The board decides on evidence. The arguments that carry weight are the ones that attack the district's own inputs:

Condition. Foundation movement, a roof at end of life, failed septic, deferred maintenance, an unpermitted addition. Photographs and contractor bids, not descriptions.
Characteristics that are wrong. Square footage, year built, bathroom count, pool that is not there, a second structure that was demolished. Districts appraise from records, and records go stale.
Comparable sales. What similar properties actually sold for around January 1 of the tax year. Not asking prices.
Unequal appraisal. Your value compared with the appraised values of comparable properties in the district. This is a separate ground from market value and sometimes the stronger one.
An exemption that was denied or never posted. Check the notice for the exemptions you expect to see; a missing homestead exemption is its own problem and often a bigger number than a value argument.

Hill Country acreage has its own set of issues that districts frequently miss: usable versus unusable slope, actual road access, whether the well produces, whether a floodplain crosses the buildable area, and whether an ag or wildlife valuation is being applied correctly.

After the ARB

If you disagree with the board's determination, Texas provides appeal routes beyond the ARB, including judicial appeal and, for some matters, binding arbitration or an appeal to the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Each has its own deadline, filing requirement and cost, and the right route depends on the property type and what is being disputed. That is a question for a Texas real estate attorney or a licensed property tax consultant, not something to work out from a web page.

Two things worth checking before you protest

Is the homestead cap already holding your value down? A homesteaded property's net appraised value cannot rise more than 10% per year. If the cap is already limiting what you are taxed on, the market value shown on the notice may be well above your taxable value, and the protest math is different from what the headline number suggests.

Do you own non-homestead property? A separate 20% circuit breaker under Tax Code §23.231 limits annual appraised value increases on qualifying non-homestead real property valued at or below a threshold that is indexed annually — confirm the current figure with your appraisal district. It was created by SB 2 (2023) as a pilot for tax years 2024, 2025 and 2026, and it expires after the 2026 tax year unless the Legislature renews it. No application is required; the district applies it automatically, and the owner must have held the property for at least one full calendar year to qualify (Travis Central Appraisal District). Check your notice to see whether it was applied, and plan for the possibility that it is gone in 2027.

The honest expectation

A protest is not a negotiation over what you want to pay. It is an evidentiary argument about what the property was worth on January 1 and whether the district appraised it the way it appraised similar property. Owners who bring documents win more than owners who bring opinions.

Value, exemptions and hearing procedure are all determined by the appraisal district and its review board. For appeal strategy beyond the ARB, talk to a Texas real estate attorney or a licensed property tax consultant, and take any tax consequences to a CPA.

Questions about a specific property?

Call or text 830-446-3847 · Email heath.shepard@kw.com

This page explains the Texas property tax protest process. It is not legal or tax advice. Value and exemption determinations are made by your appraisal district and its review board; appeal strategy is a question for a Texas real estate attorney or licensed property tax consultant.