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Property tax, protested.
HCAD, FBCAD, MCAD, and Brazoria CAD mail appraisal notices every April. The deadline to protest is May 15 or 30 days from the notice. Owners who protest with evidence usually win a reduction.
What the notice means
Updated August 31, 2026. One change took effect September 1, 2026 that touches this process: HB 3307 now requires a Comptroller-registered arbitrator to complete eight hours of continuing education every two years to stay on the binding-arbitration registry. Your deadlines, evidence and deposit do not change. See every Texas law effective September 1, 2026.
The appraisal district sets the value. You can challenge it.
Every Greater Houston county has its own appraisal district: HCAD for Harris County, FBCAD for Fort Bend County, MCAD for Montgomery County, and the Brazoria County Appraisal District. Each one mails a Notice of Appraised Value to property owners in April, showing the value the district has set for the property as of January 1 of that year. That value drives the property tax bill the following October.
The notice usually includes two numbers: the appraised (market) value and the assessed value. The assessed value is the number actually used to calculate taxes — and for homestead-exempt properties, the assessed value cannot increase more than 10% per year regardless of how high the appraised market value goes. That cap is one of the most valuable benefits of the homestead exemption in Texas.
The action window is short. The deadline to file a protest is May 15 or 30 days from the date the notice was mailed, whichever is later. Miss the deadline and the appraisal becomes final for the year — no appeals, no second chances. Calendar the deadline as soon as the notice arrives.
The three protest grounds
File on at least one. File on all three when applicable.
Market value too high
The district’s appraised value exceeds what the property would actually sell for on January 1. Evidence: recent sale of the subject property, comparable sales of similar homes nearby that sold for less, recent appraisal from a refinance or purchase, documentation of condition issues (foundation, deferred maintenance, flood damage history) that reduce market value.
Unequal appraisal
The property is appraised higher than other similar properties in the same neighborhood. Evidence: a list of comparable nearby properties with their appraised values from the district’s own records, showing that the subject is being valued out of line with similar homes. This ground often wins even when market value is technically defensible.
Exemption denied or wrong
The district failed to apply a homestead exemption, over-65 exemption, disability exemption, or veteran exemption that the owner is entitled to. Evidence: documentation of eligibility (ID showing the address, proof of age, VA disability rating, etc.) plus the original exemption application if the issue is administrative.
The walkthrough
Six steps from notice to resolution.
Read the notice carefully
Note the appraised value, the assessed value, the date the notice was mailed, the protest deadline, and whether any exemptions are reflected on the notice. If a homestead exemption is missing, that’s a separate fix that usually doesn’t even require a protest — just an exemption application.
Pull the evidence package
Comparable sales of similar nearby homes that closed for less than the district’s appraised value (a Houston REALTOR® can pull these from the MLS). The district’s own data on appraised values for similar properties in the neighborhood (the unequal-appraisal evidence). Documentation of any condition issues with photos, repair estimates, or inspection reports.
File the protest online
Each county appraisal district has an online portal. HCAD uses iFile, FBCAD uses an online protest system, MCAD has an online process, Brazoria CAD has an online portal. Select the protest grounds, attach evidence, and submit before midnight on the deadline date. Confirmation emails should arrive immediately — save them.
Informal hearing with an appraiser
Before the formal hearing, the district usually offers an informal phone or in-person conversation with one of their appraisers. Present the evidence calmly, respond to questions about the property, and listen for a settlement offer. Many Houston protests resolve at this stage with a meaningful reduction.
Formal hearing with the Appraisal Review Board
If the informal settlement is unacceptable, the protest moves to the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) — a panel of citizens that hears the case formally. Present the evidence, allow the district’s appraiser to present theirs, and the panel rules. The hearing is usually 15–30 minutes.
Appeal options if the ARB ruling disappoints
Three appeal paths: binding arbitration (limited to properties at certain value tiers), State Office of Administrative Hearings (more complex, less commonly used), or district court litigation (highest cost, highest stakes). Most owners stop at the ARB unless the protest is over a substantial valuation difference.
Harris County, online
iFile, iSettle, then the ARB: the Harris County path.
Most Harris County owners never sit in a hearing. HCAD’s online system takes the protest, has an appraiser review your opinion of value, and schedules the Appraisal Review Board only if you turn the result down. Here is the path as HCAD describes it.
Find the two numbers on the notice
Your account number and your unique iFile number print in the upper right corner of the Notice of Appraised Value. You need both to file online.
Log in at owners.hcad.org
First-time users create an account; returning users log in. This is HCAD’s Electronic Filing and Notice System, and the iFile Protest link on hcad.org lands in the same place.
File, and tick the iSettle box
Choose your grounds, enter your opinion of value, and check the iSettle option. HCAD verifies the protest by email right away. Keep that email with the notice.
An appraiser reviews your opinion against the market
HCAD reviews your data alongside other market information and emails a decision on the iSettle request. You get online access to the information behind it, including the comparable sales the appraiser used.
Accept, or reject and go to the ARB
If the decision works, accept it and the year is done. If not, HCAD schedules a formal Appraisal Review Board hearing. The ARB must send the hearing notice at least 15 days ahead, and HCAD holds Saturday hearings in June and July for owners who cannot come in on a weekday.
Ask for the district’s evidence before the hearing
Texas law lets you request the information the district will use at your hearing. The district must deliver it at least 14 days before the hearing, with the Comptroller’s taxpayer pamphlet and the hearing procedures. Read it before you walk in. It tells you which comps you have to answer.
The other three districts
Fort Bend (FBCAD)
One online filing covers the protest and an online informal conference with a registered FBCAD appraiser, through the property owner portal (account required); a separate eFile option needs no account. If a settlement is reached, the formal hearing is cancelled. FBCAD states the deadline as May 15 or 30 days after the notice was mailed, whichever is later. In 2026 the notices reached mailboxes in the last week of April.
Montgomery (MCAD)
Protests run through MCAD’s online Public Portal at mcad-tx.org. The portal is an app rather than a set of pages, so start from its home screen with the same notice numbers in hand. The statutory deadline applies: May 15 or 30 days from the notice, whichever is later.
Brazoria County (BCAD)
File through Online Protest, inside the district’s online portal, with a help page that walks the steps. The district cites the Tax Code directly: notices go out by April 1 for single-family homes and by May 1 for other property, or as soon after as practicable.
Dates set by law
The protest calendar, from notice to tax bill.
Some of these dates are fixed in the Tax Code. The rest move with your notice or your hearing, which is why the date printed on your notice always controls.
The district values your home as of this day. Sales that close after it are context, not comps.
April 1 for a single-family home, May 1 for other property, “or as soon thereafter as practicable.” In practice, Greater Houston notices land in April.
Or 30 days after the notice, whichever is later. Online portals take filings until midnight on the deadline date.
The ARB must send the hearing notice at least 15 days ahead. In counties over 120,000 people you can ask for it by email and for a text reminder.
If you asked, the district must deliver the evidence it will use at least 14 days ahead. Ask when you file.
HCAD holds Saturday hearings in June and July. Weekday hearings run through the season in every district.
Deadline to file in district court or to request regular binding arbitration (homesteads at any value, other property at $5 million or less; the deposit comes back, less a $50 fee, if the arbitrator lands closer to your number). SOAH takes only orders above $1 million, within 30 days, with a $1,500 deposit.
Bills arrive on the value that survived the protest. A reduction in May is the same dollars in October, every year you own the home.
2027 season. The districts have not posted 2027 mailing dates. HCAD, FBCAD, MCAD and Brazoria CAD each set their own, and the deadline printed on your notice controls. This page is updated when they publish.
The useful work happens before the notice: January is when the valuation-date sales are closed and the hearing calendar is empty. Pull the comps then, and the protest is a ten-minute filing in April.
Sources, checked October 25, 2026: Texas Comptroller, Property Tax Protests and Appeals and Regular Binding Arbitration; HCAD, iFile and iSettle and office hours; FBCAD, Appeals; Brazoria County Appraisal District.
The 10% homestead cap math
Why protests still matter even when the cap is in effect.
A homestead-exempt Texas property has its assessed value capped at 10% increase per year. If the appraised market value jumps 25%, the assessed value (the one actually used for taxes) only goes up 10%. That sounds like the protest is unnecessary — the cap is doing the work. It isn’t.
The appraised market value still matters in two ways. First, when the homeowner sells or removes the homestead exemption, the assessed value resets to the appraised value — meaning a chronically inflated appraisal becomes the next owner’s problem (or the seller’s, on the year of sale). Second, the assessed value continues climbing 10% every year until it catches the appraised value — an unchallenged inflated appraisal locks in years of higher future taxes. Protesting the appraised value protects the long-term tax position even when the current-year cap is active.
DIY vs. property tax consultant
Self-file, hire a firm, or have your REALTOR® help with comps.
Self-file
Best for owners who are comfortable pulling comparable sales, organizing evidence, and presenting a case. Cost: zero. Time: typically 3–5 hours of preparation plus the hearing. Best results come from a tight evidence package with clear comp data.
Property tax consultant
Houston has many firms that file protests for a contingency fee — typically 25–40% of the first-year tax savings. Best for owners who don’t want to handle the process, or owners with multiple properties where the time cost of self-filing adds up. Consultants are most effective on commercial and high-value residential properties.
Comp pull from a REALTOR®
A middle path: the owner files the protest themselves, but a REALTOR® pulls the MLS comp evidence package. The REALTOR® has access to closed-sales data that owners can’t pull directly from public records. Eddie helps Houston clients with this every year — no consultant fee, just a clean evidence package.
Hiring it out
Six questions to ask a property tax protest company before you sign.
Houston has plenty of protest firms, and a good one earns its fee on a portfolio or a high-value home. The differences hide in the contract, not the pitch.
1. What exactly is the fee?
A share of the first-year savings is common. Ask what counts as savings (appraised value or assessed value), whether a cap year counts, and whether the fee repeats in later years.
2. Does the agreement renew by itself?
Many agreements, and the appointment-of-agent form that goes with them, stay in force until you revoke them. Ask how to cancel and whether there is a cancellation deadline before each season.
3. Will you file on unequal appraisal too?
Both grounds, every year. A market-value-only filing leaves the stronger argument on the table in neighborhoods where the district’s own values are uneven.
4. Who attends my hearing, and can I see the evidence?
Ask whether a licensed agent attends the ARB hearing in person or by phone, and ask for the packet they present. You are entitled to know what was argued in your name.
5. What do I owe if there is no reduction?
The answer should be nothing, in writing. Ask about flat fees, filing fees and minimums, and what happens if you settle with the district yourself.
6. Will you file when the cap already limits my assessment?
On a homestead, a market-value cut that stays above the capped assessed value saves nothing this year but lowers the ceiling for every year after. Ask whether they file anyway, and how they charge for it.
The middle path stays open. A REALTOR® comp pull plus a self-filed iFile protest keeps the whole reduction with you. It is the right trade when you have one home and an hour; a firm is the right trade when you have ten homes and no hours.
Property tax FAQs
Common questions about the Houston protest process.
What if I miss the May 15 deadline?
For most properties, missing the deadline means the appraisal becomes final for the year and the owner pays based on it. Limited late-filing exceptions exist for owners who didn’t receive the notice, owners with substantial errors in the appraisal, and a few other circumstances. The safe approach: file the protest as soon as the notice arrives, before May 15 even seems close.
Will protesting raise my taxes?
No. The protest can only reduce or leave the appraised value unchanged — the appraisal district cannot increase the value as a response to a protest. The worst-case outcome of a protest is the original value, which is the value the owner would have paid anyway by not protesting.
How much should I expect to save?
Highly variable by property and by year. A well-prepared protest on an overvalued home can reduce the appraisal 5–15%, which at the typical Greater Houston combined tax rate of around 2.0–2.5% translates to several hundred to a few thousand dollars per year. The savings compound — a $500 annual reduction over a 10-year hold is $5,000 of preserved cash flow.
What if I just bought the home recently?
A recent purchase is some of the strongest evidence available — the closing statement directly shows what a willing buyer paid a willing seller, which is the textbook definition of market value. If the appraised value exceeds the recent purchase price, the protest is usually straightforward.
Should investment properties also be protested?
Yes — arguably more aggressively than primary residences, because investment properties don’t carry the 10% homestead cap. Inflated appraisals on rentals translate directly to higher annual tax bills with no cap protection. Every property in a portfolio should be reviewed against the prior year’s appraisal, and a protest filed any year the increase exceeds neighborhood comp trends.
How does the homestead exemption interact with the protest?
The homestead exemption is filed once (a separate process from the protest) and applies year after year as long as the property remains the owner’s primary residence. The annual protest is about the appraised value, not the exemption itself. Some homeowners forget to file for the homestead in the first place — if the notice shows no homestead exemption and one should apply, file the exemption application alongside the protest. More on the Texas homestead exemption.
Does the circuit breaker cap protect my rental?
For the 2024, 2025 and 2026 tax years, Texas limits the appraised-value increase on qualifying non-homestead real property valued at $5 million or less to 20 percent a year, apart from new improvements. HCAD states that the Legislature has authorized it for those three years only; as of October 25, 2026, no extension is posted. Protest the market value anyway. The limitation resets when the property sells, and the capped value climbs toward the market value every year it stays inflated.
I missed the deadline. Is a correction still possible?
Sometimes. Section 25.25 of the Tax Code allows certain corrections after the protest deadline, under rules that differ from a protest, and HCAD publishes a guide to its correction process. It is a narrow door for specific errors, not a late protest, so the safe move is still to file by the deadline on the notice.
Protesting on a vacant home
If the property has been vacant or listed during the protest year, HCAD and the surrounding CADs treat your evidence packet differently. Listing photos, days-on-market data, and price-reduction history become primary evidence (often stronger than comps) because they document the appraised market reaction. If you have a Greater Houston vacant listing in flight or one that just expired, that documentation is gold for a protest. The vacant-home listing guide covers the broader vacancy playbook.
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