APPEAL PROCESS
Real Property:
After receiving your Change of Value Notice (CVN) should you wish to appeal the appraised value or classification of your real property, contact the appraiser’s office within 30 days of the mailing date of the CVN to schedule an informal meeting. All informal meetings must be completed by May 15th. If the property owner is going to be represented by someone else at the informal meeting, the property owner must complete and file a “Declaration of Representation” form with the appraiser’s office prior to the date of the meeting. Within a few days after the informal meeting, the property owner will receive a decision in the mail form the County Appraiser’s Office.
Prior to scheduling an appeal, you should consider reviewing information used in setting you value. You should review your property data as listed in our office and review the comparable sales that were considered in setting your value.
If you do not appeal the CVN, you can still protest the appraised value or classification of your property when you pay your taxes, or by January 31st if your taxes are paid out of an escrow account or by a tax service. By Law, you cannot appeal both your valuation notice and then protest when you pay your taxes for the same property in the same valuation year.
Payments Under Protest forms are available at the County Treasurer’s Office. The protest should state the grounds for the protest, including the portion of the assessment protested and portion admitted to be valid. Once the taxes are paid under protest, the County Treasurer will make a copy of the corm and send it to the County Appraiser. Any supporting documentation can be filed with the protest form at the County Treasurer’s Office and it will be forwarded to the appraiser with the protest form. Within 15 days of receiving the notice the appraiser will contact the property owner to make an appointment for an informal hearing. This hearing may be conducted in person or by phone. It is important to remember that at the informal hearing the appraiser is only looking at the value of the property and not at the amount of taxes assessed for that year.
At any informal hearing the taxpayer will have the opportunity to present documentation to the appraiser supporting the value the property owner considers correct. Types of documentation that can help support owner’s estimate of value are documents showing a recent sale of the property, a recent fee appraisal of the property or pictures of the property showing any damage or problems that might not have been noticed by the appraiser. There may situations that the appraiser will want to inspect the property to make sure they understand what the property owner has presented.
Anyone wishing to appeal an informal decision from the County Appraiser can file an appeal with the Small Claims Division of the State Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA). The only properties that can be appealed directly to BOTA are:
If a property owner or the County Appraiser is dissatisfied with the Small Claims decision, an appeal can be made to BOTA.
