Property Tax Protest Law Firm

In Texas, the deadline to protest property taxes in most cases is the later of May 15 or 30 days from when the local appraisal district delivers the notice of appraised value to the property owner. The usual deadline, therefore, is May 15. But it can be later than that in the rare instance that the appraisal district does not get the notice out to you by April 15.

It has gotten very difficult to successfully protest your property tax appraised values in Texas. Because appraisal districts are much more aggressive than they used to be, they have a lot more information than they used to have.

As a result, to be successful in your protest, you need to be prepared. And you need to bring data. Unfortunately, the appraisal district is not likely to be swayed by an anecdotal narrative. They want to see hard data that shows their analysts are wrong in how they calculated the appraised value. Its vital, therefore, to come to your informal and formal hearing with data supporting your proposed value.

There are two main protests that a property owner in Texas makes when protesting the appraised value of his or her property – a) that the market value is incorrect and b) that it is unequal compared to other similar properties.

Your data, therefore, needs to support those two theories. For market value, for example, there are multiple ways it can be calculated depending on the asset. This includes sales comparison, income method, or cost method. The asset type will dictate which method to use and your data should support your valuation conclusion.

An equal and uniform analysis argument, however, is based on the theory that other properties that are similar to the property owner’s are appraised at a lower level. As a result, you have to be able to bring data showing the specific properties that are similar and (after making adjustments) how their values should lead to a lower value for your property.

Every Texas property owner should protest their property taxes every year. But, as described above, that is not an easy task. Appraisal districts have a lot of public information at their disposal and have been very aggressive in raising appraised values. As a result, its very important to have someone who knows how to handle a property tax protest to guide you through the process.

In addition, the appraisal panels are notoriously friendly to the appraisal districts. There is a good chance, therefore, that you will not be satisfied with the result of your formal hearing and have to file a lawsuit.

If you hire a law firm to help you with every step of your property tax protest, you will be ready to file the lawsuit right away after the hearing is completed. And your lawyer will understand the property and be able to work towards a quick settlement of the lawsuit.

Property tax protests are difficult. And necessary. You have to come prepared to your formal hearing. Even then, appraisal panels are notoriously friendly to the appraisal districts. There is a good chance, therefore, that you will not be satisfied with the result of your formal hearing and have to file a lawsuit.

That’s why hiring Bukowski Law Firm to help with your property tax protest is so important. We have been protesting property taxes all over Texas for at least 12 years. That experience has helped us understand how appraisal districts work and what panels are looking for. We also file lots of property tax lawsuits each year. We are comfortable, therefore, going right from formal hearing to litigation. And once we get to that litigation, we will understand your property fully from having handled your protest from the beginning. Hopefully that will help us to reach a good, quick settlement with the appraisal district.

Bukowski Law Firm has the experience and aggressiveness to help get you the best result for your property to protect your investment. We look forward to working with you.