How and
When to
Protest to the ARB
The Appraisal Review Board (ARB) conducts the Formal
Hearings in contrast to informal hearing conducted by the District offices. The
taxpayer may choose to attend his/her informal hearing with the District
appraiser or may directly attend the Formal Hearing before an ARB panel as
scheduled. When attending your scheduled informal hearing with the District
appraiser, the appraiser will review your documentation and will present the
Appraisal District's documentation. At this time, you may review all evidence
and at a minimal charge receive copies. If there is evidence to support a
change, the District appraiser will recommend a new value. If you agree, the
appraiser will recommend this change to the Chief Appraiser and you need not
appear at the scheduled panel hearing.
If you do not agree with the District appraiser, you may
also attend your scheduled formal hearing. An appraisal review board settles
any disagreements between you and the Appraisal District about the value of
your property, based on the evidence presented in the formal hearing. After
reviewing testimony and evidence, the ARB panel may recommend a lower value,
leave the value as is, raise the value, grant or deny an exemption or special
appraisal, or set a new hearing if more evidence is required. The burden is on
the Appraisal District to prove the proposed value or action is correct by a
preponderance of the evidence presented at the ARB Formal Hearing.
ARB panel recommendations will be presented to the full
Appraisal Review Board for final approval at its next scheduled meeting. You
will be notified of the Board's decision by written Board Order in September or
within 30 days after Full Board approval if your case is heard after September.
If you are still dissatisfied with the ARB decision, you have the right to
appeal to District Court. Your appeal must be filed within 45 days of receipt
of the Board Order. Note: For more information about this process, please refer
to Types of Protests.
| How to File: |
File a written protest. The Appraisal
District has protest forms available, but you need not use an official form. A
Notice of Protest is sufficient if it identifies the owner, the property that
is the subject of the protest and indicates that you are dissatisfied with a
decision made by the Appraisal District. |
| When to File: |
File your notice of protest by May 31 or
no later than 30 days after the Appraisal District delivers a Notice of
Appraised Value to you, whichever date is later. |
| Important Notes: |
- A change of value notice is required for value
changes greater than $1000.00
- If the Chief Appraiser sends you a notice that
your agricultural land is no longer in agricultural use, you must file your
Notice of Protest within 30 days of the date the Chief Appraiser mailed the
notice.
- If the ARB (Appraisal Review Board) ordered a
change in your property's records, you must file your Notice of Protest within
30 days of the date on which the ARB delivered you a notice of the change.
- If you file a Notice of Protest before the ARB
approves the appraisal records, you are entitled to a hearing if the ARB
decides that you had good reason for failing to meet the deadline.
- If you don't file a Notice of Protest before the
ARB approves the appraisal records, you lose your right to protest. You also
lose the right to file a lawsuit about the taxable value of your property.
- If your protest is late because the Chief
Appraiser or ARB failed to mail your notice of appraised value or denial of
exemption or agricultural appraisal, you may file your protest any time before
the taxes on your property become delinquent. You must pay some current taxes
before the delinquency date to be entitled to this type of hearing.
- In some cases, you may file with the ARB to
correct an error even after these deadlines. Contact your Appraisal District or
the Comptroller's office if you have questions about clerical errors,
substantial value errors, double taxing, or other areas.
|
For more detailed information, please see
Taxpayer's
Rights and Remedies
|
