COVID-19 and Property Taxes | April 28, 2020 Update

Due to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home orders across the state, many appraisal districts have postponed sending out their appraisal notices to property owners.  According to the Texas Tax Code, owners that wish to protest their values must submit their protests before May 15th or 30 days after their appraisal district mails their appraisal notice, whichever is later.  Many appraisal districts have not yet sent out their appraisal notices because they intend to mail notices after the stay-at-home orders are lifted in their communities.  This action effectively extends the deadline to file protests back to thirty days after a notice gets mailed.  So far, Dallas and Tarrant County have already postponed their notice dates as described in the following excerpts from each of their websites: 

Both Dallas and Tarrant Counties have proactively extended the protest deadlines for ALL properties regardless of whether a property receives a Notice of Appraised Value.  

Many owners assume that every property must receive a Notice of Appraised Value each year and let the May 15th deadline pass while waiting for their notice.  However, an appraisal district is only required to mail a Notice of Appraised Value when the appraised value of the property increases from the previous year or in limited other circumstances (See Tex. Prop. Tax Code 25.19).  Since an appraisal district controls whether values are changed each year, it can potentially appraise the property at last year’s value and not be required to send a Notice of Appraised Value.  This has the effect of causing many property owners to miss their May 15th protest deadline.  

Since a property’s Notice of Appraised Value may not arrive before the May 15th deadline, property owners often let the May 15th deadline pass.  Unfortunately, if the appraisal district does not send a Notice of Appraised Value and the property owner fails to protest by the May 15th general protest deadline, then the property owner forfeits the right to file a general protest for that year (absent good cause for a late filing).  

To avoid accidentally waiving their right to protest a property value, an owner who does not receive a Notice of Appraised Value by May 15th should file a protest on their property if they believe their values should be lower than the prior year’s assessment. 

Since it is unclear how appraisal districts and courts will deal with property values during the protest season as a result of COVID-19, we recommend that every property owner should file a protest before May 15th if that property owner thinks the current year value should be lower than the prior year value.  Even if the appraisal district ultimately appraises the property at an acceptable value, the property owner will have preserved the right to protest for the current year.