Property Owners Can Protest Property Appraisal Values

May 7, 2025

Property owners who disagree with the Bexar Appraisal District’s appraisal of their property for local taxes or for any other action that adversely affects them may protest to the local appraisal review board (ARB).

A property owner must file a written notice of protest before May 15 or within 30 days after the appraisal district delivers the property owner’s notice of appraised value, whichever is later. After the ARB completes its hearings and approves final property tax appraisals, taxing units will use these appraisals to set property tax rates.

The ARB is a group of citizens who live in the appraisal district. In counties with populations less than 75,000, the local administrative district judge appoints ARB members. Otherwise, the appraisal district’s board of directors appoints them. Property owners may protest any of the following issues to the ARB:

  • the property’s appraised or market value;
  • unequal property appraisal;
  • the property’s inclusion on the appraisal records;
  • denial of a partial exemption, such as a homestead exemption;
  • determination that the property does not qualify for the circuit breaker limitation on appraised value for non-homestead real property;
  • denial of special appraisal, such as agricultural or timber productivity appraisal;
  • determination that agricultural or timberland has had a change of use and is subject to a rollback tax;
  • identification of the taxing unit or taxing units in which the property is located;
  • determination that the taxpayer is the property owner; or
  • any other action of the appraisal district office or ARB that adversely affects the owner.

For the property owners’ convenience, informal conferences will be held via Zoom or over the phone at a date and time of their choosing. Additional information regarding self-scheduling will be sent to the property owner.

If the property owner cannot resolve their protest informally, the ARB will schedule a hearing and send the protesting property owner written notice of the hearing date, time, and place. The law contains specific timelines and procedures for both the property owner and the ARB throughout the appraisal protest process, as detailed in the Comptroller’s publication, Taxpayer Assistance Pamphlet. Copies are free and are in English and Spanish at the Bexar Appraisal District located at 411 N Frio, San Antonio, Texas 78283-0248 or at www.bcad.org. The Taxpayer Assistance Pamphlet is also available on the Comptroller’s Property Tax Assistance Division’s website at comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/.

Property owners or their authorized representatives can participate in a formal hearing through a telephone conference, a Zoom call, by submitting a written affidavit, or in person if they request it. To participate by telephone conference, the request must be included in the written protest submitted to the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) no later than the 10th day before the scheduled hearing. Along with the request, the property owner must also submit their evidence and written affidavit before the hearing begins. Evidence for any type of hearing can be submitted either on paper or using a small portable electronic device like a CD or USB flash drive, which the ARB will retain. Evidence should not be submitted using a smartphone. To submit evidence for a telephone or affidavit hearing, property owners may use Comptroller Form 50-283, the Property Owner’s Affidavit of Evidence. Generally, the burden is on the County Appraisal District (CAD) to prove the property’s value by the preponderance of the evidence presented.