If you haven’t already, you should soon receive the Notice of Appraised Value for your Texas real estate for 2026. That is the official first notice of your appraisal district’s estimate of the market value of your property as of January 1, 2026. That value should be visible now at the appraisal district’s website. These links cover all of the Austin metropolitan area and nearby counties:
Travis Central Appraisal District
Williamson Central Appraisal District
Hays Central Appraisal District
Bastrop Central Appraisal District
Burnet Central Appraisal District
Tax Appraisal District of Bell County
Caldwell County Appraisal District
On any of those sites, you will see a Property Search button. Just click there, enter your address, and your property record will appear. You will see the proposed value for 2026 along with acttual (approved) values for recent years, and other informative details.
I said “proposed” value for 2026 because Texas provides a process for protesting that value. You will have until May 15 to file your intent to protest. Most appraisal districts have an online Protest link, or a link to Forms where you can find the the Notice of Protest. After you submit that form, the process may differ among the districts — some directly linking you to schedule your protest, and others responding to you separately to notify you of the next step. At this point, you can and should also request the appraisal district’s “evidence packet.”
Note that property appraisals for residential homesteads in Texas can increase a maximum of 10% year-over-year. Other residential properties and commercial properties are not capped. Even if your home’s value increased less than 10% (or even if it went down from last year), you have the right to protest.
Texas is a “non-disclosure state,” meaning that sale prices are not publicly reported here. You’ll need evidence to support your protest — closed sales of homes like yours in a relevant geographic area. I’ll help you with that information if you wish. Just let me know if you plan to protest this year’s appraisal.
You’ll also need to judge how your home compares to those “comparable” homes in terms of size, age, location, upkeep, etc. I recommend taking pictures of your home as part of this process. This video from the Texas Comptroller’s office may be helpful as you prepare your protest.
How important is this? For discussion’s sake, consider a property with a total tax rate of 2.5% of assessed value. If you are able to get that value reduced by $10,000 it will save you $250 when taxes are paid. A $50,000 reduction in taxable value will save you $1,250.
It’s also worth knowing that if you can reduce this year’s assessed value, that will become the basis for future increases in value, up to the maximum 10%, so a successful protest can save you tax expenses for years. This additional benefit is especially important in a period of rapid price appreciation like we experienced during 2020 – 2023, but in the unpredictable market we’ve seen since then comparing this year’s value to last year’s is still important.
If you prefer to have someone do the entire protest for you, there are a number of companies in that business, generally charging a percentage of any amount they succeed in reducing your property taxes. Here are a few of those companies:
I’ll end with one more reminder: The taxing entities that affect your tax bill — city, county, school district, emergency service district, hospital district, etc. — are not involved in this yet. Later in the year, they will establish their budgets for next year, and they’ll decide on tax rates needed to support those spending plans. You’ll receive your property tax bill that combines the rates of all of those in November. Your tax bill is actually due by January 31, 2027, but if you plan to itemize deductions on your federal income tax return, you should pay them in calendar year 2026, or make sure your mortgage loan servicer pays from your escrow account.
Protesting the proposed tax value of your property is your chance to affect your tax expense later in the year. I encourage you to consider it now.
Bill Morris on Austin Real Estate 
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