Tips For Preparing A Texas Property Tax Appeal

By Brenda Green


The moment you discover that you have been paying too much money for your property tax, filing a Texas property tax appeal is supposed to be your next step. In most cases, the amount paid of some places tend to be too high even when the market worth of the area has gone down or the building in the area are worn out. Instead of paying extra fees for it, you should begin preparing this document to get a fair amount.

The amount is often calculated according to the evaluation done on the place. In the same way, these assessment process varies depending on the location of the land or building hence each jurisdiction will operate under different tax ordinances. Before filing this complaint, you need to find out what kind of process the local government in your state uses to assess the land, the calculation of the amount paid and market value.

If you feel that there are some errors, then you need to find some evidence of the same. You can do this by requesting for the property cards that can be provided by the officer carrying out the assessment. Some common mistakes made include the size of rooms in the building, their total number and the estimated size of the land. This will help you to gauge if the activity was done fairly.

To have more evidence of the errors, you can ask for the cards of your neighbor since they can be legally provided. Check the assessment done and compare with yours and note any disparities where they should not be. You can also look at other areas that are similar to yours and compare all with the information that the local authorities have and check if everything is fairly done.

The next thing to consider is learning about the process of appealing. It would be unfortunate to have all the evidences but lack the knowledge of how to handle them. Luckily, there are provisions of documents concerning this process which can be found in the websites of your locality. Do some study on it to keep yourself updated. The other option is to schedule a meeting with the officer of your location to discuss on this.

It is important to gather all the details that will be in support of your argument. This could be the sales records from locations that are similar to yours, blue prints of the house to show all the measurements and sizes as well as pictorial evidence. Having all this details will enable you to have correct evidences and reasons for the tax to be lowered.

The next thing is to get yourself fully prepared to face the officers. This should be done by ensuring that you have all the required documents with you and that they are filed in the correct order. Going to meet the officers when you are unprepared could show that you are not taking the procedure seriously.

If you may have taken up the decision of looking or professional help to handle the case for you preferably an attorney, you need to consider a licensed and practicing individual. Go for someone who has been handling this cases for the better part of his or her working years.




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