How to protest your Travis County property appraisal

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Texas has no state income tax, which is exactly why property owners here pay unusually close attention to one piece of mail: the Notice of Appraised Value, sent every spring by the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD). It sets the value Travis County uses to calculate your property tax bill for the year — and if you think it's too high, there's a real, time-limited process to challenge it. Most owners only learn how that process works the first year they use it, usually while the clock is already running.

This page walks through the general shape of a TCAD protest: the notice arrives, you have a limited window to file, and the case typically moves through an informal review and, if unresolved, an Appraisal Review Board (ARB) hearing, with further appeal options beyond that. We don't hold or display Travis County appraisal values here — appraised values and ownership records are outside what this project shows by design — so this is a plain guide to TCAD's process, not a lookup of your number. For your property's specifics this year, your Notice of Appraised Value and TCAD's own site are the authoritative source.

Frequently asked questions

When does TCAD mail the Notice of Appraised Value? Generally in the spring, with April being the month most Travis County property owners should expect to see it — but the exact mailing date and the deadline printed on your specific notice govern, not a general date on this page.

How long do I have to file a protest? TCAD sets a specific deadline printed directly on your Notice of Appraised Value, and Texas law defines the outer bound for filing. Because missing this window generally forfeits your right to protest that year's value, treat the date on your own notice as the deadline that matters — not an approximate date from any secondary source, including this one.

What's the difference between an informal review and an ARB hearing? An informal review is an initial conversation with TCAD staff to see if a value can be adjusted without a hearing. If that doesn't resolve things, the protest proceeds to a formal hearing before the Appraisal Review Board, an independent panel that can further adjust the appraised value; further appeal routes exist beyond the ARB if a dispute remains.

Methodology

This page summarizes the publicly published Travis Central Appraisal District protest process; it is not sourced from a City of Austin open dataset and there is no dataset ID to cite. We do not collect, display, or infer property appraisal values, ownership records, or protest outcomes anywhere on this site — Travis Central Appraisal District (traviscad.org) is the sole authoritative source for your specific notice, deadline, and appraised value.

Look up your address for the public permit, zoning, and floodplain facts we do track — then take your Notice of Appraised Value straight to TCAD for the specifics only they can give you.