Texas property tax answers · Updated June 2026
How do I protest my property taxes in Harris County?
The short answer
File with the Harris Central Appraisal District by May 15, or 30 days after your notice was mailed, whichever is later. The fastest path is HCAD's free iFile portal: check both market value and unequal appraisal as your grounds, upload comparable evidence from HCAD's own roll, and aim to settle at the informal review, which is where most Harris protests end.
The five steps, start to finish
- Find your HCAD account number on your Notice of Appraised Value or by searching your address at hcad.org.
- File before the deadline: May 15, or 30 days after your notice was mailed, whichever is later (Tax Code Section 41.44). HCAD's iFile portal is free and takes about 10 minutes.
- Check both grounds: value is over market value (Section 41.41(a)(1)) and value is unequal compared with other properties (Section 41.43(b)(3)). Checking both keeps every argument available later.
- Upload your evidence: a table of comparable homes from HCAD's own appraisal roll, compared per square foot, plus photos and repair bids if condition is part of your case.
- Take the informal review seriously. HCAD schedules an informal meeting before any formal hearing, and a strong comp table usually settles it right there.
What the numbers say about Harris County
Most protests never see a hearing room. In Harris County, only about 16% of 2024 protests went all the way to a formal ARB determination. The rest resolved earlier, almost always at the informal stage, on the strength of the evidence presented.
The prize is real money. Comptroller-derived figures for 2023 work out to roughly $875 in tax savings per winning single-family protest in Harris County, about $220 million spread across roughly 251,613 winning protests. Our own 13-county study of 4.6 million parcel records found about 945,000 over-assessed Texas homes overpaying an estimated $1.4 billion a year, and Harris is the biggest piece of it.
Because Texas is a non-disclosure state, residential sale prices aren't public record. That makes HCAD's own appraisal roll the evidence source you can actually verify, and it's exactly what the unequal-appraisal ground in Section 41.43(b)(3) is built for.
Where the $99 packet fits
Everything above you can do yourself for free, and you should know that going in. What the packet sells is the hard part done: a full comparable table pulled from HCAD's actual roll for your specific parcel, the Section 41.43(b)(3) argument written out with your numbers, and an iFile-ready filing walkthrough. You file it yourself, about 10 minutes, and keep 100% of the savings. Before you spend anything, the free check shows your exact over-assessment and a real comp, no signup.
See your over-assessment free, in 30 seconds
Search your address and see your exact over-assessment plus a real comparable from your county's appraisal roll. Free, no signup, no email. If the record shows a case, the $99 packet gives you the full comp table, the Section 41.43(b)(3) unequal-appraisal argument, and step-by-step filing instructions for your county. You file it yourself and keep 100% of the savings.
Check my address · FreeFlat $99, one time, no contingency. Every comp is a real, verifiable parcel from your county's public appraisal roll.