How to Protest Property Taxes in Travis County / Austin (2026 Guide)

The Travis County deadline

The Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) mails notices of appraised value in spring. From your notice date, you have until May 15, 2026 (or 30 days after the notice, whichever is later) to file. After that, your 2026 value is locked for the year except in the specific late-protest situations allowed under Texas Tax Code 25.25.

Austin is an unusual case this cycle. Values cooled sharply from their 2022 peaks, which means a lot of 2026 TCAD notices are now ABOVE what homes are actually selling for. Over-assessment cases here are unusually strong.

How over-assessed Austin really is

Running every analyzed Travis County home through the same matched-comps method the calculator uses on the live site, 68,014 homes came back over-assessed, about 19.9% of those analyzed. So roughly one in five Austin-area homeowners is assessed above what comparable nearby properties support. Because the Austin market cooled while assessments lagged, many of those gaps are wide.

At Travis County's 1.82% effective tax rate, a reduction protects real money every year you hold the lower value.

Step 1: Check your number

Search your property at traviscad.org. Look at your 2026 appraised value and how far it moved from 2025. In a market like Austin, a big jump does not automatically mean the value is wrong, but a value that sits above recent neighborhood sale prices very often is.

Step 2: Pick your grounds

Two arguments win the vast majority of residential protests, and both are in the Texas Tax Code:

1. Market value (Texas Tax Code §41.41(a)(1) and §23.01). Your assessment is higher than what the home would sell for today. Evidence: recent comparable sales.
2. Unequal appraisal (Texas Tax Code §41.43(b)(3)). Similar homes near you are assessed for less per square foot. Evidence: comparable assessments below yours.

Austin's fast-moving market makes the unequal-appraisal angle especially useful, because mass appraisal struggles to keep similar homes consistent. Two nearly identical houses on the same street can carry very different assessed values.

Step 3: Build your comps

You want five or more comparable homes, close in size, age, and location, that are assessed below yours. This is the evidence that actually moves the number. Pull each one's TCAD record and keep the most directly comparable properties (square footage within about 15%, year built within about 10 years, matching bed/bath, same neighborhood, places like Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Lakeway, or West Lake Hills depending on where you are).

Finding clean comps by hand is the slow part. Our free calculator pulls your Travis County comps automatically and tells you whether you are over-assessed before you pay anything. Check your Austin address and see your comps in about 30 seconds, which at minimum tells you whether protesting is even worth your time. If you want the work done for you, the $99 flat packet formats everything iFile-ready, one time, and you keep 100% of the savings.

Step 4: File with TCAD

File online through the TCAD portal or submit Form 50-132 (Notice of Protest) by the deadline. State BOTH grounds, market value and unequal appraisal, since they are independent legal arguments. Online filing is faster and confirms instantly.

Step 5: Take the informal review seriously

TCAD, like other Texas appraisal districts, offers an informal meeting with an appraiser before any formal hearing. Bring your comps and ask for a specific reduction. Many Travis County protests settle at this stage. If it does not, you move to a formal Appraisal Review Board (ARB) hearing with the same evidence, where you present your comps and TCAD presents theirs.

Why it is worth it in Austin

Travis County homeowners protest at high rates because assessed values are high and, this cycle especially, the comps are often on their side. A reduction does not just save you this year, it lowers the base your future assessments build on. The only homeowners who never benefit are the ones who never file.

Start by checking whether your Austin home is over-assessed. If the comps back you up, file before May 15 and work the informal review hard.

Check Your Houston Address

Free calculator pulls HCAD comps in 30 seconds, no signup. Optional $99 packet pre-fills your iFile protest — you keep 100% of your savings.