What is a property tax appeal?

A property tax appeal (also called a protest in Texas, or a VAB petition in Florida) is a formal process where you challenge your county appraiser's assessed value of your home. You file with the county Appraisal Review Board (Texas) or Value Adjustment Board (Florida), present comparable-sales evidence that your home is overvalued, and the board issues a ruling.

When is the Florida property tax appeal deadline?

Florida property owners have 25 days from the date the TRIM (Truth in Millage) notice is mailed to file a VAB petition (Form DR-486). TRIM notices typically mail mid-August, putting the petition deadline in early-to-mid September. The deadline varies by county and is printed on the TRIM notice itself.

When is the Texas property tax appeal deadline?

In Texas, the deadline to file a property tax protest is May 15 each year (or 30 days after your appraisal notice is mailed, whichever is later). The 2026 deadline has passed; the next protest window is April-May 2027.

How much can I save by appealing my property taxes?

Homeowners who appeal save an average of $774 per year in Texas and several hundred to several thousand dollars per year in Florida (Save Our Homes locks in the savings for 10+ years). Success rates range from 80-91% when you bring 3-5 comparable sales as evidence.

What's the difference between AppealMyTax and Ownwell?

AppealMyTax charges a flat $99, one time, for a complete personalized appeal packet you file yourself, or $199-$249 for our done-for-you filing service. You keep 100% of your savings every year. Ownwell keeps a 25-35% contingency on whatever you save and O'Connor keeps about half, meaning a $2,461 reduction costs you roughly $615-$1,230 every year forever. We charge $99 once and keep nothing.

Flat fee · You keep 100% · Comps you can check yourself

No contingency. No auto-renewal. No catch.

Most property tax appeal companies take a cut of your savings, every year, forever. We don't. AppealMyTax is a flat $99, one time. You keep 100% of whatever you save, and you file it yourself with a packet built from your county's own appraisal roll.

✓ Flat $99, one time (no percentage of your savings, ever)
✓ No auto-renewal, no contract, nothing to cancel
✓ You keep 100% of every dollar you save, every year
✓ Real comparable parcels from your county's own appraisal roll (13 TX counties plus all of FL)
✓ You can verify every single comp yourself
✓ 30-day refund (pre-filing), and you file it yourself

What a contingency cut actually costs you

A contingency firm only sounds free because there is no upfront fee. The fee comes out of your savings, and on a successful appeal it can dwarf a flat fee. Worse, with the yearly contingency model it comes out again next year, and the year after that.

Example: you save $1,200 a year on your tax bill

A 25% contingency firm

$300/yr

25% of $1,200, taken again every single year you hold the lower value. Over 5 years that is roughly $1,500 out of your pocket.

AppealMyTax

$99 once

Flat, one time. You keep the full $1,200 this year, and the full $1,200 every year after. We never take another cent.

Illustrative math on a $1,200 annual saving. Your actual saving depends on your property and your county. The point is the structure, a percentage taken yearly versus a flat fee taken once.

How the big contingency firms charge

We are not telling you to avoid every other service. We are telling you to read the fee structure before you sign, because some of these arrangements are far more expensive than a flat fee, and some come with public records worth knowing about.

O'Connor & Associates

O'Connor charges no upfront fee and takes roughly 50% of your first-year tax savings as a contingency. On a $1,200 first-year reduction, that is about $600 of your savings versus a flat $99 with us.

According to a KHOU report, the Texas Attorney General sued O'Connor & Associates, with allegations that included filing protests without property-owner authorization, missing hearings, and notarization issues. These are allegations from litigation, stated here as reported and not as proven fact.

Read the KHOU report →

Ownwell

Ownwell charges a contingency of 25% of your savings, rising to 35% in Florida, California, and New York, and it recurs every year. On a $1,200 saving, that is $300 to $420 out of your pocket annually, repeating for as long as you hold the lower value.

Ownwell also has a public complaint record with the Better Business Bureau. We are not characterizing the outcomes, only pointing you to the file so you can read it yourself before you sign.

See their BBB complaint record →

What to check before you sign with any appeal service

Four questions. Ask them of us, ask them of anyone. The answers tell you almost everything.

Is it a contingency percentage? If they take a cut of your savings, run the math on a real reduction. A percentage taken every year compounds against you. A flat fee does not.
Does it auto-renew? A yearly contingency or subscription that renews on its own can keep billing you long after the work is done. Ours does not renew, there is nothing to cancel.
Do they disclose where the comps come from?Your appeal lives or dies on the comparable properties. If a service will not tell you the data source, you cannot judge the quality of the case. Ours come from your county's own appraisal roll.
Can you verify each comp yourself? Every comparable in our packet is a real parcel you can look up in the public record. If you cannot independently check a comp, it is a guess, and a wrong comp can lose your hearing.

Check your address, then decide

Search your property free, no signup and no email. If you're overpaying, the flat $99 packet fills in your specific data with real, checkable county-roll comps. You file it yourself, and you keep 100% of your savings.

Check my address, free →

Flat $99, one time · No contingency · No auto-renewal · 30-day refund (pre-filing) · You keep 100%