Free download · Edition 012

The DFW Commercial Property Tax Protest Checklist

File before the deadline. Most owners who push back get a reduction - an estimated 60-80% of Texas protests end in a lower number, and filing costs nothing upfront.

Deadline

May 15, 2026 - or 30 days after your appraisal notice was mailed, whichever is later.

Reading this after May 15? Most of the steps below still apply next year - bookmark it. Appraisal districts value tens of thousands of properties with thin data, so errors are common.

Step 1 · Go straight to your county

File & look up your property

Each appraisal district runs its own portal. Open yours, pull your account, and file from there.

Dallas County - DCAD

dallascad.org · search property & file protest

Tarrant County - TAD

tad.org · search property & file protest

Other DFW appraisal districts: Collin CAD · Denton CAD · Rockwall CAD · Kaufman CAD. No notice in the mail? You can still protest - the property record is online either way.

The protest, step by step

Your checklist

Check items off as you go - your progress saves on this device. The whole thing takes most owners about 30 minutes.

0 of 9 done

That's the whole protest. Nice work - now go file it.

01 Find your appraisal notice It's the "Notice of Appraised Value" mailed in April. No notice? Look your property up on the county site above - the protest right still applies. 02 Note your deadline May 15, 2026, or 30 days after the notice was mailed - whichever is later. Put it in your calendar right now. 03 Pull your property record and check the basics On the county site, open your account. Confirm square footage, year built, land size, and classification are right. Errors here alone are grounds for a reduction. 04 Pull 3-5 comparable sales or assessments Same county site or a quick search: nearby properties of similar type, size, and age. You want ones valued lower per square foot than yours. Use the worksheet below. 05 Check for unequal appraisal If similar properties on your street are assessed for less than yours, that's its own argument. Texas law lets you protest on "unequal appraisal," not just market value. 06 Note anything that hurts your value Deferred maintenance, a bad location quirk, flooding, vacancy, a roof at end of life, environmental issues. Photos help. Bring it all. 07 File the protest Online through the county portal is fastest. You can also mail Form 50-132 or drop it off. Filing costs nothing. 08 Decide: DIY or hire a firm You can handle the informal hearing yourself in well under an hour. Or hand it to a protest firm that works on contingency - typically 25-50% of the first year's tax savings, nothing if they don't win. 09 Show up (or send your evidence) for the hearing Most cases settle at the informal review with an appraiser. Bring your comps and your "hurts my value" notes. Be polite, be specific, ask for a number.

Do the math the appraiser will

Comparable-sales worksheet

Enter your property in the highlighted row, then a few nearby comps. Value-per-square-foot fills in automatically. If yours runs higher than the average, that gap is your headline argument.

Address	Type	Sq ft	Appraised / sale value	Value / sq ft
				-

Add your property and at least one comp to see the comparison.

When to call someone

Protesting your appraisal is a once-a-year, do-it-yourself kind of win. The stuff that quietly costs you the rest of the year - duct-taped IT, no real backups, the GoDaddy email setup that breaks the moment you grow - is the kind of thing Modo Networks handles so you can spend your attention on levers like this one.

Talk to Modo →