(a) Except as provided by Subsections (b), (c), (c-1), and (c-2), to be entitled to a hearing and determination of a protest, the property owner initiating the protest must file a written notice of the protest with the appraisal review board having authority to hear the matter protested:
(1) not later than May 15 or the 30th day after the date that notice to the property owner was delivered to the property owner as provided by § 25.19, whichever is later;
(2) in the case of a protest of a change in the appraisal records ordered as provided by Subchapter A of this chapter or by Chapter 25, not later than the 30th day after the date notice of the change is delivered to the property owner;
(3) in the case of a determination that a change in the use of land appraised under Subchapter C, D, E, or H, Chapter 23, has occurred, not later than the 30th day after the date the notice of the determination is delivered to the property owner;
(4) in the case of a determination of eligibility for a refund under § 23.1243, not later than the 30th day after the date the notice of the determination is delivered to the property owner; or
(5) in the case of a protest of the modification or denial of an application for an exemption under § 11.35, or the determination of an appropriate damage assessment rating for an item of qualified property under that section, not later than the 30th day after the date the property owner receives the notice required under § 11.45(e).

Terms Used In Texas Tax Code 41.44

  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • Appraised value: means the value determined as provided by Chapter 23 of this code. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
  • Comptroller: means the Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • sworn: includes affirm or affirmed. See Texas Government Code 312.011
  • Tax year: means the calendar year. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
  • Taxing unit: means a county, an incorporated city or town (including a home-rule city), a school district, a special district or authority (including a junior college district, a hospital district, a district created by or pursuant to the Water Code, a mosquito control district, a fire prevention district, or a noxious weed control district), or any other political unit of this state, whether created by or pursuant to the constitution or a local, special, or general law, that is authorized to impose and is imposing ad valorem taxes on property even if the governing body of another political unit determines the tax rate for the unit or otherwise governs its affairs. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
  • United States: includes a department, bureau, or other agency of the United States of America. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005

(b) A property owner who files his notice of protest after the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a) of this section but before the appraisal review board approves the appraisal records is entitled to a hearing and determination of the protest if he shows good cause as determined by the board for failure to file the notice on time.
(b-1) Repealed by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 357 (H.B. 2228), Sec. 6, eff. January 1, 2018.
(c) A property owner who files notice of a protest authorized by § 41.411 is entitled to a hearing and determination of the protest if the property owner files the notice prior to the date the taxes on the property to which the notice applies become delinquent. An owner of land who files a notice of protest under Subsection (a)(3) is entitled to a hearing and determination of the protest without regard to whether the appraisal records are approved.
(c-1) A property owner who files a notice of protest after the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a) but before the taxes on the property to which the notice applies become delinquent is entitled to a hearing and determination of the protest if the property owner was continuously employed in the Gulf of Mexico, including employment on an offshore drilling or production facility or on a vessel, for a period of not less than 20 days during which the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a) passed, and the property owner provides the appraisal review board with evidence of that fact through submission of a letter from the property owner’s employer or supervisor or, if the property owner is self-employed, a sworn affidavit.
(c-2) A property owner who files a notice of protest after the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a) but before the taxes on the property to which the notice applies become delinquent is entitled to a hearing and determination of the protest if the property owner was serving on full-time active duty in the United States armed forces outside the United States on the day on which the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a) passed and the property owner provides the appraisal review board with evidence of that fact through submission of a valid military identification card from the United States Department of Defense and a deployment order.
(c-3) Notwithstanding Subsection (c), a property owner who files a protest under § 41.411 on or after the date the taxes on the property to which the notice applies become delinquent, but not later than the 125th day after the property owner, in the protest filed, claims to have first received written notice of the taxes in question, is entitled to a hearing solely on the issue of whether one or more taxing units timely delivered a tax bill. If at the hearing the appraisal review board determines that all of the taxing units failed to timely deliver a tax bill, the board shall determine the date on which at least one taxing unit first delivered written notice of the taxes in question, and for the purposes of this section the delinquency date is postponed to the 125th day after that date.
(d) A notice of protest is sufficient if it identifies the protesting property owner, including a person claiming an ownership interest in the property even if that person is not listed on the appraisal records as an owner of the property, identifies the property that is the subject of the protest, and indicates apparent dissatisfaction with some determination of the appraisal office. The notice need not be on an official form, but the comptroller shall prescribe a form that provides for more detail about the nature of the protest. The form must permit a property owner to include each property in the appraisal district that is the subject of a protest. If the form includes boxes a property owner is required to select from to indicate the reason the owner is filing a protest, the form must permit a property owner who believes that the owner’s property was appraised at a value that exceeds its appraised value, was appraised unequally, or both, to select a single box to indicate that the owner is filing a protest for either or both reasons. The form must permit a property owner to request that the protest be heard by a special panel established under § 6.425 if the protest will be determined by an appraisal review board to which that section applies and the property is included in a classification described by § 6.425(b). The form must permit a property owner to request that the protest be heard by a single-member panel authorized by § 41.45(b-4). The comptroller, each appraisal office, and each appraisal review board shall make the forms readily available and deliver one to a property owner on request.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a notice of protest may not be found to be untimely or insufficient based on a finding of incorrect ownership if the notice:
(1) identifies as the property owner a person who is, for the tax year at issue:
(A) an owner of the property at any time during the tax year;
(B) the person shown on the appraisal records as the owner of the property, if that person filed the protest;
(C) a lessee authorized to file a protest; or
(D) an affiliate of or entity related to a person described by this subdivision; or
(2) uses a misnomer of a person described by Subdivision (1).