How to File a Texas Property Tax Protest

Harris County, the largest appraisal district in Texas, runs an electronic filing system called iFile that lets you protest from home.

What iFile is. iFile is the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD) online tool for filing your Notice of Protest electronically instead of mailing Form 50-132. HCAD describes iFile and its companion iSettle on its online services pages. The electronic filing portal is hosted at owners.hcad.org and reached through the ONLINE SERVICES menu on hcad.org.

What you need. Your iFile number (sometimes called an online PIN) is printed on your HCAD notice of appraised value, along with your account number. You'll need both to start.

How to file: 1. Locate your account on hcad.org or go to the electronic filing site. 2. Enter your iFile number and account number to authenticate. 3. Select your grounds — for a home, typically both value over market and unequal appraisal (the equal-and-uniform ground under Tex. Tax Code §41.43). 4. Enter your opinion of value if you want to be considered for iSettle (HCAD's online settlement option). 5. Request the district's evidence so you receive HCAD's data at least 14 days before any hearing under Tex. Tax Code §41.461. 6. Submit and save your confirmation as proof of timely filing.

Deadline. File by May 15 or within 30 days of your notice's delivery, whichever is later, per Tex. Tax Code §41.44. HCAD's iFile system is generally open during the protest season once notices mail.

After you file. HCAD may extend an iSettle offer (an online settlement), schedule an informal review, or set an ARB hearing. You can accept a reasonable iSettle/informal offer or proceed to the Appraisal Review Board if it's too low. Upload or bring your comparable-sales and equal-and-uniform evidence either way. Verify the current portal link and deadlines on HCAD's site each season, as the appraisal district periodically updates its online tools.

Dallas County uses an online protest and settlement system called uFile to let homeowners protest and submit evidence electronically.

What uFile is. uFile is the Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD) online protest and settlement program. DCAD's uFile help explains that you search for your property using the Search Appraisal function, open your property's page, and click the Online Protest link to file. DCAD encourages owners to file and submit evidence through uFile because it streamlines the appraisal staff's settlement review.

When it opens. DCAD typically brings uFile online in mid-April each protest season (around April 15), once notices of appraised value have mailed.

How to file: 1. Search your account at dallascad.org using the property search. 2. Open your property page and click Online Protest / uFile. 3. Authenticate with the information DCAD requests (account details from your notice). 4. Select your grounds — for a home, typically both value over market and unequal appraisal under Tex. Tax Code §41.43. 5. Upload your evidence — comparable sales, an equal-and-uniform comparison, photos, repair estimates — directly through uFile. 6. Request the district's evidence so DCAD provides its data at least 14 days before any hearing under Tex. Tax Code §41.461. 7. Submit and keep your confirmation.

Deadline. File by May 15 or within 30 days of your notice's delivery, whichever is later, per Tex. Tax Code §41.44.

After you file. Through uFile, DCAD may propose an online settlement value you can accept, or schedule an informal review and/or a formal Appraisal Review Board hearing under Tex. Tax Code §41.45. Accept a fair settlement or proceed to the ARB with your evidence. Verify the current uFile link and open date on DCAD's site each season, since the appraisal district updates its online system annually.

Tarrant County runs its protests through the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) online portal, which pairs electronic filing with an automated value-negotiation tool.

What the portal is. The Tarrant Appraisal District provides an online dashboard where Tarrant County owners file protests and access value-negotiation features. TAD describes the portal and account setup on its new-portal page: you create a dashboard account using the Online PIN found on your notice of appraised value.

How to file: 1. Create or log in to your TAD dashboard account using the Online PIN from your value notice. 2. Start a protest for your property through the dashboard. 3. Select your grounds — for a home, typically both value over market and unequal appraisal under Tex. Tax Code §41.43. 4. Use TAD's online value-negotiation tool, which weighs sale comps, equity (equal-and-uniform) comps, your subject sale price if available, and your input to offer a reduction if the data supports one. 5. Request the district's evidence so TAD provides its data at least 14 days before any hearing under Tex. Tax Code §41.461. 6. Submit and save confirmation.

The online negotiation tool. TAD's tool is an informal-settlement channel: if it offers a reduction you find acceptable, you can resolve the protest online without a hearing. If the offer is too small — or the tool can't reduce your value — you keep your right to a formal Appraisal Review Board hearing under Tex. Tax Code §41.45.

Deadline. File by May 15 or within 30 days of your notice's delivery, whichever is later, per Tex. Tax Code §41.44.

Tip: before accepting an online offer, compare it against your own comparable-sales and equal-and-uniform evidence. A tool-generated reduction is convenient, but if you have strong comps the ARB may go further. Confirm the current portal link and account-setup steps on TAD's site each season, since the appraisal district has re-platformed its portal in recent years.

One of the most undervalued tools in a Texas protest is your right to demand the appraisal district's evidence in advance.

The right. Under Tex. Tax Code §41.461, at least 14 days before your hearing the chief appraiser must inform you that, on request, you are entitled to a copy of the data, schedules, formulas, and all other information the chief appraiser will introduce at the hearing to support the value. You trigger this by checking the evidence-request box on Form 50-132 or by sending a written request.

It is free. The statute bars the chief appraiser from charging you for these copies, regardless of how they are prepared or delivered. On request, the district must provide them by first-class mail or in person at the appraisal office.

The teeth. This is the part most homeowners miss: information that you requested but the district did not deliver to you at least 14 days before the hearing may not be used or offered in any form as evidence at the hearing — not as a document, and not through argument or testimony. If the district shows up with comps or a valuation model it never sent you, you can object and ask the ARB to exclude it.

How to use it strategically: 1. Always check the box when you file. There is no downside. 2. Request the district's evidence early so you have time to study it. 3. Study their comparables — they reveal exactly how the district justified your value, and often expose comps that are larger, newer, or in better condition than yours. 4. Build your rebuttal around the weaknesses you find, and prepare your own comparable-sales or equal-and-uniform evidence under Tex. Tax Code §41.43.

The Texas Comptroller reminds owners the burden is on them to prove their case — seeing the district's hand 14 days early is the single biggest advantage you can claim.

A Texas protest moves through two stages, and the informal stage resolves the majority of residential cases.

1. The informal meeting (§41.445). After you file, most appraisal districts offer an informal conference with a district appraiser before your formal hearing. Under Tex. Tax Code §41.445, the appraisal district must provide an informal conference if you request one — it is not discretionary. You present your comps or record errors, the appraiser reviews their data, and many disputes settle here. If you accept the district's offer, you sign an agreement and skip the formal hearing. Some large districts run this online — Harris County's iSettle and Tarrant County's Online Value Negotiation Tool are informal-resolution channels.

2. The formal ARB hearing. If you don't settle, your protest is heard by the ARB — an independent panel, not employees of the appraisal district. The hearing is governed by Tex. Tax Code §41.45. You present evidence, the district presents its case, and the ARB issues a written Order of Determination.

Key standards at the ARB hearing. The ARB applies the legal standards in Tex. Tax Code §41.43:

• §41.43(a-1): If you deliver a USPAP-compliant appraisal from a licensed Texas appraiser to the chief appraiser at least 14 days before the hearing (for properties ≤$1M), the burden of proof shifts to the CAD — they must prove their value by clear and convincing evidence.
• §41.43(b)(3): Without a licensed appraisal, the unequal-appraisal standard applies — your value compared to the median of comparable neighboring properties, appropriately adjusted. The burden of proof under (b)(3) also sits with the appraisal district, not with you.

Why do the informal first:

• It's faster and lower-pressure, and a settlement avoids the wait for an ARB date.
• You learn the district's reasoning and comparables, which sharpens your formal case if you proceed.
• Accepting a reasonable informal offer locks in a reduction with no risk.

Don't give up your formal rights: going to the informal meeting does not waive your ARB hearing. If the district's offer is too small, decline it and keep your hearing date. Before the hearing, exercise your right under §41.461 to the district's evidence at least 14 days in advance (required by HB 1533, 2024).

Rule of thumb: treat the informal meeting as a free first attempt to settle, and the ARB hearing as your structured backup. Bring the same organized evidence to both.