Can I file a late property tax protest in Texas for good cause?
Can I file a late property tax protest in Texas for good cause?
Yes in limited cases: the ARB may accept a late protest filed before it approves the appraisal records if you show good cause for missing the deadline, and you can also protest separately if the appraisal district failed to send you a required notice.
Missing the May 15 protest deadline is not always the end of the road in Texas, but the late-filing options are narrow.
Good-cause late protest. Under Tex. Tax Code §41.44(c-3), the Appraisal Review Board shall accept and consider a late-filed protest if the owner files it before the ARB approves the appraisal records and shows good cause for missing the deadline. "Good cause" generally means a reason beyond your control — not simply forgetting. The Texas Comptroller confirms the ARB may grant a late hearing where the property owner shows good cause for missing the local protest deadline. Because the ARB approves records around mid-July in most districts, the practical window is short.
Failure-to-give-notice protest. A separate path applies if the appraisal district never sent you a notice it was required to send. Under Tex. Tax Code §41.411, you may protest the failure of the chief appraiser or ARB to provide a required notice. If you prevail, you generally get to protest the underlying value as if you had received timely notice — but you typically must act before the taxes become delinquent, and you may need to have paid the undisputed portion of the tax.
If those don't fit, use a correction motion. When you can't qualify for a late protest, the §25.25 correction remedies remain open:
- §25.25(c) for clerical errors, double appraisals, or non-existent property (up to five prior years, no deadline tied to May 15);
- §25.25(d) for a current-year value overstated by more than one-third, filed before delinquency (with a 10% penalty on the corrected tax).
Practical steps: 1. Act immediately — the good-cause window closes when the ARB approves records. 2. Document your good cause (hospitalization, military deployment, never receiving the notice). 3. If you got no notice, file a §41.411 protest and keep proof. 4. Otherwise pivot to a §25.25 motion that fits your facts.
The safest course is always to protest on time; treat these as fallbacks, not a plan.
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