What is the deadline to appeal?

It varies, and the wording matters more than the date. Texas, for instance, sets the deadline as May 15 or thirty days after the notice was delivered, whichever is later — so a late notice moves the deadline outward. Static tables that print a single date tell some owners they have missed a window they still have.

Is it worth paying someone to appeal for me?

That depends on the figures, which is why they are shown side by side. Filing a first-level appeal is generally free, so a service is buying you comparable-sales research and the time. The calculator puts the published cost of each route against the saving it would produce, and does not recommend one.

What evidence do assessing authorities actually want?

Comparable sales, and documented condition problems. Recent arm’s-length sales of similar properties carry the most weight; distressed sales, family transfers and teardowns are routinely discounted, and including one weakens the rest of a list. Photographs and repair quotes evidence condition.

Dallas County, Texas Property Tax Protest

Work out how far your assessment sits above comparable sales, what a reduction would save at your local rate, and what each of the three routes to it costs — filing yourself, a flat-fee service, or a contingency service. Every county deadline is cited to the authority that sets it.

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Estimate only — not legal advice. This is the published math for Dallas County assessment appeals, shown as a range. Your actual outcome depends on facts, evidence, and decisions this page cannot see.

Protest deadline in Dallas County

DCAD states it this way: a protest must be filed by May 15, or no later than 30 days after the district delivers a notice of appraised value, whichever is later; if that falls on a weekend or holiday the deadline is the first business day after. DCAD then adds hard operational cut-offs for 2026 — postmarked by midnight May 15, in person before the office closes at 5:00 pm, or online before midnight May 15. The protest window opens April 15. Business personal property runs on a different date entirely: on or before midnight June 11, 2026.

Date on your notice of appraised value

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The rule

Enter your notice date

There is a second deadline after the first, and it runs on 14 days. Missing it does not end the protest, but it can mean arriving at a hearing with nothing admitted.

Evidence, in this county: DCAD quotes §41.461 correctly as a notification rule and then commits beyond it: it says it will always provide the evidence when requested within 14 days of the hearing, posted to your account and unlocked with the PIN from the hearing notice. Your own evidence must be on paper — no video, no audio, nothing played from a phone, nothing by email — because the board will not accept anything it cannot retain and copy for the permanent record. uFile is the only electronic route for an owner; an emailed or faxed protest is refused.

Where it goes

Assessing authority: Dallas Central Appraisal District ↗
Hearing body: the Appraisal Review Board of Dallas County — up to 120 members, hearing protests from around April 15 into mid-July and, in a heavy year, through October
File online: Their own portal ↗
County taxing unit’s own rate per $100Not your total — see the note below.: 0.2155

DCAD publishes a labelled DALLAS COUNTY TOTAL of 0.534075 per $100 for 2025 — the county at 0.215500, Parkland Hospital at 0.212000 and Dallas College at 0.106575. That is still not a homeowner's combined rate: city and school district sit on top of it, and which apply depends on the parcel. 0.215500 above is the county taxing unit's own rate, which matches the Comptroller's §5.091 compilation exactly. No Texas authority publishes a single combined rate, so none is shown. Source ↗

The authority above is the one that publishes this deadline, and its instructions govern. Most jurisdictions require their own form or portal — a letter alone may not open a protest.

Check whether you are over-assessed with the assessment calculator, see the rest of Texas’s appeal procedure, then organise the evidence with the letter generator.

Verified 2026-08-03 against Dallas Central Appraisal District — The Protest Process (footer-dated 04/26), with the district's Appraisal Review Board information sheet (effective 2026-04-01)

Verified 2026-08-03 against Texas Tax Code ch. 41 (Local Review) §41.44, §41.45, §41.461, §41.66, §41.67; ch. 6 §6.41; ch. 1 §1.06 as amended by Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., ch. 119 (H.B. 1392) eff. 2026-01-01, and §1.07(c); ch. 41A and ch. 42 for the appeal routes; with Comptroller Publication 96-295 (rev. January 2026) for the published procedure (effective 2026-01-01)

Source of record

Run it against the official tool: DCAD uFile online protest — search your account, then follow the uFile link with the PIN from your notice ↗

🎓 Understand this tool

What it is

A calculator for the two numbers an assessment appeal actually turns on: how far your assessed value sits above comparable sales, and what a reduction would be worth at your local rate. It also puts the published cost of each route to that reduction beside the saving it would produce.

How it works

The comparison uses the MEDIAN of the comparable sales you enter rather than the average, because comparable sales are a small sample and one unusual transaction — a teardown, a family transfer, a distressed sale — drags an average badly. Assessing authorities reason in medians for the same reason. Where a state assesses at a fraction of market value rather than the whole, the assessed figure is divided by that ratio first so the two sides of the comparison are measured the same way. The saving is the reduction multiplied by the combined rate per hundred dollars of value, which is the form counties publish rates in.

Getting the most from it

Take the assessed value and the rate straight off your notice and your bill — not from memory.
Enter several recent sales of genuinely similar properties nearby. Three is a realistic minimum; one comparison is easy to dismiss.
Leave out distressed sales, family transfers and teardowns. Including one weakens the rest of the list rather than lengthening it.
Check your county deadline before doing anything else. A window that has closed ends the appeal whatever the numbers say.

Reading your result

A gap under about five percent is usually treated as within tolerance — valuation is approximate by design, and authorities expect to be roughly rather than exactly right. A larger gap is the argument, but it is an argument you still have to make with evidence. The saving figure assumes the reduction is granted in full, which is why it is shown as a range: meeting halfway is a common outcome.

What it can't tell you

This cannot tell you whether your comparables are genuinely comparable, whether your county assesses the way you think it does, how a particular review board tends to decide, or whether an appeal risks drawing attention to something else about the property. It does not file anything, and it is not a valuation. A licensed appraiser values property; a lawyer advises on appeals.

Frequently asked questions

Compare the assessed value against recent sales of genuinely similar properties nearby. If the assessment sits meaningfully above the median of those sales, that gap is the argument. A difference of a few percent is usually treated as within tolerance — valuation is approximate by design.

Part of: Appealing a property tax assessment →

Related calculators

Appeal Letter

Build a one-page notice of protest from your parcel number, the assessed value, the value you believe is correct, and your comparable sales. It states facts and requests a review — it makes no legal argument, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

Change alerts — when a state revises the guideline or deadline behind this page

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🏘️Dallas County, Texas Property Tax Protest