How to Fix Errors in Your Appraisal District Record

What to check in your record

Your appraisal district's property search shows the details it used to value your home. Compare them with what you know:

• Living area in square feet, and whether a garage or porch was counted as living space
• Bedrooms, bathrooms, and number of stories
• Year built, and any remodel the district thinks happened
• Features you don't have, such as a pool, outbuilding, or second living unit
• Condition or quality grade, compared with the home's actual state
• Lot size
• Owner name and exemptions

A home recorded as larger or newer than it is will usually be valued too high, and similar homes the district compares it with may not be similar at all.

Fixing it this year

The simplest fix is in your protest. You can protest the appraised value and unequal appraisal (Tax Code §41.41), and a wrong square footage or a pool that isn't there is evidence for both. Bring proof, such as a survey, an appraisal with measurements, a floor plan, or photos. The deadline is usually May 15, or 30 days after your notice was delivered, whichever is later. The deadline guide has the details.

You can also contact the appraisal district and ask it to update the record. The chief appraiser can correct a description of property or a clerical error at any time if it doesn't raise your taxes (§25.25(b)). A corrected record helps in future years, but it doesn't by itself guarantee a lower value this year, so protest by the deadline too.

Fixing past years: §25.25(c)

The appraisal review board can order corrections to the appraisal roll for any of the five preceding years to fix (Tax Code §25.25(c)):

1. a clerical error that affected your tax for that year;
2. the same property appraised more than once that year;
3. property that didn't exist in the form or at the location described, such as a pool or building that wasn't there; or
4. an error showing you as the owner when you didn't own the property on January 1.

A clerical error is a mistake in writing, copying, transcribing, entering or retrieving computer data, or calculating. It doesn't include a mistake in judgment or reasoning (Tax Code §1.04(18)). A square footage entered wrong can be clerical. A disagreement about how the home should be measured or valued usually isn't.

You can file a §25.25(c) motion even if you protested the value that year (§25.25(l)).

Large value errors: §25.25(d)

Before the taxes become delinquent, usually February 1, you can file a motion to correct any error that made the appraised value too high, but only if the value exceeds the correct value by more than one-fourth for a homestead, or one-third for other property (Tax Code §25.25(d)).

• If the correction is made, you pay a late-correction penalty of 10% of the taxes on the corrected value (§25.25(d-1)).
• It isn't available if the review board already decided a protest on the property's value on the merits after a hearing where you presented evidence, or if the value was set by a written agreement with the district (§25.25(d-1)).

If you missed the protest deadline and your home's value is badly wrong, this is the remaining option for the current year.

Filing a motion and the hearing

1. Write the motion to your appraisal review board. Describe each error you want corrected and the tax years, and attach your proof (§25.25(e)). Many districts have a form for this; ask yours.
2. Pay the undisputed tax on time. Pay the tax on the part of the value you aren't disputing before the delinquency date, or you lose the right to a final decision on the motion (§25.26).
3. Wait for an agreement or a hearing. If you and the chief appraiser don't agree on the correction within 15 days, you can ask for a hearing before the review board (§25.25(e)). It's conducted like a protest hearing (§25.25(m)). If you disagree with the result, you can sue within 60 days of the board's decision (§25.25(g)).

Refunds

When a correction lowers your tax after you've already paid, the taxing units refund the difference to the owner who paid. You don't need to apply for it (Tax Code §26.15(f)).

If the error is a missing exemption rather than a wrong record, a late exemption application is usually the right tool. See claiming a missed exemption for past years.