Texas Property Tax Protest Deadline: May 15 and the Exceptions

The deadline to protest your property taxes in Texas is May 15, or 30 days after your Notice of Appraised Value was delivered, whichever is later. That single rule, from Texas Tax Code Section 41.44, decides whether the appraisal district's number can be challenged this year or stands until next spring. This guide covers exactly how it works, the handful of exceptions, and how to make sure a mailing delay does not cost you the year.

The rule

Section 41.44(a) says a protest must be filed before May 15 or not later than the 30th day after the date the notice of appraised value was delivered, whichever is later. Two details matter:

• "Delivered" means mailed. The clock starts when the district puts the notice in the mail, not when you open it.
• Weekends and holidays roll forward. If May 15 is a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline is the following Monday.

Because Texas appraisal districts mail most residential notices in April, the 30-day window usually closes before May 15, and May 15 is the operative date for the vast majority of homeowners. The exception is a late notice: if your district mailed yours on May 1, your deadline is May 31, and it will say so on the notice itself.

What "filed" means: postmarks and portals

A protest is filed when the appraisal district receives it or, if you mail it, when it is postmarked. Tax Code Section 1.08 treats a document as timely if it is sent by first-class mail and bears a post office cancellation mark dated on or before the deadline.

That rule has become a trap. Since 2025, USPS applies postmarks at regional sorting centers, and an envelope dropped in a mailbox on May 14 can carry a May 16 or May 17 postmark. We cover the details in our guide to the USPS postmark changes. The practical advice:

1. File online. Every major Texas appraisal district has a portal, and an online filing is time-stamped instantly. This is the safest method by a wide margin.
2. If you must mail, get a hand postmark at the counter or send it certified, at least a week early.
3. Keep a copy of whatever you file and the confirmation.

Filing does not require evidence. You can file in April with nothing but your account number and the boxes checked, then build your case before the hearing. Our step-by-step protest guide covers what comes after.

If you missed it: the four exceptions

Texas law gives late filers a few narrow doors. None of them is as good as filing on time.

1. Late protest for good cause (Section 41.44(b))

The Appraisal Review Board shall hear a late-filed protest if you show good cause for missing the deadline, as long as you file before the ARB approves the appraisal records for the year, which typically happens around July 20. "Good cause" is judged by the ARB; a hospitalization, a deployment, or a mail failure tends to qualify. "I forgot" does not.

2. Failure to receive notice (Section 41.411)

If the district did not deliver the required notice and you can show it, you may protest that failure and have your value heard, provided you file before the taxes become delinquent (February 1 of the following year). You generally must pay the taxes not in dispute to keep this protest alive.

3. Correction of errors (Section 25.25(c))

At any time within five years, the ARB can correct clerical errors, multiple appraisals of the same property, property that does not exist in the form or location described, and errors in ownership. This fixes mistakes, not disagreements about value.

4. The one-third rule (Section 25.25(d))

If the appraised value was at least one-third higher than the correct value, you can file a motion to correct it by January 31 of the following year, after the protest deadline has passed. The catch: if it succeeds, a 10% late-correction penalty is added to the tax on the corrected value. It is a real remedy for badly overvalued property, but it does not rescue a merely high appraisal, and it costs you a penalty a timely protest would not have.

All of these are in Chapter 41 and Chapter 25 of the Tax Code.

The full protest calendar

Deadlines by county

The rule is statewide, but district mailing schedules set the practical date. For the counties we serve:

Districts occasionally mail a batch of notices late, especially for new construction or properties with corrected records. Those notices carry their own 30-day deadline. Always read the date on yours.

Why the deadline matters more than it looks

A missed protest does not just cost one year. If you have a homestead exemption, your taxable value can rise up to 10% per year, and it compounds from whatever value the district set. Leaving an inflated appraisal unchallenged raises the floor for every year after it. Conversely, a successful protest lowers that floor. The homeowners who protest every year are not being difficult; they are managing the compounding. Our Texas property tax guide explains how the cap and the protest interact.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your deadline on your Notice of Appraised Value or with your county appraisal district.