Protesting Your Travis County Property Taxes
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Options for continuing an appeal of your Travis Central Appraisal District assessed value after the appraisal review board (ARB) hearing


Travis Central Appraisal District uses mass appraisal to value over 1.6 million property accounts annually. Informal and appraisal review board (ARB) hearings are available to resolve disputes in market value and unequal appraisal. While most protest (i.e. appeals) are resolved during the administrative hearings (informal and ARB), there are thousands of Travis Central Appraisal District accounts which merit further appeal. Travis Central Appraisal District assessed values can be appealed after the ARB hearing. For properties with an assessed value of $1,000,000 or less after the ARB hearing, you can choose binding arbitration to appeal market value or a judicial appeal (lawsuit in district court). For properties with a Travis Central Appraisal District value in excess of $1,000,000, you can file a judicial appeal.

Binding arbitration and judicial appeals share several characteristics:
  1. You must timely file a property tax protest regarding the Travis Central Appraisal District value
  2. You cannot agree to a value at the informal hearing
  3. You must attend the appraisal review board hearing in person or by affidavit. Property tax judicial appeals and binding arbitration proceeding are "de novo". You can present evidence irregardless of whether or not it was presented at the Travis Central Appraisal District ARB hearing.
  4. You must act by requesting binding arbitration or filing a lawsuit within 45 days of the date of you receive the formal notice of the ARB hearing results.
Steps 1 through 3 are often referred to as "exhausting your administrative remedies." Multiple court decisions affirm you must file a property tax protest and attend the ARB hearing to be entitled to file a judicial appeal.

Advantages of using binding arbitration to appeal your Travis Central Appraisal District value after the ARB hearing include lower cost, speedier decisions, an independent arbitrator who understands valuation and the opportunity to directly address the valuation problem outside of Travis Central Appraisal District offices. Binding arbitration is an excellent option when the value set by the Travis Central Appraisal District ARB clearly exceeds the market value of the property. It is not effective for marginal cases. Costs are lower because you do not need an attorney or an expert witness (likely to be necessary to seriously pursue a judicial appeal against Travis Central Appraisal District). The Texas Comptroller expects binding arbitration cases to be resolved in 6 months while judicial appeals usually take 8 to 18 months. The arbitrator will be licensed appraisers or real estate agents/brokers and should understand real estate valuation.

Disadvantages of binding arbitration include
  • It currently (September 2006) only applies to market value for real estate. (i.e. you can't appeal for unequal appraisal for real estate).
  • There is a $500 deposit required when you request binding arbitration, although $450 is returned if the property owner prevails. In this case, Travis Central Appraisal District would pay the $450 arbitration fee.
  • Binding arbitration can't be used for real estate with a Travis Central Appraisal District value over $1,000,000 for unequal appraisal, business personal property and mineral interests.
Judicial appeals against Travis Central Appraisal District are more expensive but offer more options. You can appeal market value and unequal appraisal for property with any value. Judicial appeals can be used for real estate, mineral interests and business personal property. They can also be used to appeal Travis Central Appraisal District when "a property owner has been denied a hearing to which the property owner is entitled." While judicial appeals are more expensive, they offer more options and flexibility.

Property owners should seriously consider appealing the Travis Central Appraisal District assessed value after the ARB hearing. Most judicial appeals are successful.

Preparing for Binding Arbitration

Request for Binding Arbitration

More Information on Judicial Appeals

Hire O'Connor & Associates to appeal high property taxes. You pay NOTHING unless we save you money!

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