SAN ANTONIO – Could you pay less in property tax? Now’s the time to find out.
Each year, the local appraisal district decides how much your property is worth, and the value it determines will directly affect how much you pay.
If you think the appraisal district got it wrong, you can protest its appraisal and possibly bring the value down.
The deadline for property owners to file a protest is fast approaching: either May 15 or 30 days from the date on your notice, whichever is later.
But not everyone will get a notice each year, and you don’t need it to file — so don’t wait to get yours.
>> How are property appraisals determined? KSAT Explains
Bexar County property owners can also look up their appraised values on the Bexar Central Appraisal District (BCAD) website. Even if your appraised value stayed the same, you can still protest it.
The City of San Antonio is hosting a series of property tax workshops on tax exemptions and protesting your property value. They’re led by Anne Englert, whose company, Texas True Tax, does property appraisal protests on owners’ behalf.
KSAT attended a recent workshop and interviewed Englert about what you need to know about doing it yourself.
Filing your protest
In Bexar County, you can drop off, mail, or file your notice of protest online.
- DROP OFF: 411 N. Frio St.
- MAIL: BCAD Customer Service, PO Box 830248, 78283 (Certified Mail)
- ONLINE: BCAD online services portal
You can also file your notice of protest at one of the city’s property tax workshops.
“You don’t have to have your evidence right now, but you do have to let them know on the notice of protest that ‘I plan on coming and having a nice conversation with you about my property sometime over the summer,’” Englert told KSAT.
Under the reasons for protest, Englert advises checking off both the boxes for an incorrect appraised market value and the “other” box since you don’t know what may come up by the time you have an informal conference or formal hearing.
For non-homestead properties, Englert said to mark the “circuit breaker” box, too.
The form has an optional line for your opinion of your property’s value, though Englert advised, “Don’t give away any poker hands yet.”
There’s also a box to “provide facts that may help resolve this protest,” but Englert said you should write instead “No thank you. Please send evidence USPS.”
Request the appraisal district’s evidence
Make sure to request the appraisal district’s evidence for its valuation of your home, which you can do in Bexar County by checking a box near the top of your notice of protest.
That will allow you to see the specific homes the appraisal district is comparing yours against and figure out how to poke holes in their logic.
“We can look at here and see what’s going on and start comparing our home and going, “‘OK, they’ve got a living area, I’ve got the living area. They’ve got a porch. They’ve got a terrace.’ Maybe I have a terrace. Maybe I don’t have a terrace,” Englert explained to the crowd at a recent workshop.
“They’ll also list properties that have swimming pools, hot tubs, those kind of things as well.”
Collect your evidence
You can collect and present your own evidence to show why you don’t think the appraisal district’s value is correct.
Englert preaches the “P.I.E.” approach: pictures, invoices and estimates.
Take pictures of issues that could affect your home’s value and provide invoices of recent work that’s been done on those issues as well as cost estimates for work that still needs to be done.
The examples should be for work that’s needed to maintain the house.
Examples Englert provided include cracks in the foundation, roof repairs, old windows, older air conditioning or water heaters, worn carpet or stained wood, having an inferior lawn to the comparison properties, and even how your location and view are different from the other properties.
Then, when it comes to estimating your own property value to counter the appraisal district, it can be as easy as subtracting the amount of the needed repairs from the appraised value.
“Are they going to accept every argument? Maybe, maybe not,” Englert said. “But we do get to have that conversation with them so that they understand what’s going on inside our home.”
Informal conference v. formal hearings
Bexar County property owners can request an informal conference with a BCAD employee before going to a formal hearing.
These five-to-10-minute meetings are an opportunity for you to present your evidence, and the employee may offer to lower the value your appraisal. Most protests are resolved at this stage, Englert said.
If you reject their offer, though, Englert said you should ask them to notate their offer on the record. Then you’ll move ahead with a formal appraisal review board (ARB) hearing at a later date.
The formal hearing is in front of one-person or three-person member of the ARB, which is a separate entity from BCAD.
The appointed members of the ARB are Bexar County residents who do not have a role in the daily operations of the appraisal office or appraising property beyond deciding a protest, challenge or corrected motion.
The property owner and appraisal district will both have a chance to make their case to the panel. The appraisal district may offer you a lower value during the hearing, Englert said, but she suggests property owners let the panel make a decision.
“We’re almost there, let the panel rule. There’s three more opinions in the room,” she said.
If you don’t agree with the ARB’s decision, you can go to arbitration, though that comes with out-of-pocket costs.
City workshops
The City of San Antonio has posted the presentation from its free workshops, as well as other resources, online.
However, the workshops provide more context and the opportunity for one-on-one attention.
Four more free property tax workshops remain until May 14.
- Brackenridge High School at 10 a.m. on May 9
- First Baptist Church of San Antonio at 6 p.m. on May 11
- Virtual workshop at 6 p.m. on May 12
- Second Baptist Church at 6 p.m. on May 14
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