If you’re like me, your property taxes went up a lot this year, and I’m sure you have a lot of questions about why. Today let’s talk about property taxes and the proper way to go about protesting them if you think they’re too high.

Last year, the county wasn’t allowed to assess or raise taxes. To make up for it, they’ve raised property taxes by an average of 56% in Travis County. Many homeowners are feeling the pain.. If you feel your property taxes are too high, I highly recommend you protest them.

To protest taxes in the past, you could call me to gather comparable sales data to show the county why your house should be worth less. That strategy doesn’t work anymore—home values keep going up too much. The deadline to protest is May 15. 

When protesting your taxes, be sure to check that you’ve filed for all the appropriate exemptions, like the homestead exemption, over-65 exemption, and any disability exemptions you qualify for. Filing for these exemptions will save you the most money on your taxes. If you have any questions about filing, I’d love to help.

If protesting is still necessary, I recommend hiring a service to help you. I use a service called Home Tax Shield, which uses algorithms to help. They’ve been really effective for many of my clients and for myself. If you use the link to sign up for their service, you’ll save 50% on the sign-up fee, and I’ll get a kickback for referring them. I’ve set up that kickback to go to the Community First Village charity, which is close to my heart.

Just to stress the importance of protesting your taxes, it typically saves you around 3% to 5%. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it has a compounding effect to keep your tax base lower over time. 

Another thing you can do this year is vote on May 7. There are two amendments to the Texas constitution that would effectively lower your tax bill related to school funding and adjusting tax ceilings for those over 65. 

If you have any questions about protesting your property taxes or would like our assistance, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send an email. We’d love to help you.