How to Protest

How to Present Your Case at an ARB Hearing: A Homeowners Guide  

How to Present Your Case at an ARB Hearing for Small Businesses

After the ARB rules on your protest, it will send a written order by certified mail. If you are dissatisfied with the ARB’s findings, you have the right to appeal the decision. Depending on the facts and type of property, you may be able to appeal to the state district court in the county in which your property is located; to binding arbitration; or to the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH).

Binding Arbitration - You may appeal through binding arbitration if your property is valued at $5 million or less. You may also use binding arbitration for your residence homestead regardless of its appraised value. To request binding arbitration, you must file a Request for Binding Arbitration form with the appraisal district, along with a deposit check payable to the Comptroller of Public Accounts. The deposit amount ranges from $450 to $1,550 based on the property type and value. All but $50 of your deposit will be refunded to you if the arbitrator sets your value at an amount closer to your opinion of value than to the ARB’s value. If not, the deposit is used to pay the arbitrator’s fee. You must exercise the arbitration option not later than 60 days after the date you receive the ARB’s notice of its decision. There are limits to what can be appealed to binding arbitration.

Regular Binding Arbitration

Limited Binding Arbitration

State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) - Property owners may also appeal ARB orders for real or personal properties with values of more than $1 million to SOAH.  To appeal, you file a notice with the chief appraiser not later than 30 days after the date you receive the ARB’s notice of its decision and file a $1,500 deposit not later than the 90th day after you receive the ARB’s notice of the order. The administrative law judge will schedule the hearing in the municipality where the property is located unless SOAH does not have a remote hearing site in that municipality. In which case, the hearing will be scheduled in the municipality with a remote hearing site that is closest to the subject property.

State District Court in Denton County - Alternatively, you may appeal the decision to the state district court in which your property is located. You must file the appeal no later than 60 days after you receive the final ARB order. In all types of appeals, you are required to pay a specified portion of your taxes before the delinquency date.

[96-295] Property Taxpayer Rights & Remedies 

Step 1:  Turn in your Protest Form by Your Deadline

*Please check the bottom of your Notice to confirm your own deadline. There is not one set deadline.*

There are two ways to turn in your Protest Form:

1. Through the eFile Portal (fill out the protest form in the Portal)

2. Download and print out a protest form HERE and either
   Mail it to: DCAD, 3911 Morse St, Denton, TX 76208 (or)
   Drop it off at the front of our building (same address)

The quickest and most efficient way to file is through our eFile Portal.
★  Access the eFile Portal HERE ★

Step 2:  Upload Evidence

If you have evidence or documentation you would like to submit to support your opinion of value, please do so through the eFile Portal, mail it in or bring it to 3911 Morse St, Denton.

Helpful evidence includes:  Fee based or bank appraisal, closing statement, current photos with date stamp, estimates for repair, or any other documentation relevant to the protest.

Step 3:  DCAD Appraiser will reach out to you

Once DCAD receives your Protest Form, a DCAD appraiser will review your protest and will contact you through the eFile portal or schedule you for an ARB hearing.

★ Please be patient with us as we work through the process. Regularly check your email and mail. Thank you!

Step 4:  Informal Review

When submitting a protest form, a property owner/ agent can request an informal review with a DCAD appraiser.

An informal review can be done through the new messaging feature in the eFile portal, by telephone, or in-person. *The most efficient way to file a protest and have an informal settlement discussion is through the eFile Portal. The portal allows property owners to skip the lines and never leave their home or office.

Step 5:  Hearing with the Appraisal Review Board (ARB)

If the property owner can reach an agreement (electronically or in person) with the DCAD appraiser, prior to the date of their scheduled ARB hearing, the ARB hearing will be canceled, the settlement will be recorded, and the protest will be closed out. If there is NOT an agreement made prior to their scheduled hearing, the owner will need to proceed with their ARB hearing at the scheduled date and time. The ARB is requesting hard copies of your evidence for all in-person hearings.

For all ARB hearings, including telephone or video conference hearings, you will be mailed a notice of protest hearing at least 14 days prior to the scheduled hearing.  The notice will include details on the exact time and location of the hearing, and for telephone or video conference hearings, it will give detailed information on how to call and check in prior to the hearing time.  Please allow a 2-hour window for all phone/video ARB hearings.  Also, you must provide a valid daytime phone number and email address for your phone/video hearing.  Please note: ARB video hearings will be held later in the protest season and DCAD cannot provide technical support for secure connections to the video conference. 

DCAD's mailed evidence and the evidence you submit prior to your hearing will be the only evidence that is discussed at your hearing. ★

Market Value has no cap. It can go as high or low as the market allows. 
As an appraisal district we set the Market Value. 

10% Homestead Cap:
If someone had a homestead exemption on their property the prior year, and still has a homestead exemption on that same property this year, they are the only ones eligible for a 10% cap​*.​ 

Your Homestead Cap will come into effect if the Market Value exceeds 10% compared to the prior year's Assessed Value​.​

Example:
2021 Market Value is $200,000
2022 Market Value is $300,000
 

But... the 2022 Assessed Value would be $220,000.
($200,000 x 10% homestead cap = $220,000)
 

The Assessed Value is the value your taxes are assessed from.  You will only pay taxes on $220,000.

The Market Value (what you could sell it for in the market) would stay at $300,000 for 2022.

​Scenario:
​If you reach an agreement of Market Value with Denton CAD, or get a ruling from the Appraisal Review Board (ARB), higher than your Assessed Value, you will still be taxed at your Assessed Value. In other words, in the example above, if you agree to a 2022 Market Value of $250,000, you will still be taxed on $220,000.

The Assessed Value is a 10% ceiling from year to year, and it will not be impacted unless the Market Value is deemed to be less than the Assessed Value. So in the example above, if you agree to a 2022 Market Value of $210,000, then your new Assessed Value will be $210,000 since it was under the Homestead Cap amount. 

*Exception to the rule:
If there is a current homestead on property 123 Main St, and you purchase 123 Main St in 2022 and the previous owner does NOT request to remove their homestead, their homestead cap will remain on that property for the rest of 2022 (until Jan 1, 2023), so you will receive their homestead cap for that year. If they request to remove it, then you will not receive the benefit of their cap and you will have to wait and apply for your own homestead on January 1, 2023. Once you have applied for your own homestead on that property, you will establish your qualification date. The first year you will be able to observe the effect of your homestead cap is 2024. So you would not receive a cap in 2023.

If you would like your individual homestead evaluated, please email customerservice@dentoncad.com

ARTICLE:  RELIEF FROM RISING VALUES

This is a great article explaining "caps" on revenue growth and how the 2019 Legislative Property Tax Reform is protecting property owners from what is happening in the current housing market.  It also explains how the Appraisal District increasing your VALUE (around 25%) to be inline with the market, does not mean they are increasing your TAXES by 25%.

Please email helpdesk@dentoncad.com, subject line "Request Pin" and give detailed account information.

That is your right to attend your ARB hearing in person, if you choose. Just please note, if you elect an in-person hearing, these hearings will not be scheduled until the ARB is confident that all property owners, their agents, DCAD staff and the ARB members can be assured of their safety. Therefore, your scheduled telephone hearing will be cancelled and your in-person hearing will not be scheduled until later in the year. If you would like to be scheduled for an in-person ARB hearing, you will need to call 940-349-3980 at least two days prior to your scheduled telephone hearing to make these changes.

No, you do not need to file a protest.

Concerns about exemptions, address changes, etc. should all be directed towards... customerservice@dentoncad.com.

Ownership changes should be directed towards... mappingstaff@dentoncad.com.

Yes, you need to file a protest form.

Please submit a copy of your recent closing documents (after 01/01/22) or your recent fee appraisal (after 01/01/22) with the protest form. This will help to determine a market value for the property.

This can be done through the eFile Portal, mailed, or dropped off at DCAD.

Along with filling out a protest form, please provide us with a copy of your recent closing documents (after 01/01/20) or your recent fee appraisal (after 01/01/20), this will help to determine a market value for the property. This can be done through the eFile Portal (if you have set up an account) or ARB Evidence Upload.

The value of your property will be determined as of January 1, 2023. Denton CAD utilizes a combination of the Cost, Market, and Income Approaches to value your property. In the informal or formal meeting, we will likely present a Comp Grid that will calculate the value of your property based on sales of comparable properties, or appraised values of comparable properties.

Our eFile portal is currently accessible from the following countries:

Canada, Colombia, India, Japan, Macedonia, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Vietnam and
United States of America, including the Virgin Islands

2023 Appointment of Agent Online FID Information

For fastest processing, please use the portal at https://portal.trueautomation.com/1 to electronically submit
AoA/RoA/FID maintenance requests. Instructions can be found here.

2023 Agent Protest Import File Information
 

When completing the 2023 Agent Protest Import File:

• Enter each Property ID in column A
• Add an 'X' in columns B through O for any applicable protest reasons
• Add an 'X' to column P to request evidence to be sent prior to the formal hearing
• Add an 'X' to column Q to request a phone conference, with a phone number in column R
• Add an 'X' to column S if you would like a hearing reminder
• Add any comments for the protest in column T
• Email your completed forms to agentprotest@dentoncad.com - files must be submitted in

the original .xls or .xlsx format

• 2023 Agent Protest Import File

• [50-132] Notice of Protest

• [50-813] Revocation of Appointment of Agent for Property Tax Matters

• [50-162] Appointment of Agent for Property Tax Matters 

• Appointment of Non-Agent Representation