Evidence for a Protest

"You cannot go to the hearing and just say the appraisal district is wrong." That is the Comptroller's own framing: it is up to you to have what you need to prove your case. The full guide — including what each evidence category is, when it helps, and what it does not prove by itself — lives in our property tax protest evidence guide. This page is the short version for the protest sequence.

The categories the state names

In its guidance on ARB hearings, the Comptroller lists the kinds of information owners should gather to establish value: property photographs (yours and comparables'), receipts or estimates for repairs, sales price documentation such as listings and closing statements, calculations of median level of appraisal (for unequal-appraisal protests), affidavits, newspaper articles, architectural drawings or blueprints, engineering reports, property surveys, and deed records. Each of these has its own page in the evidence guide, drawn from the same official sources.

Organizing evidence around your grounds

Match evidence to the ground you are protesting. A market-value protest leans on sales documentation and comparable properties. An unequal-appraisal protest leans on comparisons of appraised value against market indicators across comparable properties. A condition-based argument leans on photographs, repair estimates, and engineering or contractor documentation. Evidence that does not speak to the ground you selected mostly adds noise.

Exchange rules

Before or at the start of the hearing, each side must give the other a copy of the written material it intends to offer to the ARB, in the manner and form prescribed by Comptroller rule. Plan your packet so it can be shared and retained as the hearing record requires.

Build your packet

Our assessment checker produces a preparation checklist you can bring to an informal conference or hearing, organized by evidence category.