Harris County Property Tax Assessment

Harris County property values are determined by the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD), a political subdivision of the State of Texas created in 1980. HCAD describes itself as the largest appraisal district in Texas: roughly 1.9 million parcels of property, serving more than 600 taxing units, with a total market value of nearly $905 billion. Texas statewide rules — the same statutes and deadlines described in our Texas property tax section — govern what HCAD does; this page is the Harris County starting point.

What HCAD determines (and what it does not)

HCAD discovers and appraises property for ad valorem tax purposes for each taxing unit within the district. It processes exemption and special-appraisal applications and prepares the appraisal roll. It does not set tax rates and does not collect property taxes — the taxing units and the county tax assessor-collector do that. Value disputes go to HCAD and the Appraisal Review Board (ARB); rate and billing questions go to your taxing units.

Protests in Harris County

The statewide protest sequence and deadline apply: file a written notice of protest with the ARB by May 15 or 30 days after HCAD delivered your notice of appraised value, whichever is later. HCAD offers online protest filing through its official iFile system, and its forms page provides the current Form 50-132 (Notice of Protest) and protest-process information. See our protest process and deadlines pages for the details.

Run the Harris County assessment checker →

Key dates for the current tax year

• Protest filing: In most cases, a property owner has until May 15, or 30 days after the date the appraisal district delivered the notice of appraised value, whichever is LATER. (verified 2026-09-17)
• Protest filing: A late-filed protest may still be heard if the owner shows good cause before the ARB approves the appraisal records. Certain offshore workers and full-time military members outside the U.S. may file after the deadline under statutory exceptions. (verified 2026-09-17)
• Exemption application: The general deadline for filing a property tax exemption application is before May 1. (verified 2026-09-17)
• Tax payment: Property taxes can generally be paid any time after the tax bill is mailed; taxpayers have until January 31 of the following year to pay without penalty and interest, which begin accumulating February 1. (verified 2026-09-17)

Harris-specific dates — such as when the HCAD ARB begins hearing protests — appear on your notice of appraised value and on HCAD's official site. We link to HCAD rather than restating those dates, because we cannot verify a local calendar daily.

Official forms

• Form 50-132, Property Owner's Notice of Protest — available from HCAD's official forms page and the Comptroller's forms index.
• Homestead exemption application (Form 11.13/50-114) — file with HCAD, including through its official mobile app; the general deadline is before May 1.
• Form 50-162, Appointment of Agent, if someone represents you.

Official property information

HCAD provides a public property search by account, address, or owner name for real and business personal property, plus a property tax database showing taxes each taxing unit will impose. Start from hcad.org.

Evidence and hearing preparation

Harris County ARB hearings follow the adopted procedures described on our ARB hearing page. Build your evidence with the evidence guide, and see our Harris County comparable-property notes for how the checker treats Harris County data availability.

Methodology and update date

This page reflects HCAD and Comptroller sources verified on September 17, 2026. See our methodology and corrections policies. HCAD-specific procedures beyond what HCAD's own pages state have not been verified and are not presented here.