County Guides

How to Protest Your DFW Property Taxes

Step-by-step protest guides for all four major DFW counties. Pick your county below. Deadline for all counties: May 15, 2026.

Protest deadline: May 15, 2026

Or 30 days after your appraisal notice, whichever is later. All four DFW counties use the same statewide deadline. File early — late protests are not accepted.

Collin County

CCAD · McKinney, TX

~430,000 households

Home to Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, and McKinney. One of the fastest-growing counties in Texas — and one of the most active for property tax protests.

collincad.orgView guide →

Dallas County

DCAD · Dallas, TX

~1,000,000 households

The largest county in DFW. Covers Dallas, Irving, Garland, Richardson, Mesquite, and dozens more cities. Protests are handled by the Dallas CAD iFile system.

dallascad.orgView guide →

Denton County

Denton CAD · Denton, TX

~330,000 households

Covers Denton, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Carrollton, and The Colony. Rapidly appreciating values make Denton County protests especially valuable.

dentoncad.comView guide →

Tarrant County

TAD · Fort Worth, TX

~680,000 households

Covers Fort Worth, Arlington, Grapevine, Southlake, and Keller. Managed by the Tarrant Appraisal District — one of the larger ARB systems in Texas.

tad.orgView guide →

What is a property tax protest?

Every year, Texas county appraisal districts (CADs) set an appraised value for your home. That value is used to calculate your property tax bill. If your home is appraised higher than it should be — or higher than similar homes in your neighborhood — you have the right to protest.

Texas law gives homeowners two main grounds for protest:

  • §41.43 Unequal Appraisal — Your home is appraised at a higher $/sqft than comparable neighbors. This is the most common and most winnable argument for residential properties.
  • §41.41 Market Value — Your appraised value exceeds the actual market value. Requires recent sales data to support.

Most homeowners win at the informal hearing stage — a 15-minute conversation with an appraiser — without ever going before the formal ARB panel. A strong evidence packet is the key to winning informally.

TaxProtest.net builds your evidence packet

Enter your address. We pull your county's appraisal data, find comparable properties appraised lower than yours, calculate your target value, and generate a professionally formatted PDF packet — ready to upload to your county's iFile portal.

Get My Evidence Packet — $59

Flat fee. No percentage cuts. You keep 100% of your savings.