Binding Arbitration – Property Tax Reduction in Austin & Central Texas

Texas Protax Binding Arbitration reduce property taxesBinding Arbitration gives qualifying taxpayers an alternative to litigation in their appeal from the final Appraisal Review Board decision.

There are cases where Binding Arbitration can work to your advantage so contact us to advise you.

With Binding Arbitration, there are a few very stringent guidelines that must be followed in order to qualify.

A summary of these rules for Binding Arbitration is listed below for your review.

  • The subject property must be real property. Business Personal Property does not qualify.
  • The final appraised or market value as determined by the ARB on the subject property is $1 million or less.
  • The only issue on appeal is the appraised or market value. Equity Appeals are not considered in binding arbitration.
  • The property owner must pay an application fee in the amount of $500 for each request for Binding Arbitration. The fee is payable to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and must be made by cashier’s check or money order. The $500 is used to pay the administrative costs of the Comptroller’s office and the Arbitrator.
  • The request for binding arbitration must be filed within 45 days of the date you receive the formal Board Order from the District informing you of the final ARB decision on your property.
  • All taxes must be paid timely for the tax year in question. These taxes are due no later than January 31. If for any reason the taxes are not paid timely, the arbitration will be dismissed and the application fee minus the Comptroller’s administrative costs of 10% will be returned to the property owner.
  • The subject property cannot be the subject of litigation for the tax year in arbitration.
  • Each property owner must provide a signed written letter authorizing Texas Protax Austin, Inc. to represent the property owner during the binding arbitration process.
  • Each property owner is required to provide their Social Security Number on the application form for refund purposes.
  • If the Arbitrator determines the value of the property to be closer to the requested value of the property owner than the ARB’s final value, the property owner will be refunded the application fee minus the Comptroller’s administrative costs of 10%.

We are excited about this new lower cost avenue of appeal and encourage you to allow us the opportunity to take this next step in determining your property’s valuation.

You will need to provide your Social Security Number and $500 cashier’s check or money order payable to the “Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts” along with the signed letter of authorization (we will provide).

If you are interested in this process, please contact us at 512-339-6671.