Remerciez-le!

Remerciez @Admin pour avoir partagé cet document gratuitement, de la manière la plus simple, en partageant sur les réseaux sociaux.

Hello, and welcome to the Texas Comptroller’s presentation on How to Present Yo

Hello, and welcome to the Texas Comptroller’s presentation on How to Present Your Case at an Appraisal Review Board Hearing: A Homeowners Guide. Before we get into the main part of the presentation, let me explain the scope and limits of the presentation. First, state law prohibits the Comptroller’s office from advising a taxpayer about, or intervening in, a matter under protest before an appraisal review board (ARB). This presentation is intended to offer a general guide. It seeks to present the homeowner with a general idea of the appeal process that covers the most common situations and does not include every nuance of the law covering appeals. Second, this presentation is directed only at one type of property owner – those that own a home and are not satisfied with the value the appraisal district placed on it. Every appraisal district must adhere to the law, but not all appraisal districts carry out this mission exactly the same way. Large appraisal districts must handle thousands of protests and will hold hearings for months, while small appraisal districts may only have a handful of appeals and will hold hearings in one day. The way hearings are handled in your appraisal district may not necessarily mirror this presentation exactly. 1 Under the following circumstances, state law requires appraisal districts to send you a notice by April 1, or as soon as practical thereafter, of the market value of your home and how much tax you would have to pay based on the same tax rate your city, county, school district and any special purpose district charged the previous year: • if the value of your property is higher than it was in the previous year; • if the value of your property is higher than the value you gave on a rendition; • if your property was not on the appraisal district’s records in the previous year; or • If an exemption is reduced or cancelled for the current year. Among other things, the notice will also tell you the following: • to which taxing entities you will have to pay property taxes; • the appraised value of your home in the prior year; • an explanation of when and how you can protest the value; and • the date and place the ARB will begin hearing protests. Placing a value on your home is the first step in the property tax process. The appraisal district in your county sets the taxable value of all property in the county. Your local governments, like the county commissioners court, city council, school districts and special purpose districts like a water or library district, will use the total value of property in their jurisdiction to set a tax rate according to the local government’s budgets, which are set based on the amount of money it will take to provide 2 public services. So, the first step in trying to limit your tax bill is to make sure the appraisal district places a fair value on your home. The Texas Legislature has created a legal process for property owners to appeal the appraisal district’s value. The focal point of the process is the ARB. The notice of appraised value should explain how and when you can file a protest with the ARB, and should include a protest form. 2 Most appraisal districts, although not all, provide what is called an informal meeting where you can sit down one on one with an appraiser and discuss the value of your home. In most appraisal districts, the vast majority of disputes (between 70 to 90 percent) are settled during the informal process. It is very important, however, that you preserve your right to protest to the ARB by filing your notice of protest by May 31 or no later than 30 days after the appraisal district mailed a notice of appraised value to you, whichever date is later, even if you hope to resolve your concerns at the informal meeting with the appraisal district. Your notice may show whether your appraisal district has an informal meeting process. If it does, you may want to take advantage of this opportunity. In attending an informal meeting, be sure to bring in all your evidence to increase your potential for receiving an adjustment at this meeting and avoid having to present your case in front of the ARB. 3 If your appraisal district does not have such an informal process or, if after meeting with the appraisal district informally you are still not happy with the value placed on your home, you can ask for a formal hearing with the ARB. Remember, that you must have filed the notice of protest by the required deadline, or you may unintentionally forfeit your right to appear before the ARB. In some appraisal districts, at the end of the informal meeting if you and the appraisal district do not come to a value, you may be brought directly before the ARB, rather than seeing them at a later date. The appraisal district’s board of directors or the local administrative district judge appoints the ARB from citizens living within the county, but the ARB is an independent body and is not subject to the authority of the appraisal district. They are typically your neighbors who most likely also own homes and have a personal interest in making sure the appraisal process is fair to everyone. The ARB, which can be composed of a number of three-member panels, is like a judge and jury in a case. They will hear evidence, both from you and the appraisal district’s representative. After hearing and considering the evidence, the ARB will make a decision on the value of your home. Like a judge, ARB members cannot discuss your case with anyone outside the hearing. Likewise, you should not contact any ARB member about your case outside of the hearing. If you do, the members cannot hear your case. While most protest hearings are open to the public, the property owner and appraisal district representative can make a joint motion to require a closed hearing if confidential information is to be presented at the hearing. 4 There are a number of situations in which you can appeal the value on your home to the ARB. First, you can appeal if you believe the value the appraisal district placed on your home is too high. You can also appeal if you believe the appraisal district has unfairly placed a value on your home in relation to the value it placed on other homes in your neighborhood. Appraisals must be equal and uniform, and if you believe this is not the case you can show the ARB sales and appraisals in your neighborhood to prove your point. As a homeowner, you may want to appeal if the appraisal district denied your exemption application. The taxable value of your home is the appraised value, less exemptions. If the appraisal district refused an exemption, you may end up with a higher tax bill. Appealing this issue to the ARB may help you reduce your tax liability if the ARB grants the exemption. One final issue that you may want to appeal is if the appraisal district failed to notify you that the value on your home had changed to a degree that it would increase your tax liability. 5 You must file a protest by May 31 or no later than 30 days after the date on the notice of appraised value on your home. Many notices are mailed in April, so your protest should be filed earlier than May 31. The Legislature recognizes that most homeowners have to go to work every day during the week, so the ARB shall provide for an evening or weekend hearing. 6 The ARB must send you a notice of the date, time and place of your hearing at least 15 days in advance of the hearing date. It must be postmarked, not received, 15 days before the hearing. Since most ARBs do not have administrative staff, the appraisal district handles their paperwork. At least 14 days before the hearing date, the appraisal district must send you: • the Comptroller’s publication, Property Taxpayer Remedies, which explains your protest appeal rights and the ARB’s responsibilities; • the ARB’s procedures for the protest hearing; and • a statement notifying you that you can inspect and obtain copies of data, schedules, formulas and other information the appraisal district plans to use at your hearing. This information is often included with your notice of hearing date and time. Note that the information the appraisal district plans to introduce at your hearing is not provided – only a statement that the information is available upon request. 7 You have a right to inspect and obtain a copy of all the information the appraisal district plans to introduce at the hearing. You should visit the appraisal district office and ask that they show you all the data they used in determining the uploads/s1/ homeowners-protest-guide.pdf