The front entrance and front parking lot of the Harris County Appraisal District will be closed for renovations beginning Wednesday, January 25, 2012. The renovations are expected to be complete within seven to ten days, weather permitting. The front parking lot will be closed during this time and it will be necessary for visitors to use the south lobby doors for entry to the building. The main parking lot entrances that allowed entry into the building are on the north side of the building along the feeder road of the Northwest Freeway are closed until further notice. There are now two public entrances into the building complex:

1. The west side of the building complex directly off Langfield.

2. The north side of the building complex (Highway 290 feeder road) on the
    eastern most part of the property line (before the Red Roof Inn Hotel).

All patrons will enter the building through the doors located on the south side of the building complex.

These renovations will create a safer walking surface to the main, front entrance of the building as well as making it wheel chair accessible.

The Texas Legislature has made significant changes to the requirements for homestead exemptions. These affect all types of homestead exemptions, not just the regular homestead exemptions. The changes also affect over-65 exemptions, over-55 surviving spouse exemptions, disability exemptions, and the 100% Disabled Veteran exemptions (all of which are considered homestead exemptions). Any new applications as of September 1 must comply with all requirements, which are outlined HERE.

We are currently accepting homestead applications for 2011 and 2012.

If you are a 100% disabled veteran, click here for more information about this exemption.

The property tax is the primary source of local government revenue in Texas and provides funding for the services provided by counties, cities, school districts, and a variety of special entities such as community colleges, port authorities, hospital and flood control districts, and municipal utility districts. While the total combined state and local tax burden in Texas is among the lowest in the nation, the portion of the tax burden borne by property taxpayers in Texas is relatively high.

Under Texas law, all real property (land, buildings, etc.) and tangible personal property used for the production of income (business inventories, equipment, etc.) is taxable at its January 1 market value unless exempt by law, or unless subject to special appraisal provisions, such as the appraisal of agricultural land at its productivity value.

Three factors determine the total amount of taxes imposed on a property. These include the appraised value established by the appraisal district for the county in which the property is located; the exemptions, if any, to which that property may be entitled, such as the homestead exemption for owner-occupied residential property; and the tax rates set by the governing bodies of the taxing units (jurisdictions) in which the property is located. The purpose of the appraisal is to allocate the tax burden fairly among all taxpayers.

For owner-occupied residential property receiving a homestead exemption, appraised value may be lower than the property’s market value because of what the law refers to as the “homestead cap.” Under current law, while a homestead property’s January 1 market value isn’t capped, that property’s appraised value is capped at a maximum increase of 10% each year. For example, the January 1 market value of a capped residence might be $200,000. However, if that home were appraised at $175,000 on January 1 of the prior year, this year’s appraised value would be $192,500 ($175,000 x 1.10). A residential property qualifies for the cap the year after the year the owner first receives his or her homestead exemption on the property. In our present economy, there are likely to be situations where the market value of a home may have decreased as of January 1, but the current year's appraised value may still increase because it was capped the previous year at less than the current market value.

To ensure a smooth flow of the protest hearing process, hearings are scheduled throughout the day. If you arrive more than 30 minutes early for your hearing, it will be difficult to find a parking space at HCAD and the seating capacity of our 1st floor waiting area may be exceeded.

For these reasons, in cooperation with the Houston Fire Marshal’s office, we request that you not arrive for your hearing more than 30 minutes before the time it is scheduled. This will help alleviate the possibility of overcrowding and will reduce the amount of time you may need to wait for your hearing to begin.