How to Read a DFW Notice of Appraised Value — Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant

A notice of appraised value is a short, formulaic document, and every field on it is there because a specific statute requires it. Once you know what each field is doing, the notice takes about five minutes to read properly instead of the usual five seconds before it goes in a drawer.

The fields that matter

• Account or parcel number, and the situs (property) address the district has on file.
• Last year's appraised value, set beside this year's proposed market and appraised value.
• Exemptions currently applied — confirm the general homestead exemption is actually listed, not just assumed.
• The Owner ID and PIN (called an eFile PIN by some districts) needed to file online.
• The protest deadline printed on the notice itself, which controls over the default May 15 date whenever it is later.

The two dates on the envelope

Section 25.19 requires the chief appraiser to deliver a notice for a homestead by April 1, or as soon after that as practicable, and by May 1 for other property. Section 41.44 then sets the protest deadline at May 15, or the 30th day after the notice was delivered, whichever is later — so a notice mailed in late April pushes the deadline for that owner past May 15. "Delivered" means mailed; the clock runs from the postmark the district used, not the day the envelope was opened.

Check the property characteristics, not just the value

A notice is also the district's statement of what it believes the house is — square footage, bedroom and bathroom counts, a pool, a garage. These fields sit quietly beside the value and are easy to skip past, but an error in any of them (a addition never permitted, a pool that was filled in years ago, a bathroom count copied from a neighboring parcel) can inflate the value on its own, independent of any argument about comparables. Compare the notice against the district's public property-search listing for the account, which usually shows the same characteristics in more detail, and flag anything that does not match the house as it actually exists.

Where to file online, county by county

• Collin CAD — onlineportal.collincad.org. Create an account with the Owner ID and eFile PIN printed on the notice.
• Dallas CAD — dallascad.org. Search for the property, then use the "uFile Online Protest" link from the account page; a PIN from the notice is required.
• Denton CAD — appeals.dentoncad.com. The four-digit eFile PIN is printed in the top-left corner of the notice.
• Tarrant Appraisal District — tad.org. Create a dashboard account with the Online PIN printed on the notice.

What the informal stage actually does, per district

The four districts do not run the informal stage the same way. Collin schedules a live informal review — by phone, video, or in person — and its own Property Owner's Affidavit of Evidence form (CCAD-283) lets an owner who isn't appearing in person still put evidence in the record ahead of it. Dallas's uFile system can generate an automatic settlement offer directly from the evidence uploaded, without a scheduled meeting at all. Denton's eFile portal and Tarrant's online account each offer a similar negotiation step before a hearing date is set, and in both cases a settlement offer is a one-time proposal that can expire if not accepted before the scheduled hearing.

The first 48 hours

• Confirm the homestead exemption is listed on the notice, not just assumed from last year.
• Write down the actual deadline printed on the notice — do not rely on May 15 by default.
• Locate the Owner ID / PIN; request a resend from the district's portal if the notice is misplaced.
• File the protest online immediately, even before evidence is ready. Filing preserves the deadline; evidence can be added to the file afterward.
• Start pulling the prior year's value against sold and assessed comps while the notice is still in front of you.