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A single-family home in Southlake, Tarrant County, Texas. The owner came to TaxDrop after opening a 2026 Notice of Appraised Value from the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) showing a market value of $2,093,461. It is a high-end home, the kind of property where the appraisal district has the fewest true comparable sales to work from.
Names and addresses are withheld. The figures below are the district's own recorded values.
The notice landed at $2,093,461 — the same figure as 2025, which had already jumped from $1,662,107 in 2024. That is a 26% jump in a single year, which the district then carried forward untouched.
Because the home is a homestead, the 10% cap kept the taxable value at $2,011,150 even while the market value sat at $2,093,461. The cap limits how fast a value can rise. It does nothing to fix a market value that is wrong to begin with — and next year's cap is calculated from this year's number.
An over-assessment is not a one-year problem. Whatever value the district sets becomes the starting point for next year, so an unchallenged number compounds. At a combined tax rate of about 2.19%, every $50,000 of excess taxable value costs roughly $1,095 a year.
Texas gives owners two grounds under Tax Code Chapter 41: market value that exceeds what the property would sell for (§41.41), and unequal appraisal — being assessed higher than comparable properties (§41.43).
Luxury homes are hard to protest on sales alone. There are few true comparable sales above $2 million in any given quarter, and the ones that exist vary widely in lot size, finish and age. The district leans on its model, and the model is hard to argue with using two or three listings.
That is why this protest leaned on equity. TaxDrop filed and built a packet around how comparable Southlake homes were actually assessed:
The final value of $1,790,946 matched the level the equity evidence supported.
The 2026 assessment came down from $2,093,461 to $1,790,946.
That is a $302,515 reduction — 14.5%.
The final market value also landed below the capped taxable value, so the taxable value came down by $220,204. That is the number the tax bill is calculated on.
Estimated tax savings: about $4,800 a year on the $220,204 drop in taxable value at a 2.19% combined rate.
Because the value carries forward as next year's starting point, the benefit repeats until the district raises it again.
It depends on how far above market your assessment sits — and, for homesteads, how the new value compares with your capped taxable value. This owner saved about $4,800 a year. The arithmetic is the drop in taxable value times your combined rate.
No. Filing a protest does not expose you to an increase — if the district does not agree to a reduction, your value simply stands.
Often not. Many protests resolve at the informal stage or on a settlement waiver. The formal ARB hearing is the backstop, and TaxDrop handles hearings by phone or video.
Recent comparable sales with defensible adjustments, and equity comparables showing similar properties assessed lower. Photos of condition issues help. Opinions do not.
May 15, or 30 days after your Notice of Appraised Value is delivered, whichever is later. See TAD's website and the Comptroller's property tax protest overview.
You can absolutely file yourself — the Comptroller's Taxpayer Remedies guide explains the process. The question is whether your evidence will hold up against a district appraiser's own analysis. That is what TaxDrop builds.
We check whether you have a case before you pay, and tell you when you do not. See pricing for the options.
Start your Tarrant County property tax protest — or read how the process works in our how it works guide.