Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) has become quite unfriendly to taxpayers over the past several years. In 2019, they refused to give in-person informal meetings. Then they failed to meet their statutory deadline to produce evidence to protesting parties, which resulted in the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) attempting to dismiss an entire day’s worth of hearings. Ultimately, the ARB did not dismiss those hearing decisions.

In 2020, TCAD will be bringing back in-person informal hearings, but with the caveat that the appraiser meeting with you does not have the authority to make any changes based on your evidence in the meeting. They are simply receiving your evidence to then have it reviewed by a panel and a decision sent within about two weeks after your meeting. That effectively removes the taxpayer’s ability to have an open discussion and correct any misstatements made by TCAD among themselves.

TCAD has also chosen to file protest ARB decisions without specific written authorization of the board of directors. But finally, after all the anti-taxpayer rhetoric, District Judge Catherine Mauzy signed an order on February 11, 2020 to dismiss TCAD vs. Texas Disposal Systems Landfill Inc. This significant order requires that TCAD must have written approval of the board of directors to file a specific appeal of an ARB decision. Hopefully, this will slow down TCAD’s protest of ARB decisions.

For the original article: https://theaustinbulldog.org/judge-undercuts-chief-appraisers-authority/

Wayfinder Tax Relief, LLC is the #1 multifamily property tax specialist in the industry. They focus solely on multifamily properties and are at the cutting edge of the industry change. They are involved in many local apartment associations and are members of the Texas Apartment Association and the National Apartment Association.