I missed May 15. Is my protest completely dead for this year?

For most homeowners, yes — the ordinary protest window is closed once May 15 (or 30 days after your notice, whichever is later) has passed. A narrow set of exceptions still exist under Texas law: a good-cause late protest before the appraisal review board approves the year's records (§41.44(b)), a protest for HCAD's failure to deliver a required notice (§41.411), and roll corrections for clerical errors or substantially excessive appraisals (§25.25(c) and (d)). None of these apply to the ordinary situation of simply forgetting or running out of time, and the honest, most common answer is preparing for next year.

What is a good-cause late protest under §41.44(b)?

Texas Tax Code §41.44(b) lets a property owner file a protest after the normal deadline, but before the appraisal review board approves that year's appraisal records, if the owner shows the board good cause for the delay. The appraisal review board decides what counts as good cause on a case-by-case basis; there is no statutory list of qualifying reasons, so there is no guarantee it will be accepted.

What does §25.25(c) let me correct, and for how far back?

Texas Tax Code §25.25(c) lets a property owner or the chief appraiser file a motion with the appraisal review board to correct, for any of the five preceding tax years: clerical errors affecting tax liability, multiple appraisals of the same property in the same year, property included on the roll that does not exist in the form or location described, or an error showing the wrong person as the owner on January 1 of that year. It does not cover a simple disagreement about market value.

What is the §25.25(d) substantial-error correction, and what does it cost?

Texas Tax Code §25.25(d) lets a property owner file a motion at any time before the taxes become delinquent to correct an appraised value that is substantially excessive — exceeding the correct value by more than one-fourth for a residence homestead, or by more than one-third for other property. If the roll is corrected under this provision, §25.25(d-1) requires the owner to pay each affected taxing unit a late-correction penalty equal to 10 percent of the tax calculated on the corrected value. It is not available if the property was already the subject of a protest decided on the merits, or if the value was set by written agreement.

Can I still file for an exemption after the protest deadline?

Yes — exemptions are on a separate, more forgiving timeline than protests. Texas Tax Code §11.431 lets a homeowner file a late residence homestead exemption application up to two years after the delinquency date for that year's taxes, with a refund or credit for the exempted amount. The temporary disaster exemption under §11.35 has its own separate 105-day deadline from the governor's disaster declaration, not tied to the protest deadline at all.

If none of these apply to me, what should I actually do?

For most homeowners who simply missed the window, the honest answer is that this year's value is final, and the real opportunity is next year. Confirm your exemptions are filed and current, watch for next year's Notice of Appraised Value (generally mailed in April), and be ready to protest immediately using comparable-property evidence, which is free to gather from HCAD's own records well before the deadline arrives again.

Missed the Harris County Property Tax Protest Deadline

Most pages that talk about a missed deadline try to sell you a workaround. This one will not, because for the great majority of Harris County homeowners who simply let May 15 pass, there is not one. What follows is the honest, complete list of what Texas law actually still allows after the ordinary protest deadline — a short list of narrow, specific situations — and then the straightforward plan for everyone else.

The one-line version: a handful of narrow remedies survive May 15 — a good-cause late protest before the roll is approved (§41.44(b)), a protest for HCAD's failure to deliver notice (§41.411), and roll corrections for clerical errors or a substantially excessive value (§25.25(c)/(d)). None of them cover simply forgetting. Exemptions are on a separate, more forgiving timeline (§11.431, up to two years). If none of these fit your situation, this year's value is final, and the honest next step is preparing for next year.

Last updated: July 26, 2026 · Harris County, Texas.

1. The ordinary deadline, and why it matters that it passed

Tax Code §41.44(a) sets the normal protest deadline as May 15, or the 30th day after HCAD delivered your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later. Once that date passes without a protest on file, the appraisal review board generally has no obligation to hear you for that tax year — the remedies below are genuine exceptions, not routine extensions, and each one has its own specific trigger.

2. Did HCAD fail to send you a required notice? (§41.411)

Tax Code §41.411 is for a specific, narrow situation: HCAD or the appraisal review board failed to provide or deliver a notice you were legally entitled to — most commonly the Notice of Appraised Value itself. If that happened, you are entitled to protest that failure, and if the board agrees the notice was not delivered, it must then determine your protest on any other grounds as well — meaning a legitimate §41.411 protest effectively reopens the whole case.

The timing is strict and payment matters. Under §41.44(c), a §41.411 protest must generally be filed before the taxes on the property become delinquent. A narrower exception under §41.44(c-3) allows filing up to the 125th day after you claim to have first received written notice of the taxes, but only for the limited question of whether a taxing unit timely delivered a tax bill. Either way, §41.411(c) requires you to comply with the payment requirements of §41.4115 or you forfeit your right to a final determination — do not assume you can simply stop paying while this is pending.

3. Was there a clerical error, a duplicate appraisal, or a property that doesn't exist? (§25.25(c))

Tax Code §25.25(c) lets you or the chief appraiser file a motion with the appraisal review board to correct, for the current tax year and any of the five preceding tax years:

a clerical error that affects your tax liability for that year;
multiple appraisals of the same property in the same tax year;
property included on the roll that does not exist in the form or at the location described; or
an error showing someone other than the actual owner as of January 1 of that year.

This is a correction mechanism, not a value dispute — it fixes mistakes in the record, not disagreements about what your home is worth.

4. Was your home appraised substantially, dramatically too high? (§25.25(d))

This is the closest thing to a real second chance at a value dispute — but it has a high bar. Tax Code §25.25(d) lets you file a motion, any time before the taxes become delinquent, to correct an appraised value that is substantially excessive:

Property type	How far over the correct value it must be
Your residence homestead (§11.13)	More than one-fourth (25%) above the correct appraised value
Any other property	More than one-third (33%) above the correct appraised value

It is not free. Under §25.25(d-1), if the roll is corrected this way, you must pay each affected taxing unit a late-correction penalty of 10 percent of the tax calculated on the corrected value. And it is not available at all if the property was already the subject of a protest that went to a hearing on the merits, or if the appraised value was set by a written agreement between you (or your agent) and the appraisal district.

In practice, this remedy exists for genuinely dramatic errors — a home appraised at double its real value because of a data mistake, for example — not for an ordinary disagreement of 5–15% that a normal protest would have addressed.

5. Good cause: filing late, before the roll is approved (§41.44(b))

Tax Code §41.44(b) is the most general of these remedies and the hardest to predict. It lets you file a protest after May 15 but before the appraisal review board approves that year's appraisal records, if you can show the board good cause for missing the original deadline. The statute does not define what counts as good cause — that judgment call belongs entirely to the board, case by case, and there is no guarantee it will accept any particular reason. This is worth attempting if you have a genuine, documentable reason for the delay (a medical emergency, a natural disaster affecting you directly, a documented mail or delivery failure), but it is not a routine fallback for "I was busy" or "I forgot."

If none of these narrow paths fit, the strongest thing you can do is get ready for next year — starting with free comparable-property evidence.
See our comparable-property evidence guide →

6. Exemptions are separate — and much more forgiving

Everything above concerns your protest of the appraised value. Exemptions are a completely different, more forgiving track, and missing the protest deadline does not affect them:

§11.431 — late homestead exemption. You can file a late residence homestead exemption application up to two years after the delinquency date for that year's taxes, with the amount refunded or credited once approved. See our homestead exemption guide.
§11.35 — disaster exemption. This is a completely separate lever with its own 105-day deadline from the date the governor declares a disaster area — it is not tied to the ordinary May 15 protest deadline at all. See our disaster exemption guide if a storm or flood damaged your home.

7. If none of this applies to you: the honest plan

For most homeowners reading this page, none of the narrow remedies above will fit, and this year's appraised value is final. That is not a failure on your part — it is simply how the system is built. The real, reliable opportunity is next year, and there is real value in using the months between now and then well:

Confirm your exemptions are filed and current — homestead, over-65, disability, veteran, whatever applies to you. These are free and, unlike the protest, forgiving of a missed year.
Watch for next year's Notice of Appraised Value, generally mailed in April, and calendar the deadline the moment it arrives — May 15 or 30 days after the notice, whichever is later.
Build your comparable-property evidence early, not the week of the deadline. It is free to pull from HCAD's own records at search.hcad.org — see our comps evidence guide for exactly how.
File as soon as the window opens rather than waiting until the last days, using iFile, mail, or in person.

The honest limits

Read this part. We are not attorneys and not tax agents. HCAD and the Appraisal Review Board decide whether any of these narrow remedies apply to your situation — this page describes what the statutes allow, not a guarantee that any specific case qualifies.

We do not file anything for you. Any of the motions or protests described above are filed by you, with HCAD or the appraisal review board directly.
We are not promising a workaround exists. The honest, most common answer on this page is that for most people, there isn't one this year — and that is the point of writing it this way.
Exemptions are always free to file, including late, within their own deadlines. Our $39 kit is the protest kit, for the value dispute — it does not change or extend any of the deadlines described above.
Deadlines and penalty amounts can change by legislative session. Verify current rules with HCAD or the Comptroller before relying on any date or figure here.

Who to call, and where to send it

What you need	Where
Check whether the appraisal roll for this year is still open	HCAD Telephone Information Center — (713) 957-7800
File a §25.25 motion or a §41.411/§41.44(b) late protest	Harris Central Appraisal District, 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040-6305
File a late homestead exemption (§11.431, up to two years)	Our free homestead exemption guide
File a disaster exemption (§11.35, separate 105-day deadline)	Our free disaster exemption guide
Get ready for next year — comparable-property evidence	Our free comps guide
The statutes themselves	§41.44 · §41.411 · §25.25 · §11.431

Common questions

I just forgot. Is there really nothing I can do?

For the appraised value on this year's bill, in almost all "I simply forgot" cases, correct — the ordinary deadline exists precisely to give a firm cutoff. Your realistic options are confirming any exemptions you qualify for (which have their own, more forgiving deadlines) and being ready well ahead of next year's May 15.

Can I try the good-cause late protest even if my reason is weak?

You can file one — §41.44(b) does not list disqualifying reasons — but the appraisal review board decides case by case whether your reason counts as good cause, and a weak or vague reason is unlikely to succeed. It costs you nothing but time to try if the appraisal roll for the year has not yet been approved.

Does §25.25(d) work for an ordinary "my value seems too high" complaint?

No — it requires the appraised value to exceed the correct value by more than one-fourth (homestead) or one-third (other property), which is a dramatic gap, not an ordinary disagreement. Most protests that would have succeeded through the normal May 15 process do not clear this much higher bar.

If I use §25.25(d), what does the 10% penalty actually cost me?

It is 10 percent of the tax calculated on the corrected (lower) value, owed to each taxing unit affected by the correction — not 10 percent of your full original bill. It is still a real cost, which is part of why this remedy is meant for genuinely substantial errors rather than routine ones.

Should I wait until next year's notice arrives to start preparing?

No — the strongest use of the time between now and next April is pulling comparable-property evidence from HCAD's own records while there is no deadline pressure, so you are ready to file the moment next year's window opens rather than scrambling in the final days.

This year may be closed. Next year does not have to catch you off guard.
Check my home — free

Last updated: July 26, 2026. Sources: Texas Tax Code §41.44, Notice of Protest, §41.411, Protest of Failure to Give Notice, §25.25, Correction of Appraisal Roll, and §11.431, Late Application for Homestead Exemption; Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Protests and Appeals; Harris Central Appraisal District, Protests and Corrections. This page is general information for Harris County homeowners, not legal or tax advice. Whether any remedy described here applies to a specific situation is decided by HCAD or the Appraisal Review Board — verify current rules and deadlines with HCAD or the Comptroller before you rely on anything here.