January 1 is the valuation date. Exemptions must be filed by April 30. May 15 (or 30 days after your notice) is the protest deadline. Bills arrive in October, due January 31. Here is the whole year mapped out — and an honest note about what HCAD has and hasn't confirmed yet.
Check your home FREE →The Harris County property tax year runs on a fixed statutory rhythm: value is set on a single day, exemptions and protests each have their own filing windows, the Appraisal Review Board works through the summer, and the bill lands in the fall. Knowing the order — and which dates are locked in by law versus which ones HCAD sets each spring — is most of what it takes to never miss a deadline. This page walks through the full 2027 tax year in order, with the Tax Code section behind every date.
Last updated: July 26, 2026 · Harris County, Texas · covers the 2027 tax year.
Two of the most important facts about your 2027 tax bill are locked in on a single day. Tax Code §23.01(a) requires that "all taxable property is appraised at its market value as of January 1" — whatever your home is worth on that one day is the starting point for the entire year's tax bill, regardless of what happens to values before or after. §11.42(a) applies the same anchor date to most exemptions: "eligibility for and amount of an exemption authorized by this chapter for any tax year are determined by a claimant's qualifications on January 1," and a person who does not qualify on January 1 cannot receive that exemption for the year. (A handful of exemptions — including a new residence homestead purchase under §11.42(f), and the age-65/disabled additions under §11.42(c) — have their own timing rules; see our homestead exemption guide and new homeowner guide for those specifics.)
Tax Code §11.43(d) requires a completed exemption application to be filed before May 1 for an exemption whose eligibility is judged as of January 1 — which in practice means the filing window runs from January 1 through April 30. This covers the residence homestead exemption, the age-65 and disability additions, and the disabled veteran exemptions. File as early in the window as you like; there is no advantage to waiting, and doing it early avoids a late-April rush. See our homestead exemption guide and disabled veteran exemption guide for the forms and mailing addresses.
HCAD generally mails Notices of Appraised Value in April, though the exact mailing dates are set administratively each year and are not fixed by statute the way January 1 or May 15 are. Your notice shows your new appraised value, your account number, and your iFile PIN — see our account number and iFile PIN guide if you need help finding either. Receiving this notice is what starts the clock on your protest deadline (Section 4 below).
Tax Code §41.44(a)(1) sets the deadline to file a notice of protest as May 15, or the 30th day after the date HCAD delivered your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later. For most homeowners whose notice arrives in April, May 15 ends up being the operative date. But if your notice was mailed late, your personal deadline can fall later than May 15 — always check the date printed on your own notice rather than assuming. Miss it, and your options narrow sharply; see our missed the deadline guide for what is and is not still possible. File through iFile, by mail, or in person — see our iFile guide and full protest guide.
Once your protest is filed, most homeowners are offered an informal review with an HCAD appraiser first, where many protests settle without a formal hearing. If it doesn't settle, your case moves to a short hearing before a three-person Appraisal Review Board panel — local residents, not HCAD employees. Per the Comptroller's own guidance, ARB hearings "typically occur in May through July," though larger counties like Harris may continue hearings beyond July for a backlog of cases. Build your case with real comparable-property evidence from HCAD's own records — see our comparable-property evidence guide — and know what to expect in the room with our ARB hearing guide.
Two closely-linked dates wrap up the appraisal side of the year. Tax Code §41.12(a) requires that by July 20, the Appraisal Review Board hear and determine substantially all timely-filed protests and approve the appraisal records (a larger county's board of directors may, by resolution, postpone this to as late as August 30 — confirm with HCAD which timeline applies in a given year). Then, under §26.01(a), the chief appraiser must prepare and certify the appraisal roll to each taxing unit by July 25. Certification is what lets each taxing unit — the school district, the county, your city, and others — begin calculating tax rates for the year, which leads directly into bill preparation in the fall.
Missed the April 30 exemption window, or only just found out you qualified? Exemptions are far more forgiving than the protest deadline. §11.431 allows a late homestead exemption application up to two years after the delinquency date for that tax year. §11.439 gives disabled veterans an even longer window — up to five years after the delinquency date — to file for the disabled veteran exemptions under §11.131, §11.132, or §11.22. Neither of these late-filing windows applies to a missed protest deadline; protesting your value and filing an exemption are two separate processes with two very different amounts of forgiveness built in. See our homestead exemption guide, disabled veteran exemption guide, and missed the deadline guide for the full detail on each.
Once every taxing unit on your bill has adopted its tax rate for the year — usually in the late summer or early fall, following certification in Section 6 — the Harris County Tax Office, a separate agency from HCAD, calculates and mails statements. This mailing generally begins in October. Note this is the Tax Office's job, not HCAD's — see our property tax bill guide for the full breakdown of who does what.
Under Tax Code §31.02, taxes for the 2027 tax year are due by January 31, 2028 and become delinquent February 1, 2028 if unpaid. From that point, §33.01 penalties (6% the first month, plus 1% per additional month, 12% flat once delinquent past July 1) and interest (1% per month, uncapped) begin accruing. See our property tax bill guide for the full penalty schedule and the real payment-plan options that exist under §31.03, §31.031, §31.032, and §33.02.
Tax Code §1.06 is short and worth knowing by heart: "If the last day for the performance of an act is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal state or national holiday, the act is timely if performed on the next regular business day." That means a statutory date like May 15 can effectively shift to the following Monday (or the next business day after a holiday) in a given year. Always verify the exact calendar-day deadline printed on your own notice, or directly with HCAD or the Harris County Tax Office, rather than assuming a fixed date applies without checking.
| What you need | Where |
|---|---|
| Your value, exemptions, or protest | HCAD — (713) 957-7800 · 13013 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040-6305 · hcad.org |
| Your bill, payment, or penalties | Harris County Tax Office (Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor-Collector) — (713) 274-8000 · hctax.net |
| File your protest | Our free protest guide · iFile guide |
| File an exemption (never too late) | Homestead guide · Veteran exemption guide |
| Build evidence for a hearing | Comparable-property evidence guide · ARB hearing guide |
Not as of this page's last update. HCAD typically publishes its own confirmed key-dates calendar in the spring. The dates on this page are the statutory defaults and the normal pattern from recent years — check hcad.org directly for HCAD's own confirmed calendar once it's published.
May 15, or the 30th day after HCAD delivers your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later (§41.44(a)(1)). Check your own notice for your specific deadline if it was mailed later than usual.
January 1, 2027. Both market value (§23.01(a)) and exemption eligibility (§11.42(a)) are judged as of that date.
Before May 1 — so effectively January 1 through April 30 (§11.43(d)). Missed it? §11.431 gives you up to two years after the delinquency date to file late.
Bills are generally mailed starting in October by the Harris County Tax Office (a separate agency from HCAD). They're due January 31, 2028 and delinquent February 1, 2028 (§31.02).
Tax Code §1.06 moves it to the next regular business day. Always verify the exact date with HCAD or the Tax Office rather than assuming.
Last updated: July 26, 2026. Covers the 2027 tax year; this page is rewritten every January. Sources: Texas Tax Code §23.01 (appraisal date), §11.42 (exemption qualification date), §11.43(d) (exemption filing deadline), §11.431 and §11.439 (late exemption windows), §41.44 (protest deadline), §41.12 (ARB approval of records) and §26.01 (certification of the roll), §31.02 and §33.01 (bill due date and penalties), §1.06 (weekend/holiday shift); Harris Central Appraisal District, hcad.org; Harris County Tax Office, hctax.net; Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Appraisal Review Boards. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reflects statutory defaults and recent-year patterns, not a confirmed 2027 HCAD calendar. Verify all dates with HCAD or the Harris County Tax Office before you act.