LAST UPDATED: JULY 30, 2026 | BY CHRISTOPHER BEAL, U.S. ARMY VETERAN & REALTOR

Property Tax Protest Guide (Bexar County): Deadlines, Evidence, and Winning Tips (2026)

The 2026 Bexar County protest calendar. If you are reading this after the July certification date, skip to the post-certification options below.

If you own a home in San Antonio, there's a good chance you'll see a Notice of Appraised Value each spring that makes you do a double-take. The good news is that Texas gives you a formal way to challenge an appraised value through the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). In this 2026 guide, I'll walk you through how the Bexar County protest process works, what deadlines matter most, and how to build an evidence packet that is actually persuasive.

And because many of the families I serve are active-duty military or veterans, I'll also highlight a few veteran-specific angles -- like how exemptions can reduce the taxable value of your home and why protesting early can help you plan your housing budget when you're preparing for a PCS.

When is the 2026 deadline to file a Bexar County property tax protest?

In most cases in Texas, the protest filing deadline is May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal district mails your notice, whichever is later.

What evidence actually helps you win an ARB hearing?

Can exemptions reduce your taxable value even if you don't protest?

Yes. A protest challenges the value, while exemptions reduce the taxable value for certain taxes if you qualify. BCAD notes homestead exemption applications are generally due by April 30. Certain disabled veterans may qualify for a full exemption of the total appraised value of the veteran's residence homestead if they have a 100% disability rating (or individual unemployability) from the VA.

What Happens After You File, and Where Are You Now in the 2026 Cycle?

Most Bexar protests are actually decided in the informal conference, not the formal hearing. An appraiser reviews your evidence one on one. If your comparable sales are clean and your condition documentation is real, this is where a value gets adjusted, and it is over in twenty minutes. Take that settlement seriously: an ARB panel is not obligated to give you a better number than the appraiser already offered, and it can leave the value unchanged.

If you do not settle informally, BCAD mails you written instructions for the formal hearing. The panel is independent of the appraisal district, but it is not a courtroom. You get a short, structured window to present. Bring printed copies. Lead with your three best comparable sales, not your eight mediocre ones. State the number you want and why, and stop talking.

By late July, the cycle is effectively closed for ordinary protests. Once the appraisal roll is certified, taxing units set rates against those certified values and tax bills follow in October, due by January 31. That timing is exactly why the section below matters if you are reading this after certification.

You Missed the Deadline or Lost Your Hearing. What Now?

Binding arbitration is the option most San Antonio homeowners have never heard of and should know about. It applies to residential homestead property and to other property valued at or below the statutory ceiling, it is filed with the Texas Comptroller through the appraisal district, and it requires a deposit that is largely refunded if the arbitrator's value comes closer to your number than to the district's. It is faster and dramatically cheaper than litigation. The 60-day window from your ARB order is strict.

The Section 25.25 correction motion is a different animal. It is not a do-over on opinion of value. It is a fix for specific defects: clerical errors, property that does not exist, land or improvements taxed to the wrong owner, or a value that substantially exceeds the correct value under the substantial-error provision, which carries a late-correction penalty. If your appraisal shows a pool you do not have, square footage that is off by hundreds of feet, or a second structure that burned down, this is your remedy and you do not have to wait for next spring.

And if none of that fits, start on 2027 now. Confirm your homestead exemption is actually recorded on the account, not just filed. Photograph deferred maintenance while it exists rather than reconstructing it in April. Save the contractor bids for the foundation, the roof, and the HVAC. Evidence gathered in the year you actually live through it beats evidence assembled in a panic the week before a hearing.

What Did Bexar County Sale Prices Actually Do in 2026?

A protest is an argument about market value, so market data is the argument. The appraisal district works from mass-appraisal models. You get to work from actual closings on actual streets, and in a market where the average home takes 77 days to sell and closes below asking, that gap is where a reduction lives.

Source: SABOR / LERA MLS closed and active residential data, Bexar County, January 31 through July 30, 2026, based on the 1,000 most recent records in each set. Appraisal districts value property as of January 1, so pair recent closings with sales near that date where possible.

If you own a home in the Northeast corridor, the neighborhood-level numbers differ sharply from the county average. I broke Schertz, Cibolo, Converse, Live Oak, Universal City, and Garden Ridge out individually in my 2026 Northeast San Antonio suburb resale guide. For veterans, the exemption side of this equation is covered in the Texas disabled veteran property tax exemption guide, and if a protest is part of a bigger decision about whether to sell, start with Should I sell my San Antonio home in 2026.

About the Author: Christopher Beal

Christopher Beal is a U.S. Army veteran and the Owner of Veteran Real Estate San Antonio, a Beal Group practice brokered by eXp Realty (TREC License #723559). A Military Relocation Professional (MRP) and VAREP member, he is a 7-time eXp Realty ICON agent, winner of Best Real Estate Agency in the 2026 Best of San Antonio Readers' Choice (San Antonio Current, 100,000+ voters), and a 3x San Antonio Business Journal Top 25 Individual Agent (#13 in 2024, #14 in 2025, #20 in 2026). His recognition also includes 3x Platinum Top 50, 2x RateMyAgent Agent of the Year, 2x Real Producers Top 100, Five Star Professional (2026), and a RealTrends 2026 ranking. He has helped 325+ families, closed more than $125M in career volume, and holds 5.0 stars across 370+ verified reviews, working almost exclusively with military and veteran buyers and sellers across Bexar, Comal, Kendall, Medina, and Bandera counties, with a focus on VA loans, PCS moves, and homebuying near JBSA-Lackland, JBSA-Randolph, and Fort Sam Houston. He provides closed comparable sales to San Antonio homeowners preparing a Bexar County protest at no cost, whether or not they are buying or selling. He can be reached at (210) 882-8583.

This guide is general information about the Texas property tax process, not legal or tax advice. Deadlines and exemption amounts change, and your notice of appraised value controls your specific dates. Verify anything time-sensitive with the Bexar Central Appraisal District or a licensed tax professional before you act on it.

FAQ: Bexar County Property Tax Protests

What Should You Do Next?

If your 2026 protest is done, spend twenty minutes protecting 2027. Pull up your BCAD account and confirm the homestead exemption is posted. If you are a veteran with a disability rating, confirm that exemption is on there too. Then take photos of anything on the property that is deteriorating, and file the contractor bids somewhere you will find them in April.

If you want real closed comparable sales for your street before you argue value with anyone, I will pull them for you. Call or text (210) 882-8583. Email [email protected]. Or start online at veteranrealestatesa.com.

Verify the numbers yourself: Bexar Central Appraisal District help center, Texas Comptroller property tax division, and Texas Tax Code Title 1.

Watch: How to Protest Your Bexar County Property Taxes

I walk the whole protest end to end in this one: the May deadline, the evidence that actually moves an appraiser, and what to expect at the informal hearing. Most owners who show up with real comps walk out with something.

Full Transcript: How to Protest Property Taxes in Bexar County (2026)

Here is the whole walkthrough written out, chapter by chapter. Same deadlines, same evidence list, same numbers -- just easier to skim, search and quote.

Chapters

• 0:00 - Intro - how to protest property taxes in Bexar County
• 0:49 - When is the Bexar County property tax protest deadline?
• 2:04 - What evidence actually wins an ARB hearing?
• 3:42 - Can you still protest after the deadline?
• 5:11 - Do exemptions lower your bill without a protest?
• 6:38 - What do Bexar County sale prices say about your value?

Full transcript

0:00 - Intro - how to protest property taxes in Bexar County

How do you protest property taxes in Bexar County? You file with the Bexar Central Appraisal District by May fifteenth, or thirty days after your notice of appraised value is delivered, whichever is later. Then you settle informally with an appraiser, or you argue value in front of the Appraisal Review Board. That is the answer. Now let me show you the part that actually decides whether you win... and what to do if you are watching this after the deadline, because you still have moves. I am Christopher Beal, Army veteran and realtor here in San Antonio with Veteran Real Estate San Antonio. Every spring I pull closed comparable sales for homeowners across Bexar County. And honestly? Most protests are not lost in the hearing room. They are lost three weeks earlier, when somebody decides what argument they are going to make.

0:49 - When is the Bexar County property tax protest deadline?

When is the Bexar County property tax protest deadline? It is May fifteenth, or thirty days after the appraisal district delivers your notice of appraised value, whichever falls later. That is the Texas Comptroller rule statewide, and it is the same rule here in Bexar County. For twenty twenty-six, that window closed back in May. Here is what most people miss. That notice is not junk mail. It carries the account number and the property identification number you need to file online, and it starts the clock the day it goes out. So the first move is boring, and it matters. Save the notice. Write down the mailing date. Open a folder. File early. Not because early filings get better treatment, but because the last week is a traffic jam, and because filing gets you an informal conference date. That conference is where most Bexar County protests actually get decided. One appraiser, your evidence, about twenty minutes. If you do not settle there, you go to a formal hearing in front of a three-person Appraisal Review Board panel. Those hearings run roughly May through July. And by late July, the appraisal roll gets certified and the ordinary protest window for the year is closed.

2:04 - What evidence actually wins an ARB hearing?

What evidence actually wins an Appraisal Review Board hearing? Closed sales. Not opinions, not your tax bill, not what your neighbor said at the mailbox. Closed sales on comparable homes, plus documented condition problems. Everything else is noise. I build it around three C words. Condition, comparables, and consistency. Condition is what is genuinely wrong with the house. Foundation movement. A roof at the end of its life. An air conditioning system limping through a San Antonio August. Photograph it, and get contractor bids. A bid is a number a stranger signed his name to. That carries weight. Comparables are closed sales near you. The appraisal district values property as of January first, so sales close to that date matter most. Bring your three best... not your eight mediocre ones. Three clean comps beat a stack of paper every single time. Consistency is the unequal appraisal argument. Four houses on your street, same floor plan, yours valued highest? Say so out loud. Now the keep-it-real part. The most common reason a protest fails in Bexar County is a homeowner arguing that the tax bill is too high. The Appraisal Review Board has zero authority over tax rates. None. They decide value, and only value. So walk in with a value argument, or do not walk in at all. And if your value genuinely matches what your street is selling for, do not protest just to protest. I would rather tell you that now than have you learn it in a hearing room.

3:42 - Can you still protest after the deadline?

Can you still protest after the Bexar County deadline? Sometimes, yes. Three paths stay open after your ordinary window closes, and almost nobody in San Antonio knows about the second one. First, district court. If you are unhappy with the board's written order, you have sixty days from the day you receive it to file a petition for review in Bexar County district court. That is the Comptroller rule, and sixty days is strict. Second, binding arbitration. Same sixty-day clock, filed through the appraisal district to the Texas Comptroller, and an independent arbitrator decides the value. It is built for residential homestead property. It is faster and dramatically cheaper than litigation, and the deposit is largely refunded if the arbitrator lands closer to your number than to the district's. This is the one most homeowners have never heard of. Third, a Texas Tax Code Section twenty five twenty five correction motion. This is not a do-over on opinion of value. It fixes defects. A pool on your record that does not exist. Square footage off by hundreds of feet. A structure that burned down two years ago. Wrong owner on the account. You do not wait until next April for any of that. And if none of those fit? Start on twenty twenty-seven today. Confirm your homestead exemption is actually posted on the account, not just filed. Photograph the deferred maintenance while it is still deteriorating. Save the roof bid.

5:11 - Do exemptions lower your bill without a protest?

Do exemptions lower your bill without a protest? Yes, and they are completely separate from a protest. A protest challenges the value. An exemption removes value from the tax calculation, and you get it whether you protest or not. For twenty twenty-six, the Texas school district homestead exemption is one hundred forty thousand dollars. If you are sixty-five or older, or disabled, school districts add another sixty thousand dollars on top of that. Those are Texas Comptroller numbers, not mine. Now here is the one that matters most for the families I work with around Joint Base San Antonio and the Randolph corridor. A veteran with a one hundred percent service-connected disability rating from the V A, or a rating of individual unemployability, is entitled to a total property tax exemption on their residence homestead. Total. Partial disability ratings carry fixed-dollar exemptions instead. And I have sat at kitchen tables in Schertz, in Cibolo, in Converse, with families who had that rating for two years and never got the exemption recorded on the account. The rating does not apply itself. Somebody has to file it. So before you spend a Saturday building a protest packet, go pull up your appraisal district account and look. Confirm the homestead exemption is on there. Confirm the veteran exemption is on there. That is a fifteen-minute job, and it is the highest-value fifteen minutes in this entire video.

6:38 - What do Bexar County sale prices say about your value?

What do Bexar County sale prices actually say about your value? A protest is an argument about market value, so market data is the argument. I pulled Bexar County residential closings from the SABOR MLS today. The median closed sale price is running right around three hundred thousand dollars. Homes are averaging roughly eighty days on market. And price per square foot is sitting near one hundred sixty-five dollars. Here is why that matters. The appraisal district works from mass-appraisal models. Software, at scale, across an entire county. You get to work from actual closings, on actual streets. And in a market where the average home takes about eighty days to sell, and closes below asking rather than above it, that gap is where a reduction lives. So take your appraised value, divide it by your living area, and compare it to that one hundred sixty-five. If you are sitting well above it and your street is nothing special, you have a starting point. Quick recap. File by May fifteenth, or thirty days after your notice. Bring closed comps and condition documentation, and argue value, never the tax rate. If you missed the window, look at binding arbitration, district court, or a twenty five twenty five correction. And check your exemptions first, because those work with or without a protest. None of this is legal or tax advice, and your own notice controls your actual dates. Verify anything time-sensitive with the Bexar Central Appraisal District. If you want real closed comparable sales for your street before you argue value with anybody, I will pull them for you at no cost, whether or not you are buying or selling. Call or text two one zero, eight eight two, eight five eight three. I am Christopher Beal with Veteran Real Estate San Antonio. I will see you in the next one.

Bexar County property tax protest: quick answers

What is the deadline to protest property taxes in Bexar County?

In most cases the deadline is May 15, or 30 days after the appraisal district delivers your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever is later. That is the Texas Comptroller rule statewide and it applies in Bexar County.

Can I still protest my Bexar County value after the deadline?

The ordinary protest window closes when the appraisal roll is certified in late July. After that, three paths remain: an appeal to Bexar County district court or regular binding arbitration through the Texas Comptroller, both filed within 60 days of the ARB's written order, and a Texas Tax Code Section 25.25 correction motion for factual defects such as square footage errors or a structure that no longer exists.

What evidence wins a Bexar County ARB hearing?

Closed comparable sales near your property, documented condition problems with photos and contractor bids, and an unequal-appraisal argument if similar homes on your street are valued lower. Bring your three best comparables rather than eight mediocre ones. Appraisal districts value property as of January 1, so sales close to that date carry the most weight.

How much is the Texas homestead exemption in 2026?

The Texas school district residence homestead exemption is $140,000 for 2026. Homeowners age 65 or older or disabled receive an additional $60,000 school-district exemption under Tax Code Section 11.13(c). Source: Texas Comptroller.

What property tax exemption do 100 percent disabled veterans get in Texas?

Under Tax Code Section 11.131, a veteran awarded 100 percent disability compensation for a service-connected disability, or a rating of individual unemployability, is entitled to a total property tax exemption on their residence homestead. Partial disability ratings carry fixed-dollar exemptions instead. The exemption is not automatic; it has to be filed and recorded on the account.

Do I have to protest to get my exemptions?

No. A protest challenges the appraised value; an exemption removes value from the tax calculation. Exemptions apply whether or not you protest, which is why confirming that homestead and any veteran exemption are actually posted on your BCAD account is the highest-value first step.

What are Bexar County homes actually selling for in 2026?

Across recent Bexar County residential closings pulled from the SABOR / LERA MLS on August 8, 2026, the median closed sale price is running right around $300,000, homes are averaging roughly 80 days on market, and price per square foot sits near $165.