What Your ARB Order Actually Starts
An Appraisal Review Board order feels like an ending. You filed a protest, you had a hearing, and now there’s a written decision. For a lot of owners, that’s where the process stops — either because the number looks acceptable, or because nobody told them it doesn’t have to stop there.
The order isn’t an ending. It’s the document that starts a clock.
The Clock, Specifically
Under Texas Tax Code § 42.21, an owner who wants to continue past an Appraisal Review Board order has 60 days to file a petition for review in district court, in the county where the appraisal district is located. Miss that window and the appeal is barred — the statute is direct about this, and there is no general extension.
A separate path exists under Chapter 41A: binding arbitration, which also runs on its own filing window and deposit rather than through the courts. It is a distinct process from a district court appeal, not an alternative name for the same thing, and the two should not be confused when deciding how to proceed.
The Detail Almost Everyone Misses
The 60 days does not run from the date printed on the order, and it does not run from the date the board voted. It runs from the day you actually receive written notice of the order. Two owners who had hearings on the same day, at the same appraisal district, can have different deadlines if their notices were mailed or delivered on different dates.
This is a rolling deadline, not a fixed one on a calendar. The practical consequence is that you cannot safely estimate your own deadline from memory or from someone else’s timeline — you need the date the order actually reached you.
What Happens If You Let It Pass
If the window closes without a filing, the board’s order becomes final for the year. That number is what your tax bill is calculated on, and it is also the number the appraisal district’s model treats as its starting point the following year. An order that goes unchallenged doesn’t just cost you this year’s tax bill — it can set the floor the district builds from going forward.
Why This Stage Is Worth Pursuing
Owners who stop at the board’s order are, in effect, accepting whatever the ARB decided without testing it further. In our experience, that leaves real value on the table more often than owners expect. Across the litigation we have handled, roughly $4.1 billion in value reductions came after the ARB stage — not instead of the hearing, but because the hearing wasn’t treated as the final word.
The reasons a board order isn’t the right number vary — sometimes the evidence available at a hearing is more limited than what can be developed for a court filing, sometimes new comparable sales or income data become available afterward, and sometimes the board simply reached a value that the record doesn’t support. What they have in common is that none of it can be pursued once the 60-day window closes.
What To Do When Your Order Arrives
Note the date you received it, not the date printed on it. If you’re unsure whether pursuing the matter further is worthwhile, that’s a conversation worth having before the window closes rather than after — once the deadline passes, the option is gone regardless of the merits.
Received an ARB order and not sure what it’s worth pursuing? Book a 15-minute review and we’ll look at it with you — the sooner after you receive it, the more of your window is still open.
Sources: Texas Tax Code §§ 42.21 and 41A (Texas Legislature Online).
This post describes general Texas property tax procedure and is not legal advice. Deadlines and requirements can vary; confirm the delivery date on your own order before relying on any timeline. The $4.1 billion figure requires attorney sign-off before publication.
