How to Appeal Property Taxes in Montgomery County, Texas (2026 Guide)

For most Montgomery County homeowners, the 2026 property-tax protest deadline was Friday, May 15, 2026, or 30 days after Montgomery Central Appraisal District mailed/delivered your Notice of Appraised Value, whichever was later. File with Montgomery Central Appraisal District (MCAD) / the Montgomery County Appraisal Review Board, not the Montgomery County Tax Office: use MCAD’s online protest page if your notice gives you an Online Protest ID, or submit the state protest form by mail or in person.

How assessments work in Montgomery County

Montgomery County property values are set by Montgomery Central Appraisal District, located at 109 Gladstell St., Conroe, TX 77301-4236; its mailing address is P.O. Box 2233, Conroe, TX 77305-2233. The Tax Office later sends and collects the bill, but it does not decide your appraised value.

Texas appraisal districts value taxable property as of January 1 each year. For a typical house in Conroe, The Woodlands, Magnolia, Montgomery, Willis, New Caney, or Splendora, MCAD is trying to estimate market value using mass appraisal: neighborhood sales, land tables, building characteristics, quality/condition, age, size, pools, garages, and other property-record data. Your MCAD property record also separates land value, improvement value, market value, appraised value, and any homestead limitation adjustment.

The key 2026 cycle is: values are as of January 1, 2026; notices generally arrive in spring; protests are due by the later of May 15 or 30 days after the notice; informal reviews and ARB hearings occur after protests are filed; tax rates are adopted later; bills are issued by the Tax Office after values and rates are finalized.

Do not confuse market value with taxable value. If you have a residence homestead, your school taxable value is reduced by the statewide school homestead exemption, now $140,000. Local units may also give percentage exemptions. A homestead can also limit annual increases in appraised value, but that cap does not mean MCAD’s market value is irrelevant: a high market value can “bank” future increases and may matter if your capped value catches up.

Whether you should appeal

Appeal if you can make one of two county-relevant arguments:

1. Market value is too high. This is strongest if you bought the home in an arm’s-length sale near January 1, 2026 for less than MCAD’s value, or if similar homes sold for less after adjusting for size, condition, lot, pool, and updates.
2. Unequal appraisal. This is often useful in subdivisions around The Woodlands, Magnolia, Conroe, and fast-growing MUD areas where similar homes may be carried at different dollars per square foot. You are arguing that MCAD valued your home higher than comparable properties it also appraises.

Also appeal obvious record errors: wrong square footage, extra bath, incorrect pool, wrong condition, wrong construction year, or a finished space that is not actually finished. Bring photos, repair bids, inspection reports, settlement statements, appraisals, and a clean comp table.

I did not find an official MCAD-published 2026 residential success-rate or median-reduction table. Third-party companies publish Montgomery protest statistics, but those are not official MCAD or state homeowner outcome tables, so do not treat them as a promise. The most useful official local benchmark I found is the Texas Comptroller’s Montgomery ratio study: for 2023 single-family residences, the reported median appraisal level was 1.00, with a coefficient of dispersion of 8.41. That supports a practical point: you need property-specific evidence, not just “taxes are too high.”

Step-by-step how to file

1. Read your 2026 Notice of Appraised Value. Find the property/account ID, notice date, appraised/market value, exemptions, and whether the notice includes an Online Protest ID.

2. Calendar the deadline. The normal Texas deadline is May 15 or 30 days after the appraisal notice was delivered/mailed, whichever is later. For the 2026 cycle, May 15 fell on a Friday, so there was no weekend extension for the standard deadline.

3. Use the right form. The main form is Form 50-132, Property Owner’s Notice of Protest for Counties with Populations Greater than 120,000. You are not legally required to use the form if your written protest identifies the owner, property, and issue, but using the form is safer. If someone else will represent you, use Form 50-162, Appointment of Agent for Property Tax Matters. If you want the ARB to consider evidence without you appearing, use Form 50-283, Property Owner’s Affidavit of Evidence.

4. Choose your grounds carefully. For most homeowners, check both “incorrect appraised/market value” and “value is unequal compared with other properties” if both may apply. Do not limit yourself to one theory unless you are sure.

5. File by an official method. MCAD’s site includes an online protest page; use it if your notice gives you the credentials needed to file online. If you cannot file online, mail the completed protest to Montgomery Central Appraisal District, P.O. Box 2233, Conroe, TX 77305-2233, or hand-deliver it to 109 Gladstell St., Conroe, TX 77301-4236. MCAD’s published general email is inquiries@mcad-tx.org, but I did not find an official MCAD instruction saying email is a standard protest-filing method for 2026 residential protests; use email only if MCAD confirms it for your account. There is no MCAD filing fee to file the protest.

6. Save proof. For online filing, save the confirmation. For mail, use tracking or certified mail. For hand delivery, ask for a stamped copy.

What happens after

After you file, expect either an informal review opportunity with MCAD staff, an online review/offer process if you used the portal, or a scheduled formal hearing. The formal authority is the Montgomery County Appraisal Review Board (ARB). The ARB is separate from MCAD staff and hears disputes between property owners and the appraisal district.

Texas rules require written notice of the ARB hearing date, time, place, and subject at least 15 days before the hearing. At least 14 days before the hearing, you should receive or have access to hearing procedures, the taxpayer-remedies information, and information about requesting the evidence MCAD plans to use.

At the hearing, you or your agent presents evidence, then MCAD presents its evidence. The ARB weighs both sides and decides the value or other protested issue. You may appear in person, by telephone/video if offered and properly elected, or by affidavit evidence. A typical homeowner case is short, so lead with your best exhibit: a purchase closing statement, an independent appraisal, three to five adjusted comparable sales, or a property-record error with photos.

The ARB must determine the protest by written order. If you disagree with the ARB order, your next options may include binding arbitration, SOAH for eligible higher-value disputes, or district court. Those are separate post-ARB appeals with deadlines and costs; the basic MCAD protest itself has no filing fee.

Local tips

Montgomery County bills vary dramatically because of MUDs, cities, school districts, ESDs, The Woodlands Township, Lone Star College, the hospital district, and county taxes. Always look at your own MCAD “Taxing Units” section or Tax Office account before estimating savings.

A realistic example: a The Woodlands-area homestead account in the Montgomery County Tax Office data showed 2025 rates including Conroe ISD 0.9496, Montgomery County 0.3770, Montgomery County Hospital District 0.0473, Lone Star College 0.1060, and The Woodlands Township 0.1714 per $100. Suppose a homeowner proves MCAD overstated market value by $25,000. Because school homestead is a fixed dollar exemption, that $25,000 reduction can save about $237 on the school portion alone. With local percentage exemptions like those shown on that account, the county, hospital, college, and township savings might add roughly $150, for a total near $388 for the year. If your property is in a city or MUD, the same $25,000 reduction could be worth more.

Finally, check exemptions while you are protesting. For Montgomery County homeowners, the big ones are residence homestead, over-65, disabled person, disabled veteran/surviving spouse, and local optional exemptions. The homestead application is Form 50-114, Residence Homestead Exemption Application; it is generally due April 30, but late homestead filings may be allowed under Texas rules. A missed exemption can cost more than a small valuation error.