Binding Arbitration Highlights
Binding
Arbitration is a new avenue of appeal for the 2005 tax year and
gives qualifying taxpayers an alternative to litigation in their
appeal from the final Appraisal Review Board decision. There are
a few very stringent guidelines that must be followed in order
to qualify for Binding Arbitration. A summary of these rules
for Binding Arbitration is listed below for your review.
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The
subject property must be real property. Business Personal
Property does not qualify.
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The final
appraised or market value as determined by the ARB on the
subject property is $1 million or less.
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The only
issue on appeal is the appraised or market value.
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The
property owner must pay an application fee in the amount of
$500 for each request for Binding Arbitration. The fee is
payable to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and must
be made by cashier’s check or money order. The $500 is used
to pay the administrative costs of the Comptroller’s office
and the Arbitrator.
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The
request for binding arbitration must be filed within 45 days
of the date we receive the formal Board Order from the
District informing us of the final ARB decision on your
property.
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All taxes
must be paid timely for the tax year in question. These taxes are
due no later than January 31. If for any reason the
taxes are not paid timely, the arbitration will be dismissed
and the application fee minus the Comptroller’s
administrative costs of 10% will be returned to the property
owner.
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The
subject property is not the subject of litigation for the
tax year in question.
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Each
property owner must provide a signed written letter
authorizing Texas Protax Austin, Inc. to represent the
property owner during the binding arbitration process.
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Each
property owner is required to provide their Social Security
Number on the application form for refund purposes.
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If the
Arbitrator determines the value of the property to be closer
to the requested value of the property owner than the ARB’s
final value, the property owner will be refunded the
application fee minus the Comptroller’s administrative costs
of 10%.
We are
excited about this new lower cost avenue of appeal and encourage
you to allow us the opportunity to take this next step in
determining your property’s valuation. If you are interested in
this new process, please contact us at 512-339-6671. You will need
to provide your Social Security Number and $500 cashier’s check
or money order payable to the Texas Comptroller of Public
Accounts along with the signed letter of authorization (we will
provide).
Updated:
16-Apr-2008
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