Property taxes collected by the Alief Independent School District’s tax office, as well as all taxing authorities in the state of Texas, are termed ad valorem taxes, which simply means that all properties subject to taxation are taxed upon their value. When taxpayers receive their tax statements, they sometimes realize that the value placed on their property is more than what they feel it should be and has resulted in an excessive and unequal tax. It is important to note that this is not the time to be complaining about the value placed on your property, but now that there is a problem, whom do you contact?

The Harris County Appraisal District has the responsibility of providing many items to its participating jurisdictions, and one of the most prominent responsibilities is providing its jurisdictions an appraisal roll--a listing of all properties indicating market value, exempted value, taxable value, property owners, and mailing addresses. There are other requirements regarding an appraisal roll, but for the purpose of this text, the ones so noted are sufficient.

If a taxpayer has a problem regarding value, non-ownership, an incorrect address, or exemptions and wants to call the tax office, the staff will be glad to take the call and discuss all options, but the problem will have to be dealt with by the Harris County Appraisal District at 713-957-7800. Any changes made by HCAD will be sent to the Alief ISD tax office, where the record will be corrected. The appraisal district usually sends valuation notices in the spring of each year and has hearings regarding value disputes throughout the summer; the certification of the values occurs around the end of August. Historically, values that were certified without protest were extremely hard to challenge, but the laws have been expanded; even after statements are mailed and the value certified without protest, there could still be a possibility of getting the value lowered.

In a normal course of action, the tax office mails statements the first week of October, and the taxpayers have until the following January 31 to pay these bills without being delinquent. In February, the tax office mails a delinquent statement to all accounts that have not been paid. The penalty and interest starts at this time at 7%. Many taxpayers call at this time and state that this is the first time they received a statement and should not be required to pay the penalty and interest. This is a very unfortunate situation for the taxpayer. The laws are quite clear in that they put the responsibility on the taxpayer to get the taxes paid in a timely manner. The fact that they didn’t receive the statement in the mail does not affect the due date of the taxes. If you haven’t received your tax statements by Thanksgiving, you should call the tax office and see what is going on.

Many taxpayers ask about homestead exemptions--what they are and how they would affect property taxes. If you own your home and live there on January 1, you can qualify for a homestead exemption. This would exempt a certain amount of the appraised value from taxation, resulting in lower taxes. As a result of optional exemptions and different tax rates, the amount of tax savings varies from one jurisdiction to another. Alief ISD offers the state-required $15,000 exemption and the state-required $10,000 for a disabled person. Also, a disabled veteran, depending on the percentage of disability, can receive up to $12,000 plus the $15,000. People over 65 can receive the $15,000 plus a state-required $10,000 plus an additional $13,330 local option. Alief ISD taxes are frozen for a person with a disabled or over 65 exemption. It would be ideal if all taxpayers who first qualified for a homestead would make application by May 1 of that particular year, but the laws have been changed to allow for a late application to be made a year from the time the taxes were paid or a year from the delinquency date.

There are many requests during the year from taxpayers wanting to pay their taxes on a monthly basis. Alief ISD does not accept partial payments of this nature. I will be glad to work with anyone to allow them time to pay and avoid litigation, but the penalty and interest does not stop until the taxes are paid in full for any particular year. The only partial payments accepted are conditional payments when awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit against the appraisal district regarding value or awaiting the decision concerning a late hearing with appraisal district, in bankruptcy situations, and quarterly payments for taxpayers who receive an over-65 homestead or disability exemption.

Throughout the year there are many issues discussed and resolved by the Alief ISD tax office, with the most prevalent ones discussed above. If there are other items or points of interest that you would like to discuss or if you have questions, feel free to call the Alief ISD tax office. Our regular office hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday – Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday.