A Calendar of the Texas Property Tax Year
A Calendar of the Texas Property Tax Year
Information, not legal advice. Laws change; check the current statute or rule and talk to a Texas attorney before you act.
The Texas property tax year follows a fixed cycle set by the Tax Code. Values are set as of January 1, protests run in the spring, rates are adopted in late summer, bills go out in the fall, and unpaid taxes go delinquent the next February. For lenders, investors and anyone who watches delinquency, the dates below explain why activity spikes when it does.
Dates are statutory defaults. Many have "or as soon thereafter as practicable" language or local options, and when a deadline falls on a weekend, a holiday, or a day the collector's office is closed for a tax payment, the next business day counts (Tax Code §1.06).
The calendar
| Date | What happens | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | A tax lien attaches to every property for that year's taxes, penalties and interest. Property is appraised at market value as of this date. Exemption eligibility is generally measured on this date | §32.01(a); §23.01(a); §11.42 |
| January 31 | Last day to pay last year's taxes without penalty (taxes are delinquent if not paid before February 1) | §31.02(a) |
| February 1 | Unpaid taxes become delinquent. Penalty starts at 6% plus 1% interest | §31.02; §33.01 |
| Before April 1 | Second of four installments due for seniors, disabled owners and disabled veterans on the §31.031 plan | §31.031(a-1) |
| By April 1 | Notices of appraised value for single-family homesteads (where required), or as soon as practicable | §25.19(a) |
| April 15 | Business personal property renditions due (extension to May 15 on written request) | §22.23 |
| Before May 1 | Exemption applications generally due for the year. Late homestead applications can be accepted up to 2 years after the delinquency date | §11.43(d); §11.431 |
| By May 1 | Notices of appraised value for other property, or as soon as practicable | §25.19(a) |
| May 2 to June 1 | Collectors using the attorney collection penalty send notice of the coming July 1 penalty, 30 to 60 days ahead | §33.07(d) |
| May 15 | Protest deadline: May 15 or 30 days after the value notice was delivered, whichever is later | §41.44(a)(1) |
| Before June 1 | Third §31.031 installment due | §31.031(a-1) |
| July 1 | Penalty on delinquent taxes jumps to a flat 12%; with interest, the total is about 18%. Units that contract with a delinquent-tax attorney can add a collection penalty of up to the attorney's fee, capped at 20%. Split-payment second halves are due before this date | §33.01(a); §33.07; §6.30(c); §31.03 |
| July 20 | Appraisal review board approves the appraisal records | §41.12(a) |
| July 25 | Chief appraiser certifies the appraisal roll to each taxing unit | §26.01(a) |
| Before August 1 | Fourth §31.031 installment due | §31.031(a-1) |
| August to September | Taxing units calculate and publish rates and hold hearings | ch. 26 |
| By September 30 (or 60 days after receiving the certified roll, if later) | Taxing units adopt tax rates | §26.05(a) |
| October 1 | Tax bills mailed, or as soon as practicable | §31.01(a) |
| Before December 1 | First half due where the split-payment option is adopted | §31.03(a) |
| First Tuesday of every month | Constable and sheriff tax sales (and non-judicial foreclosure sales) | Tex. R. Civ. P. 646a; Tax Code §34.01; Prop. Code §51.002 |
Monthly penalty and interest on delinquent taxes
For a tax that becomes delinquent February 1, the Comptroller's chart for 2025 taxes shows combined penalty and interest of:
| Paid in | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penalty + interest | 7% | 9% | 11% | 13% | 15% | 18% | 19% | 20% |
After July, interest keeps adding 1% a month with no cap (§33.01(c)). The attorney collection penalty, where imposed, is added on top.
Postponed delinquency dates
If a bill is mailed after January 10, the delinquency date moves to the first day of the next month that allows at least 21 days to pay (§31.04(a)). Bills for property that was omitted from earlier rolls get at least 180 days (§31.04(a-1)). So a late bill can push "February 1" to March 1 or later for that account.
What happens in each season, for data users
February and March: new delinquency. The roll swells with first-year delinquent accounts. Many of these are paid within weeks. A first-year delinquency on a property with a mortgage often means a servicer will advance the taxes.
April through June: the pre-July window. The July 1 penalty jump, plus the up-to-20% collection penalty in units that use it, gives owners a real reason to act before July. It is a natural season for owners to seek installment plans or property tax loans. Required notices of the coming penalty go out 30 to 60 days ahead (§33.07(d)).
July onward: accounts go to the attorneys. After July 1, delinquent accounts in many units are handled by the contracted law firm. Tax suits can be filed any time after delinquency, so suit filings run all year, but the attorney stage begins in earnest in summer.
Fall: new bills, old debt. October bills show the new year's tax on top of any delinquent years. An account that is still delinquent when the next year's tax goes delinquent on February 1 now owes two years.
Every first Tuesday: sales. Tax sales of property already through judgment, and resales of struck-off property, happen monthly. Posted sale lists usually appear a few weeks before.
Special calendars
- Seniors, disabled owners and disabled veterans can split homestead taxes into four payments due before February 1, April 1, June 1 and August 1 (§31.031), or defer entirely (§33.06).
- Disaster areas: the same four-payment schedule for damaged property (§31.032).
- Military: eligible service members transferred out of state can pay without penalty or interest within 60 days of discharge or return (§31.02(b)).
How this shows up in Agentix Data
We check delinquent rolls, tax suits and posted sale listings every morning, load whatever each source has newly posted, and keep the date each record first appeared, so you can see the February wave of new delinquencies, accounts still open after July 1, new suits, and each month's first-Tuesday sale list as they change. Tax rolls and suits cover Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Travis and Hood counties, plus Harris County suits; posted sale listings cover many more Texas counties (coverage varies by source).
Sources
- Texas Tax Code §1.06 (weekend, holiday, closure): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.1.htm#1.06
- Texas Tax Code §§11.42, 11.43, 11.431 (exemptions): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.11.htm
- Texas Tax Code §22.23 (rendition deadline): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.22.htm#22.23
- Texas Tax Code §23.01 (January 1 appraisal): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.23.htm#23.01
- Texas Tax Code §25.19 (notice of appraised value): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.25.htm#25.19
- Texas Tax Code §§26.01, 26.05 (roll certification, rate adoption): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.26.htm
- Texas Tax Code §§31.01-31.04 (bills, delinquency, split payment, installments, postponement): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.31.htm
- Texas Tax Code §32.01 (tax lien): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.32.htm#32.01
- Texas Tax Code §§33.01, 33.06, 33.07 (penalties, deferral, collection penalty): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.33.htm
- Texas Tax Code §6.30 (attorney fee cap): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.6.htm#6.30
- Texas Tax Code §§34.01 (tax sales), §§41.12, 41.44 (ARB approval, protest deadline): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.34.htm and https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.41.htm
- Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 646a (first-Tuesday sales): https://www.courtrules.net/texas/texas-civil-procedure/rule-646a
- Texas Property Code §51.002 (foreclosure sales): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.51.htm#51.002
- Texas Comptroller, 2025 tax penalty and interest chart: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/penalty-interest/chart2025-26.php
General information, not legal or financial advice.