Yes & No. Yes, you can pay on-line using your credit or debit card. There is a 3.20% convenience fee to use a credit card. The State of Texas does not allow payment of property taxes by credit card directly because we cannot “absorb” the fees charged by the credit card companies. We use a secured third party to process our credit card payments and the convenience fee is kept by that company and your tax payment is forwarded to our office. No, we cannot swipe your card in the office, but we will be happy to assist you with the on-line transaction.

No. County Taxes are separate and are collected by the Dallas County Tax Office. They have several locations, but the closest one to DeSoto is in Duncanville at the corner of Main & Wheatland. The building is called the “Dallas County Government Building.” You can also contact the county tax office at 214-653-7811.

No. All Exemptions are filed and approved by the Dallas Central Appraisal District. You may call and request an exemption form or go on-line and print one. The forms must be notarized and our office is happy to assist you at no cost with that notarization. The DCAD phone number is 214-631-0910 or website is www.dallascad.org.

No. All the official ownership and address records are maintained by the Dallas Central Appraisal District. When you change your information with them, they provide that change to us and we update our records. The DCAD phone number is 214-631-0910 or website is www.dallascad.org.

Yes. We accept cash, checks and money orders in our office. For your safety and ours, we recommend you purchase a money order with your cash. You will be given a receipt from our office that you can keep along with your money order receipt acting as a cancelled check.

The Dallas Central Appraisal District appraises your property at 100% fair market value. Each piece of property must be re-appraised once every three years, but can be appraised every year. In May, the DCAD mails appraisal notices on each property re-appraised that year. With that notice, they provide you a protest form that you can return. In addition, you may visit the DCAD and visit with an appraiser in an informal setting. If your concerns are not met in the informal setting, you may file an official protest to see the Appraisal Review Board. To learn more about this process, contact the DCAD at 214-631-0910 or www.dallascad.org.

Yes. We encourage people to “Pay as much as you can as often as you can.” Penalties and Interest begin on February 1st each year and are charged on the outstanding balance. Therefore if a partial payment is made, the penalties will be less.

There is no cost to file any of your exemptions. If you receive a notice in the mail asking to pay for a company to file your exemption on your behalf, please contact the Dallas Central Appraisal District. There is no reason you should ever have to pay to file for an exemption.