taxes Property Tax Assistance

Data Submission Requirements

The Comptroller’s Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD) uses data provided by appraisal districts and tax offices to develop and publish reports and datasets including but not limited to the school district property value study (PVS) required by Government Code Section 403.302, the appraisal district ratio study required by Tax Code Section 5.10, the tax rate information publication required by Tax Code Section 5.091, and biennial data required by Tax Code Section 5.09.

Tax Code Section 5.03 allows PTAD to require that the data be submitted electronically. Certain data submissions must be provided in specific formats as referenced below.


Electronic Appraisal Roll Submission

Tax Code Section 26.01(b) requires chief appraisers to certify appraisal district appraisal rolls to the Comptroller’s office at the same time the chief appraiser submits an appraisal roll for county taxes to the county assessor-collector. Appraisal districts must provide appraisal roll information to the Comptroller's office in a standard electronic format. The Electronic Appraisal Roll Submission (EARS) is the standardized format.

Each EARS submission must be accompanied by an EARS Media Information Form and submitted through the secured EARS FTP site. This form requires the chief appraiser's signature certifying that the submission is a true and correct appraisal roll. Please notify PTAD by email at ptad.ears@cpa.texas.gov when your EARS submission has been placed on the secured EARS FTP site.

PTAD maintains a secure FTP site for EARS submissions at privatesftp.cpa.texas.gov/incoming/ptad_ears. This FTP site requires software other than the normal internet browsers for access. The software must support the SFTP protocol for file transfers. You must also be a registered user.

The EARS Manual provides more detailed information and guidance to appraisal districts for submitting electronic data in the appropriate format.

Electronic Property Transaction Submission

Tax Code Section 5.07(c) requires appraisal districts to collect and maintain real property sales information in their record system. Appraisal districts must submit the sales data annually to the Comptroller's office where it is compiled for use in the school district property value study and the appraisal district ratio study. Data for submission includes all property transaction records in their possession, including the split districts.

To ensure uniformity in the data among all appraisal districts, PTAD requires that all property transfers be submitted electronically in a prescribed format and accompanied by an Electronic Property Transaction Submission (EPTS) Media Information and Certification Form (PDF). The submissions are due each year in February and August.

PTAD can receive EPTS files by email at ptad.sss@cpa.texas.gov (zipped if necessary, 5 MB maximum) or via the secured EPTS FTP site located at privateftp.cpa.texas.gov/incoming/ptad_epts. Please notify PTAD by email at ptad.sss@cpa.texas.gov if you place an EPTS file on the secured EPTS FTP site. This FTP site requires a registered user and the software that supports SFTP protocol for file transfers.

The EPTS Manual provides further information regarding the prescribed electronic format and submission procedures including the record layout requirements and date ranges.

Farm and Ranch Survey Data

PTAD uses an annual Farm and Ranch Survey to gather prior year data to use when developing agricultural productivity values for the PVS and appraisal district ratio study.