SB1951

Notice: for a late rendition statement or property report required by Tax Code Chapter 22, the chief appraiser must deliver notice of the penalty no later than June 1. First-class mail is required ordinarily; certified mail is required if the property was not listed on the appraisal roll in the preceding tax year. The penalty notice must also be delivered with the Section 25.19 notice of appraised value. Previously, Section 22.28 specified first-class mail without this June 1 deadline and allowed combining the notices if practicable. Final law, Section 1; Section 22.28 before the effective date.

Billing and allocation: the assessor must show the tax amount and penalty amount as separate line items. The penalty still becomes part of the property tax and is secured by its tax lien. Repealing Section 22.28(d) ends the collector’s obligation to remit 5% of the collected penalty to the appraisal district to help cover administration. This is 5% of the penalty, not five percentage points of the tax or a taxpayer discount. Final law, Sections 1–2; Former collection rule.

What stays: the late-filing penalty remains 10% of the taxes imposed on the property for that year by participating taxing units, subject to Section 22.30. That section still permits a waiver for reasonable diligence or substantial compliance and provides a protest process. SB1951 does not change the rendition filing deadline or automatically erase a late-filing penalty. For context, a rendition is a report of property for appraisal; Chapter 22 generally covers tangible personal property used to produce income, with exceptions, and can also cover other taxable property when the chief appraiser requires it. Final law; Existing waiver and protest provisions; Rendition requirements; Filing deadlines before this act took effect.

Amendment: the introduced, Senate committee, Senate-passed and House committee operative texts required certified mail for every penalty notice. Representative Button’s sole indexed amendment, adopted May 19 on House second reading, narrowed certified mail to property absent from the previous year’s appraisal roll and retained first-class mail otherwise. That distinction is in the enacted law. The Senate concurred May 22. Certified votes were 25–6 for Senate passage and concurrence, and 136–9 in the House, with two House members present but not voting. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Button amendment; Final law; Version index; Amendment index; Official history.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Taxpayers gain a stated notice deadline and a clearer distinction between tax and penalty on the bill. Appraisal offices must manage the mailing deadline and special certified-mail category. Appraisal districts lose the statutory share of collected penalties, while collecting taxing units retain more. The act creates these requirements; actual compliance, mailing costs and taxpayer savings have not been measured here. Final law.

The March 29 introduced, April 29 Senate-passed and May 20 passed-House fiscal notes anticipate no state fiscal implication. They identify an indeterminate revenue loss for appraisal districts, offset by increased penalty revenue for other local governments. The early notes describe the proposed universal certified-mail requirement; the May 20 note reflects the narrower final rule. None supplies a dollar estimate of the revenue transfer. Introduced fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note; Passed-House fiscal note; Same dated note linked with final bill.