Did you know that certain types of public officials and others can remove themselves from their local county appraisal district website here in Texas? People like police officers, investigators, judges, district attorneys and their employees are all included in this list as are victims of family violence. This can make looking up property information when listing a property a little difficult, but it is a small price to pay to keep these people out of harms way. Remember, in Texas, appraisal district information is public, so armed with some basic information and a little sleuthing ability, people with a vendetta against these people could locate this information with ease. By removing their records from the appraisal district website, the information gets much harder to find.
There are currently thirty one different eligible categories you may fall into in order to have your record kept confidential. In order to do so, you’ll need to fill out a Request for Confidentiality (Form 50-284) (PDF version from the Texas Comptroller’s website) available from your local appraisal district or the Texas Comptroller website. The Texas Tax Code is where the ability to restrict this information from the public comes from and the form is a statewide form.
To request that your tax record be removed from the appraisal district website, you’ll need to fill out the form (requires basic information – who you are, where you live, property information, and what category you fall under that makes you eligible for confidentiality) and send it in to your local appraisal district’s offices. You can find your appraisal district’s information at the Texas Comptroller site where they maintain a list of all Texas county appraisal districts and their contact info.
If your request is approved, you will be removed from the appraisal district website and be a little safer.
image courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission
