State Guide
Navigating violations with TxTag / TxDOT (processed by HCTRA), NTTA (Dallas-Fort Worth), HCTRA (Houston) can be confusing. Follow this guide to fight your charge.
Generate a Texas Dispute LetterTexas has one of the largest toll networks in the country, split across TxDOT toll roads (the TxTag system), NTTA in Dallas-Fort Worth, and HCTRA in Houston. Because each authority bills separately and operates under a different chapter of the Transportation Code, the agency name on your notice determines both where you dispute and what rights you actually have.
Texas does not have one toll dispute law. It has three, and which one applies to you depends entirely on who issued the bill. TxDOT toll roads run under Transportation Code chapter 228, NTTA under chapter 366, and Harris County under chapter 284. The habitual violator scheme in chapter 372 covers the first two but expressly does not apply to a county acting under chapter 284, so most of what you read online about registration blocks and vehicle bans simply does not apply to an HCTRA bill.
On TxDOT toll roads, section 228.0546 requires the invoice to give you at least 30 days from the date it was mailed. Section 228.0547(a)(2) is the provision worth knowing: by that same due date you may send a written request to the department for a review of the toll assessments on the invoice. That written review request is the closest thing Texas law gives you to a statutory right to contest an individual toll, so make it in writing and make it before the due date.
Administrative fees on TxDOT roads are capped, and the caps are low by national standards. Section 228.0547(b) limits the fee to $6 and forbids charging any one person more than $48 in administrative fees in a 12-month period. There is a criminal tail: under section 228.0547(c), a person who receives two or more invoices and has not paid within 30 days of the second commits a misdemeanour with a fine of up to $250, though you cannot be convicted more than once in a 12-month period.
NTTA works to a tighter clock. Section 366.178(b-2) requires payment within 25 days of the invoice being mailed, and the first notice of nonpayment must follow within 30 days after that period expires. Statutory fees allow a single administrative fee of not more than $25 on the first notice, and up to $25 for each unpaid toll on the second, capped at $200 in total. NTTA's own published schedule is lower than the statute permits: the initial ZipCash bill carries no fee, the first notice adds $10, and the second adds $25. Separately, the ZipCash customer agreement requires written disputes within 120 days of the invoice date and treats undisputed charges as conclusively valid.
Harris County is the outlier and the most expensive per toll. Section 284.0701(b) lets the county recover an administrative cost of up to $100 per event of nonpayment, by far the highest per-toll cap in Texas, and failing to pay after a notice is a misdemeanour with a fine of up to $250 per event under section 284.0701(f). Chapter 284 contains no statutory hearing or contest right at all, so with HCTRA your leverage is the authority's own customer service process rather than a right written into law.
The habitual violator scheme is serious but harder to trigger than most people assume. Under section 372.106, it requires at least two written notices of nonpayment containing, in the aggregate, 100 or more events of nonpayment within one year, with the amounts still unpaid. If you are designated, section 372.111 and section 502.011 allow the county or the DMV to refuse to register or renew your vehicle, section 372.110 allows the authority to ban your vehicle from its toll roads with driving in breach of that order a Class C misdemeanour, and section 372.112 allows impoundment on a second or subsequent breach. Section 372.102 also lets the authority publish your name.
If you receive a habitual violator notice, the deadline is short and the forum is a court rather than an agency. Section 372.106(d) gives you 30 days from the date you are presumed to have received the notice, and notice is presumed received on the fifth day after mailing. Miss it and the determination becomes final and not subject to appeal. The hearing itself is in a justice court under section 372.107, in a county containing toll facilities that account for at least 25 percent of the nonpayment events. You can appeal to the county court under section 372.108 within 30 days for a trial de novo, but filing the appeal does not pause the remedies unless you post a surety bond for the full amount.
One warning that applies to every Texas toll authority. Both TxDOT and HCTRA have published notices that they do not send texts or emails about past due tolls, and lookalike domains are actively impersonating them. The only legitimate sites are hctra.org, ntta.org and txdot.gov. If a text message says you owe a toll, it is a scam, whatever the amount.
Our system knows the exact format Texas toll authorities expect. Generate a dispute letter in minutes.
Start AI Letter Generator →Once your dispute is submitted, the toll authority reviews your evidence and the original toll image before responding — most decisions in Texas arrive within 30 to 90 days. Sending your letter by certified mail, or keeping the confirmation number from an online submission, gives you proof that you filed on time if you ever need to escalate.
If your dispute is approved, the charge is dismissed or reduced and any related late fees are typically removed. If it's denied, you usually still have the right to request a hearing or pay the reduced base toll. Either way, responding in writing before the deadline protects you from registration holds and collection activity, which are far harder to undo later.
It depends on the authority. On TxDOT toll roads, section 228.0546 gives you at least 30 days from the invoice mailing date, and section 228.0547(a)(2) lets you send a written request for review by that same date. NTTA requires payment within 25 days of the invoice being mailed, though its ZipCash agreement allows written disputes within 120 days of the invoice date. Harris County must let you have at least 30 days from the date the notice was mailed.
Fees accrue, and on TxDOT and NTTA roads you risk the habitual violator scheme under Transportation Code chapter 372. That requires two or more notices totalling 100 or more events of nonpayment within one year. Once designated, your registration can be refused under section 502.011, your vehicle can be banned from the authority's toll roads under section 372.110 with driving in breach a Class C misdemeanour, and your vehicle can be impounded on a second breach under section 372.112. Harris County is excluded from this scheme but has its own misdemeanour penalties.
Yes, and there is a specific and powerful protection. File the Texas Motor Vehicle Transfer Notification, form VTR-346, with the TxDMV. Under Transportation Code section 501.147(g), a transferor who has filed the form has no vicarious civil or criminal liability and proof of filing is a complete defence. Sections 228.055(e) and 284.0701(e) also give you an express exception if you filed that notice and provide the buyer's name and address within 30 days of the invoice or notice.
No. Both TxDOT and HCTRA have published warnings stating that they do not send texts or emails about past due tolls. Lookalike domains impersonating the real authorities have been appearing in search results. The only legitimate sites are hctra.org, ntta.org and txdot.gov, and if you are unsure you can call HCTRA on 281-875-3279 to check your actual balance.
Not for an ordinary toll bill. Texas provides a written review request on TxDOT roads under section 228.0547(a)(2), but no general administrative hearing. The one real hearing right is for a habitual violator determination, and it is a justice court hearing rather than an agency one. You must request it in writing within 30 days of presumed receipt of the notice under section 372.106(d), and you can appeal to the county court for a trial de novo within 30 days under section 372.108.
Because they fall under different chapters. Harris County operates under Transportation Code chapter 284, which allows an administrative cost of up to $100 per event of nonpayment under section 284.0701(b). TxDOT toll roads operate under chapter 228, where section 228.0547(b) caps the administrative fee at $6 per invoice and $48 across any 12-month period. The same number of missed tolls can therefore cost very different amounts depending on which side of the state you were driving.
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