No tax statement? No excuse not to pay

W ith few exceptions, if you own land, a mobile home, mineral interest or income-producing business assets, you will have to pay annual property taxes on it. Exceptions exist for religious and charitable organizations and veterans with 100 percent disability.

The Texas Property Tax Code does not play favorites. It gives both governmental entities and taxpayers legal requirements and responsibilities in the overall process of funding local government services. Local governments have many taxpayer notification requirements. Appraisal districts are required to notify property owners about their appraised value increases and protest options. Taxing entities must publish a myriad of newspaper notices concerning the adoption of tax rates. Tax collectors must mail tax statements. However, the law also makes taxpayers responsible for the tax payment even if they did not receive a statement.

From the taxpayer’s perspective, that last requirement is sometimes hard to understand. Those of us on the government side are constantly aware of the laws and how they affect our operations. However, property owners don’t really have a great source to keep up with the many laws that affect them. We are certainly sympathetic to the situation, but we do not have the authority to change the negative impact that sometimes occurs.

So here is my “Buyer Beware” notification. If you own real estate, a mobile home, mineral property or business personal property, you will be responsible for the tax assessments levied upon that property even if you do not receive a tax statement.

Local taxing entities have recently set their 2010 tax rates, and we are now ready to print the tax statements and get them in the mail.

It is certainly in our best interest to make sure everyone gets their 2010 tax statement in a timely manner. However, we don’t always have all the information we need on every property owner. Even if we do have all the correct information to get your statement to you, we can’t guarantee that it will get to you once we put it in the mail.

If your 2010 taxes are not paid by Jan. 31, 2011, your tax will accrue additional penalty and interest fees. Only in limited and rare situations can the penalty and interest be waived. Over the years I have heard several compelling requests to waive the additional fees. I’ve heard from taxpayers who haven’t been late in more than 50 years. I’ve heard from taxpayers that paid off their mortgage and thought the taxes were paid by the mortgage company.  On several occasions the taxpayer was planning on paying on the last day (Jan. 31) and something unexpected happened that prevented them from paying on time. We must base the timeliness of payment on the post office cancellation. Payments placed in a postal drop box after the last pick up time but before midnight will carry the next day’s postmark. We sometimes hear, after the deadline, that the property owner never received their statement. Those are particularly tough conversations. It is very difficult to have to tell any taxpayer that their situation does not meet the legal requirements for a waiver even if they did not receive an original tax statement.

For my first friendly reminder concerning 2010 taxes, if you do not have a mortgage company paying your taxes and you do not receive your tax statement by the end of October, you will still be responsible for paying the tax. Please contact our office so we can send a duplicate statement and correct any address errors that may exist on our records. You can contact us by calling 332-6834 or come by the office at 1301 E. Eighth St.