Earlier Overdue Payments Notice to Help Property Taxpayers Avoid Extra Charges

If you don't make the April 30 deadline to pay the first half of your property taxes this year and then see a property tax delinquency note in the mail in June, it doesn't mean the deadline's been moved up.

King County is moving up the annual mailing of property tax delinquency notices from September to June, under a policy change made by County Executive Dow after hearing from taxpayers and County Councilmember Bob Ferguson, according to a county press release issued Tuesday.

In the past the County has sent a single courtesy notice in late September to about 9,000 taxpayers who missed the April deadline and whose taxes remained unpaid as of September 1. That was timed to be close to the October 31 deadline for the second half of property taxes to be paid in an effort to help taxpayers avoid the eight percent penalty imposed in December.

The new June notice is expected to go out to about 14,500 taxpayers. The County anticipates that about half of those taxpayers will pay before July 1 and avoid the additional monthly interest charges and December penalty that are mandated by state law.

King County is also developing a system for taxpayers to sign up for email alerts to notify them when tax payments are due. This tool, expected to be available as early as 2013, should further enhance customer service and reduce the number of delinquent property tax payments.