A reminder for property tax payers that Thursday is the last day to pay the full bill if you did not take advantage of partial payment.
Brazos County Tax Assessor Collector Kristy Roe says if you need to go into the office, be prepared to wait.
Roe suggests using the county’s online payment service, which includes a processing fee.
Roe doesn’t suggest using your financial institutions website because checks are issued then mailed, potentially missing Thursday’s deadline.
Another option is using a drop off box outside their building in downtown Bryan.
Kristy Roe visits with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
More information courtesy of Kristy Roe:
January 31 is one of the busiest days of the year for the Property Tax Department of the County Tax Office. The statutory deadline for payment of property taxes causes a flurry of activity by taxpayers deciding their best course of action to avoid penalty and interest that begins on February 1st. This deadline does not apply to property owners that took advantage of the “split payment” option in November. Those taxpayers have an additional six months to complete their tax payment.
Call volume is expected to be high all week, and taxpayers may not get their questions answered in a timely fashion. As the last day draws close, taxpayers are encouraged to use the web to obtain tax information. Property tax account information is available at www.brazostax.org, and can be searched by name, address, and property ID number. The “Tax Due” section lists tax amounts and history.
Persons wishing to pay in person should also plan ahead. The tax office suggests that you come early and allow extra time for the expected long lines. Parking is always at issue around the tax office so please allow extra time to find a spot. Also please prepare for inclement weather since the lines often reach outside of the building. There is a payment drop box accessible from the sidewalk along William J. Bryan Pkwy for those taxpayers who have their payment information ready and are paying by check or money order. Receipts for these payments will be mailed.
Every year, taxpayers mail their payment on the deadline, but there are pitfalls in waiting until the last minute. Mail picked up from your mailbox may not receive the necessary postmark, and mail dropped outside of the post office may not make the deadline for pickup that day. With the volume of mail hitting the tax office at this time of year, the possibility of a payment mailed a day or two earlier being posted on or before the deadline is very slim, so if paying by mail, taxpayers are encouraged to mail their payment in plenty of time to make sure it has the necessary postmark to qualify as a timely payment.
According to the Texas Property Tax Code, payment by mail is timely if it is sent by regular first-class mail, properly addressed with adequate postage prepaid, and it bears a post office cancellation mark of a date earlier than or on the due date. When in doubt, taxpayers are encouraged to have the Post Office “hand cancel” their payments to avoid penalty and interest.
Unless the payment has been generated approximately five days before the deadline, electronic bank payments should not be used. Each year the tax office receives payments from bank processing centers that are printed and mailed after the deadline, even though the payer generated the payment on or before the deadline.
For those unable to meet the postal deadlines, an online option is available on the home page at www.brazostax.org. Taxpayers can choose the “Echeck” option from the tax office website and have the tax payment drafted from their bank accounts. The payment will be credited with the actual date and time the customer creates the transaction. A $5.00 fee is charged for this service on payments less than $10,000. Persons using this option should choose “Local Payments” and enter a local zip code. Taxpayers will need their property ID numbers to use this site.
Online credit card payment of property taxes is also available at www.brazostax.org. There is a fee for this service as well. The fee is calculated based on the amount of the payment and is provided to the payer prior to finalizing the transaction. Credit card payments must be generated from within the property account page.
If a taxpayer is unable to pay the full balance, the Tax Office encourages partial payments prior to the deadline. Penalty and interest are calculated on the balance due, not on the full tax. Partial payments can save taxpayers money, and are accepted at any time on accounts that are not involved in a split payment plan or over/65 quarterly payment plan.
For proper and timely credit, Brazos County property tax payments should be made or mailed to Kristeen Roe, Tax A/C, at 300 East WJB Pkwy, Bryan, TX, 77803. The tax office can be reached by phone at 979-361-4470.