Tax Payment

​Frequently Asked Questions

Current law does not provide the legal authority for the Tax Collector to extend the deadlines, allow for any waivers, discounts, reductions or deferrals in the payment of property taxes because of financial hardship or unemployment, or because of Federal, State or Local emergency declarations.

All deadlines remain in place.  E-check or Credit Card payments can be made online through E-Prop Tax at https://eproptax.saccounty.gov or over the telephone at 1-844-430-2823.  

Checks can be mailed to P.O. Box 508, Sacramento CA, 95812-0508. Be sure to mail your payment early enough to ensure a timely postmark and avoid penalties.

Payments may be mailed, made online, or made or in person at the Sacramento County Tax Collector's Office located at 700 H Street, Suite 1710.

Mail: 

  • Payments by  check, money order, or cashier's check may be mailed.  Payment should be made payable to "Sacramento County" and show the mailing address of the payer and also the parcel number as shown on the tax bill. Return the appropriate stub with your payment. If you are paying two installments, please include both installment payment stubs from your tax bill. You must include the correct payment stub.  If you send the incorrect stub, your payment may be returned and you may be subject to penalties.  If do not have a copy of your tax bill, you may print payment stubs online using your 14-digit parcel number at eproptax.saccounty.gov or you may request a duplicate tax bill.  When you provide a check as payment, you authorize us either to use information from your check to make a one-time electronic fund transfer from your account or to process the payment as a check transaction. Submit your payment in the envelope provided with your tax bill as it is color coded to assist in processing your payment timely. If you do not have an envelope or a tax bill, you may still mail your payment for secured and personal property taxes to: Sacramento County Tax Collector, P.O. Box 508, Sacramento, CA 95812-0508.

Bill Pay:

  • If you use your bank’s Online Bill Pay service, a paper check will be printed and mailed to the Tax Collector. Because the check is sent without a payment stub, for payment identification, please enter in the online account number field the bill number and installment being paid. Examples: 17123456 first, 17654321 second, or 17456123 both. Your payment is considered received on the date appearing on the check received from the Payment Processing Center. Payments dated after the pay by date will be considered late and returned for penalties. Partial payments are not accepted and will be returned.

Online:

  • Payments for the following tax bills can be made by Electronic Check, Debit Card, or by Credit Card through e-Proptax, Sacramento County's Online Property Tax Information System:
    • Secured Property Tax Bills with an original due date in the current fiscal tax year. These include the annual tax bill, and supplemental, corrected, escaped, and additional assessment tax bills.
    • Prior year delinquent secured property taxes.
    • Unsecured Property Tax Bills for real property only. These include supplemental, corrected, escaped and additional assessment tax bills for real property.

Phone:

  • Payments for Secured Property Tax Bills and Unsecured Property Tax Bills for real property may also be paid by Credit Card over the telephone by calling 1-844-430-2823. Prior year delinquent taxes cannot be paid over the telephone.
  • Phone congestion may be high when attempting to use the 844 number. To avoid penalties, the transactions made by this method must be completed before midnight on the deadline date listed on your property tax bill. Telephone transactions may take approximately 10 to 12 minutes to complete per parcel. There is no guarantee implied by the County or the contractor that you will be able to get through on the 844 line. Transactions made for the wrong amount or after the deadline will be returned and penalties will be charged. Partial payments cannot be accepted.

In-Person:

  • In addition to payments by check, money order, or cashier's check, we also accept cash and credit or debit cards in our office.
  • Cards accepted are: American Express Card, Discover Card, MasterCard and Master Money debit cards, or Visa, Visa Check Card, and Visa debit card. At this time, we are not able to accept credit card payments  for personal property taxes such as boats, business equipment, etc.

​The cost of processing a check mailed to our lock box (remittance processing operation) is far less expensive and more efficient than the cost of handling an electronic check payment or credit card transaction. Our high speed NCR remittance processors handle thousands of transactions per hour and automatically match the check to the bill, scan and endorse the check, create a file to update the taxpayer’s record, and prepare the checks for deposit.

Debit card and credit card transactions require special handling by tax collector staff to update the customers account. In addition, the processing company and credit card companies charge the merchant (in this case the County) a percentage of the transaction (2.29%) for credit cards and debit cards when paying by phone or online.  Internet Transactions are charged a higher percentage by the credit card companies due to the high incidence of fraud they experience on Internet transactions (even though we argue that there is little likelihood that an individual would pay their taxes with a stolen card.)

Although merchants do not appear to pass on the credit card fee to customers, they can do so through adjusting the cost of their product. Also, they can increase their sales by accepting credit cards. Although it appears an agency such as the DMV is not charging individual customers a "convenience fee" for credit card transactions, the cost is included in the fees. DMV has a fairly fixed cost for registration and tax, and they have included in them in the costs the fees is calculated on - so non-credit card payers are absorbing that cost in the fee.

In the County’s situation, property taxes are set by Proposition 13 (Article 13 of the State Constitution). The County only retains about 16% of the taxes we collect. The bulk of the taxes go to school districts, with a significant portion going to cities and special districts (park and fire districts). Per state law, we are not able to pass on the extra cost of accepting credit cards to the other taxing entities without their approval, and none have been willing to share in this cost. Additionally, tax bills range from $10.00 to millions. Based on the size of the tax roll if the County accepted property tax payments without the convenience fee, we estimate the cost to the County could be up to $6 million per year.

A number of tax payers want the option of being able to pay with electronic check or their credit cards, so we have followed the lead of the Franchise Tax Board and the Internal Revenue Service and selected a third party vendor, Payment Express, to accept credit card and debit card payments on our behalf, and pay for all the associated fees through the convenience fee for 2.29% of the tax payment (with a minimum fee amount of $1.95 for tax payments) made with a credit or debit card, or a $1.95 flat fee for payments made with a debit card (with a PIN) in-person at our office.  There is currently no fee to process payments made by e-check. They can be reached at 1-877-818-4323 or 1-844-430-2823. You can also email Payment Express at: Payments@paymentexpress.com. 

Finally, federal, state and local taxing agencies are continually lobbying the credit card industry and banks to waive the credit card fees for tax payments, to date our efforts have not been successful.

A convenience fee will be charged to pay by credit card or debit card.  A third-party vendor will process your credit card, debit card, and e-check payments if you elect to pay property tax bills using this method. 

The convenience fee is not revenue to the County of Sacramento. The system will provide you with the convenience fee amount and will prompt you for your authorization before proceeding with the transaction. 

The following provides the convenience fee that will be charged based on the payment amount.

  • The convenience fee charged for credit and debit card transactions online or by phone will be 2.29 percent of the payment transaction amount, with a minimum charge of $1.95 per payment transaction.
  • The convenience fee charged for debit cards (with a PIN) in-person at our office will be $1.95.
  • There is currently no fee for e-check transactions.

Partial payments are not accepted and will be returned for the correct amount due. If you are not sure of the exact amount of secured property taxes due, tax bill amounts are available online. 

To look a parcel up through e-PropTax, Sacramento County's Online Property Tax Information, you will need the 14 digit parcel number. For a current payoff amount for Secured prior year delinquent taxes, please call the 24 hour Automated Information Line at (916) 874-6622 or Sacramento County Tax Collector's Office, Secured Tax Unit between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays at (916) 874-6622 during regular business hours. 

For a current payoff amount for a personal property (unsecured) current or prior year delinquent tax bill, please contact the Sacramento County Tax Collector's Office, Unsecured Tax Unit at (916) 874-7833 during regular business hours.

The Tax Collector’s Office cannot accept monthly payments. If you have a mortgage company, ask them if they will open an impound or escrow account for your property taxes. 

They will increase your monthly mortgage payments by an amount to cover the annual secured property taxes. The mortgage company will pay the annual secured tax bill each year by the December 10 and April 10 delinquent dates. 

Monthly payments for your Secured Property Taxes is available through a third party provider, Easy Smart Pay. If interested, please visit Easy Smart Pay​ to learn more.​

If the aggregate amount of your property tax bills exceeds $250,000, you are required to send payment by EFT. All property owners of multiple properties have the option of submitting payment by wire transfer. 

Payments of more than 20 installments should be paid by an electronic file (CD). Written notification of EFT payments must be received one week prior to sending the wire transfer and include the total payment amount, date of the forthcoming transfer, the original tax bill payment stubs or printable payment stubs ( e-​​Prop-Tax​) or electronic file, and the taxpayer contact information (name, address, phone/fax number, and e-mail address). 

Any EFT payment that does not equal the payment stubs, cannot be identified or that is received after the payment delinquent date will be rejected, returned less handling fee, and penalties will be charged. Sacramento County is not responsible for bank fees incurred by the taxpayer or paying agent.

To obtain information on how to pay by EFT, electronic file layout requirements to submit payments, please contact the Tax Collector’s Office, Report Control Unit, at 700 H Street, Room 1710, Sacramento, CA, 95814 or by phone at (916) 874-1769.

There is no legal authority that allows for any waivers, discounts, reductions or deferrals in the payment of property taxes because of financial hardship or unemployment. 

If taxes are not paid, penalties and costs will be added after each delinquent date of the tax bill installment. If unpaid after June 30, additional costs and penalties are added.

Please read more about prior year delinquent taxes and payment plans.

The property owner is responsible for ensuring all secured property taxes for parcels they own are paid in full regardless if they have an impound account through their mortgage company. Be sure you receive tax bills or information copies for all properties that you own. 

Mail your property tax payments early! California law is very specific about non-receipt of tax bills. It is the responsibility of the property owner to obtain all tax bills and pay timely. Delinquent penalties cannot be excused because you did not receive a bill prior to the due dates. 

Do not wait for a tax bill. Tax bill amounts, due dates, direct levy information, delinquent prior year tax information and printable payment stubs are available on the Internet using your 14-digit parcel number at e-Prop-Tax. 

Many taxpayers must pay a penalty because their tax payment is postmarked by the post office one or more days after the deadline. When mailing your property tax payment, the envelope must reflect a post office postmark date of no later than the "pay by" or "due" date listed on the property tax bill. Or payments must be paid in the office of the Tax Collector no later than 5:00 p.m. on the "pay by" or "due" date listed on the property tax bill. Meter dates from a business meter are not accepted for determining timely mailing. 

Credit card and e-check payments through ePropTax for current year secured property tax bills must be completed no later than midnight on the "pay by" or "due" date listed on the property tax bill. If you pay through your own bank’s Online Bill Pay service, we accept the date that appears on your Online Bill Pay Check.

Note: When the date to pay without penalty falls on Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday, the hour of delinquency is 5:00 p.m. on the next business day.

If a payment is returned unpaid by your bank, regardless if made by check, e-check, credit card, etc. and regardless of the reason for the return, a $53.00 charge will be added. 

If you do not replace the payment and pay the returned check fee by the tax bill deadline date, the Tax Collector must collect the penalties required by State law. Payments to replace returned checks should be in the form of cashier's check, money order or by cash in the Tax Collector's Office.

Payments that are returned by your financial institution for any reason will be charged a $53.00 returned check fee Under the provisions of Section 2509 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code, a payment has been canceled and the unpaid tax is a lien as if no payment had been attempted. Any receipt intended as a result of your payment is "VOID." Your replacement payment plus the returned check fee must be in the form of a Cashier's Check or Money Order.

If an assessee or agent of the assessee, by mistake or by no fault of their own, pays the tax on other than the property intended, they can request that the payment be transferred to the property intended within two years of the initial payment.  

The request must include substantial evidence that the payment was for the intended property and the property upon which the error was made has not been sold.  

To obtain a request form, please contact the Report & Account Services unit at 874-7844 or in writing at 700 H Street, Room 1710, Sacramento, CA  95814.

Refunds of the overpayment are processed when the Assessor certifies the reduction of real property assessment to the Auditor-Controller Division.

If you are due a refund, you should first contact the Assessor's Office at (916) 875-0700 to verify that the value reduction has been certified, the date of that certification. 

To check on the status of a refund from prior year tax overpayment due to reduction of prior year assessed values, you can contact the Tax Accounting Bureau at (916) 874-7431. 

To check on the status of a refund from current year tax overpayment due to reduction of current year assessed values, you can contact the Tax Collection Division between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays at (916)874-6622. 

For additional information, please refer to our Supplemental Addenda web page.

There may be several reasons why your payment was cashed, but Sacramento County's Online Property Tax Information system e-Prop-Tax does not reflect the installment as being paid.  

Please be sure you have checked the tax bill status Information on the Tax Bill Detail page.  From the Tax Bill Summary page click on the Bill Number.  The tax bill will not show as Paid on the Tax Bill Summary page until both installments of a two installment tax bill have been paid.

The most common reason for a payment on the second installment to be cashed, but not reflect as paid, is because the first installment has not been paid. Revenue and Taxation Code does not allow the second installment to be paid before the first installment.

Please contact the Tax Collector’s Office between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays at (916) 874-6622 with this question.

Do not place a stop on a payment submitted to pay property tax bills. A returned check fee will be charged if your payment is stopped and the check is presented to your financial institution for payment. 

The Tax Collector accepts and processes payments based on the postmark date. Payments may not be credited to the tax bill for several business days dependent upon the volume of payments received, whether payments were submitted with the correct payment stubs, and/or whether envelopes were postmarked by the delinquent date.

If your payment has not been posted to your tax bill, please call a tax specialist between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays at (916) 874-6622 during regular business hours. Please have the following information available when you call:

  1. The check register/ledger or carbon copy of the check.
  2. Have the exact date the check was written.
  3. Have the exact amount that was written on the check.
  4. Know as best to your ability, exactly what date the check was mailed. Based on this information, staff in the Tax Collector’s Office will discuss the appropriate action you should take.

Please be aware that if your payment was mailed on the delinquent date, the envelope may not have received a timely postmark by the Post Office. Revenue and Taxation Code states we must use the postmark date as the date received. Payments with a late postmark date will be returned to the sender for payment of the penalty.

Yes. You should pay the property tax bills you received prior to the delinquent dates. 

Penalties may not be forgiven because you were waiting for a revised bill. If this results in a net overpayment, a refund will be sent to you. 

For additional information, please refer to our Supplemental Addenda web page.

Receiving a refund does not mean you do not owe other taxes. Refunds are issued for numerous reasons; however, other tax installments or tax bills may be outstanding. 

To learn more about why you received the refund, please call the phone number listed on the stub portion of the refund check that you received.

Penalties incurred on tax bill installments cannot be waived because you received a refund and believed no other taxes were owed.

Some of the more common reasons for refunds are:

  1. The first installment of a two installment tax bill was overpaid or paid twice. We will issue a refund of the excess received for the first installment. The second installment is still due by the delinquent date.
  2. The Assessor changed the value on the property resulting in tax bills being cancelled or corrected. Payment on the original tax bill may be refunded, but the new tax bills are still due and payable by their delinquent dates.

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