Property tax time is here again in Denton County.
Homeowners can expect to see their 2014 tax statements in their mailboxes soon — about 500,000 of them will be mailed out this week. Michelle French, Denton County tax assessor/collector, encourages residents to pay attention to their statements and pay early to meet the deadline and avoid fees.
“The biggest thing is to look at the document to make sure everything looks correct — the entities on their statement — and make sure addresses are still correct,” she said.
If anything looks amiss, residents are urged to contact the Denton Central Appraisal District or the tax office to get help.
French touted the numerous ways residents can pay their taxes, including credit and debit cards, phone, bill pay, in person, mail and electronic check, before the Jan. 31 due date.
“E-check saves them a trip to the office, saves postage and allows us to more quickly and efficiently post it to the tax roll.”
French said the mail that comes in has to be sorted manually, which could delay when the payment is posted.
“If a person decides to mail their tax payment Jan. 31, there is no provision to waive penalty and interest if they are one day late,” she said.
French said the same rule applies to online payments.
The county has had good fortune when it comes to property taxes the last few years, with between 80 percent to 85 percent of the people getting their payment in by the deadline.
Statements should arrive in mailboxes no later than Nov. 15, and if a statement hasn’t arrived by then, French said to call the tax office for help.
“We want to make sure we assist in getting that tax statement to them. We don’t want anyone to pay any more than they are required to pay,” French said. “Don’t wait until the very last minute, because you don’t know what will happen.”
