San Diego Property Tax Deadline Today

It’s the most, wonderful time, of the y… wait a minute. Before you go dancing around in the Holiday spirit, did you remember to pay your first installment property taxes yet? If not, you better hustle because today is the deadline before the County assesses a 10% penalty. Ouch! That’s not cheap.

For many San Diego County homeowners with impound or escrow accounts built in to their mortgage payment, property tax deadlines are of no concern since each month, a portion of their mortgage payment is allocated towards property taxes which are paid by their lender on their behalf. When buying a home, most lenders require buyers to have escrow accounts if the down payment is below 20%. Most likely because they want to make sure their collateral (the property) will not be encumbered by tax liens since taxes take priority over any type of lien.

Personally, I prefer the idea of having a portion of my mortgage payment going towards property taxes rather than having to anticipate write a large check twice a year. To me, it acts as a savings account of sorts which prevents me from spending what should be set aside for property taxes. For those who opt out or mortgage free, here are important dates to keep track of.

July 1 – Beginning of fiscal year.

January 1 – Unsecured bills mailed out; Lien date for unsecured taxes.

August 31 – Unsecured deadline. A 10% penalty is added.

September – Treasurer-Tax Collector mails out original secured property tax bills.

November 1 – First installment is due (Secured Property Tax) and delinquent Unsecured accounts are changed additional penalties of 1½% until paid.

December 10 – First installment payment deadline. A 10% penalty is added to payments made after this date.*

February 1 – Second installment due (Secured Property Tax).

April 10 – Second installment payment deadline. A 10% penalty plus $10.00 cost is added to payments made after this date.*

May – Treasurer-Tax Collector mails delinquent notices for any unpaid, regular current taxes.

June 30 – End of fiscal year.

July 1 – Delinquent Secured accounts are transferred to delinquent tax roll and additional penalties added at 1- ½% per month on any unpaid tax amounts, plus $33.00 redemption fee.

According to the County of San Diego Treasurer-Tax Collector’s website, it collects approximately $4.5 billion dollars in County, city, school, and special district taxes as well as approximately $150 million in unsecured personal property taxes.