Tuesday, Jan. 31 is the deadline to pay most 2022 property taxes in Harris County, with penalties and interest beginning to accrue the following day.
Property tax payments can be made online at www.hctax.net, over the phone at 713-274-2273 or in person at any of the 16 office locations operated by Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett – using either cash, personal checks, money orders or credit and debit cards. Online payments also can be made with free e-checks.
Checks and money orders, made payable to Ann Harris Bennett, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector, also may be mailed to P.O. Box 4622, Houston, TX 77210-4622. Late penalties and interest will not apply if the mailed payments are postmarked by Jan. 31.
Partial payments will be accepted, according to tax office spokesperson Laura Aranda Smith, who said property owners with a remaining balance as well as those who miss the deadline can set up payment plans. Payment plans, which have periods ranging from 12 to 36 months, can be requested online or by email at tax.office@hctax.net.
"We encourage them to come to us and tell us what their issues are," Smith said. "Some may have delinquent taxes prior to 2022, so we want to make sure they set up a payment plan for those property taxes."
Each of the 16 tax office locations will stay open one hour later than usual, until 5:30 p.m., on Jan. 31. Each location also will have a drop box for property tax payments, Smith said.
Visit www.hctax.net for a complete list of locations, which include a Downtown Houston office and locations situated across Harris County.
Under Texas law, those who are at least 65 years old or disabled may postpone current and delinquent property tax payments on their homes by signing a tax deferral affidavit at the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD), 13013 Northwest Fwy. in Houston. Once the affidavit is on file, taxes will be deferred but not cancelled, with interest accruing at 5 percent per year, until the property owner or surviving spouse no longer qualifies for the exemption, according to HCAD.
HCAD said a tax deferral affidavit, which could take days or weeks to be processed, keeps property owners from losing their homesteads because of delinquent taxes and also makes them immune from collections lawsuits filed by taxing units such as the Harris County tax office. There are no penalties on delinquent taxes during the deferral period, according to HCAD, which determines property values for taxing purposes but is not itself a taxing entity.
For more information about property tax deferrals, visit www.hcad.org or www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/.