COVID-19: What COVID-19 means for your property taxes

Although we are not accepting in-person payments currently at our offices, taxpayers can pay online, via telephone or by mail. There is no cost for e-Check payments online. For online credit/debit card transactions, our card payment
processor charges a 2.25 percent service fee. Please visit https://ttc.lacounty.gov/ to review all payment methods, and several other online self-service options.

The PIN is located on any secured property tax bill and does not change annually. If you do not have this year’s property tax bill, please refer to a previous year’s bill. Please also note that a PIN is only required for online e-Check payments.

No. The County cannot waive the associated service fees of 2.25 percent for credit/debit card transactions. The fees are charged by our card payment processor to facilitate the transaction. As a reminder, there is no cost for e-Check
payments online.

No. Property tax amounts are established on the lien date of January 1 of each year. The property tax amounts currently due for the 2019-2020 Annual Secured Property Taxes have a lien date of January 1, 2019, and therefore, no reduction will be made to the current bill. Should you have questions related to decline-in-value or business personal property valuations, please contact the Office of the Assessor at
(213) 974-3211 or visit their website at https://assessor.lacounty.gov/.

Processing times for mailed payments may be delayed due to the current public health concerns. We will process all mailed payments as soon as possible. Should your payment not be processed by April 10, 2020, you can request penalty cancellation as outlined above.

As of this date, we are receiving mail from the USPS and courier services. If circumstances change, we have the ability to cancel penalties for payments that would have been mailed timely. For more information regarding mailed payments, please click here: https://ttc.lacounty.gov/avoid-penalties-by-understanding-postmarks/

State Law requires that the Tax Collector to issue refunds within 60 days of the date of initial payment. However, due to the current state of emergency, we may experience unusual delays meeting this timeframe.

Yes. If you are unable to make a timely payment for reasons directly related to COVID-19, you may submit a Penalty Cancellation Request (request) on our website beginning the day after the delinquency date. You must submit a separate request for each property tax bill (e.g., Annual Secured Property Tax Bill, Supplemental Secured Property Tax Bill, Unsecured Property Tax Bill, etc.). If you are unable to submit your request online, you must contact our office at (213) 974-2111 to complete your request.

The Tax Collector accepts partial payments. If you can pay part of your property taxes, we encourage you to do so. This revenue helps keep the government running and providing vital services that the public relies on, especially during emergencies like these. In addition, you may file a Penalty Cancellation Request on our website for the remaining balance.

State law allows the Tax Collector to consider circumstances beyond a taxpayer’s control, which prevented the timely payment of property taxes. The Tax Collector will be considerate of COVID-19 related circumstances. We ask that you detail the specific circumstances which you encountered related to COVID-19. We will review each Penalty Cancellation Request on a case-by-case basis.

Visit our website at ttc.lacounty.gov and select penalty cancellation. Follow the instructions and complete the required information. Do not submit supporting documentation. Should we determine that we need additional information to review your Penalty Cancellation Request, we will provide you instructions via email.

Upon successful submission of your Penalty Cancellation Request (request), the online application will display a confirmation page with your confirmation number, which we will send to the email address you provide on your request. We encourage you to retain and include your confirmation number with any future communications

We typically process Penalty Cancellation Requests within 45 to 60 days. However, due to the ongoing public health emergency, we are experiencing processing delays.

No. No additional penalties, interest, costs or fees will be imposed on the property tax amount due. Please do not be alarmed if you go online or receive a notice/statement from our office and see these penalties added to your property tax(es) for the second installment – it does not mean we have rejected your Penalty Cancellation Request.

Given the current circumstances, we cannot determine a time frame at this time. We will contact you should we need additional information to support your Penalty Cancellation Request (request), or to provide payment and time frame options to you, once we determine the outcome of your request.

Please provide your mortgage company with a copy of the Confirmation Page including the confirmation number for your Penalty Cancellation Request, which our office emailed to you after the online submission of your request. We ask for your continued patience as we process the large volume of requests our office has received.