I’ll be the first to admit that my annual property tax calendar, while useful, can also be sleep inducing. To help keep you awake while reading the newly published 2025 calendar, below I highlight some of the more “exciting” (loosely defined) dates and related blog posts that provide more details.
January 1:
It’s not just for football and hangovers! It’s the listing date, meaning the date on which property is appraised (value for personal property and for real property in a reappraisal year, situs, ownership, eligibility for exemptions, etc.) for the coming tax year that runs from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. We also have to start including different years in our discovery bills and deferred tax rollbacks.
January 6:
The big one for taxpayers on the naughty list. This is the delinquency date. For taxes levied in the current fiscal year, (i) interest begins to accrue (2% for January, .75% every month thereafter) and (ii) enforced collection remedies (attachment & garnishment, levy & sale, foreclosure) may be employed. It’s also the date on which we determine personal responsibility for delinquent taxes on real property. Read this post for more.
BUT . . . remember the “weekend and holiday” rule (GS 105-395.1). When a deadline for the taxpayer to take action falls on a weekend or holiday, that deadline moves to the next business day. In 2025, the last day for taxpayers to pay their taxes without interest or enforced collections (January 5) is a Sunday. The weekend and holiday rule moves that deadline to Monday, January 6. The delinquency date and the start of interest/enforced collections then moves to Tuesday, January 7. As a result, 2025 tax payments postmarked or received by Monday, January 6 are timely and should not accrue interest.
January 31 (or later, if the board so orders under GS 105-307):
Unless extended by the board, the listing period ends at the end of January. Taxable property not listed by taxpayers by this date is subject to discovery and late listing penalties (which technically are discovery penalties). I discuss discovery bill basics here and how taxpayers can challenge discovery bills here.
The end of the listing period also closes the application period for most exemptions and exclusions. (The deadline for the circuit breaker, disabled veterans, and elderly homestead exclusions is June 1.) But remember that under GS 105-282.1, the board may accept late applications through the end of the calendar year for “good cause.” Read this post for more details.
Spring:
April is when the birds and the BOERs return. Boards of equalization and review must meet every spring to hear appeals of valuation, situs, exemptions, and other decisions made by the assessor. For tips on board procedures and best practices, read this post and this one.
July 1:
The new fiscal year begins! All local governments must budget based on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year, which means all local property taxes are levied for that same period. When we discuss “2025 taxes,” we are referring to taxes that are based on the January 1, 2025 listing date, are levied for the period July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, and are delinquent as of January 6, 2026.
Bills for 2025 property taxes will usually be mailed in late summer. But there is no statutory deadline to mail bills. In fact, bills are not even required by the Machinery Act. For more about bills, read this post and this one.
September 1:
Football season returns (how weird will it be to see this guy in Carolina blue?), the discount period ends, and the 10-year statute of limitations period for the use of enforced collections for 2025 taxes begins. Enforced collections remedies for delinquent 2025 taxes must begin by September 1, 2035.
December 31:
It’s the last day for late exemption applications (see above) and the last date to recapture lost taxes from the 2020 year using the discovery process. During calendar year 2025, the discovery rules in GS 105-312 allow for the billing of the tax year that opened in the calendar year of discovery (2025) plus the five previous years (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020). Starting in January 2026, the earliest tax year that may be included in a discovery will be 2021.
