Deadline to pay real, personal taxes is Oct. 15 Forrest City residents urged to check with collector’s office for amount owed
St. Francis County residents have just over a month to get their property taxes paid without incurring a penalty.
The deadline to pay taxes on personal and real estate properties is Saturday, Oct. 15.
SFC Chief Deputy Collector Tiva Amos said that even though the deadline is on a Saturday, residents will not be penalized as long as the tax payments are postmarked on Oct. 15.
After the deadline, the taxes will be certified as delinquent and the property owner will be assessed a penalty.
Forrest City residents should check their mail for new tax statements due to a reduction in the city’s millage rate, according to Amos.
She said the office is working to get the new statements mailed to residents before the tax deadline, but encourages anyone with questions as to how much they owe to contact the collector’s office.
“Forrest City residents should receive a new statement showing a different amount of taxes owed. The statements they have now are going to be incorrect,” said Amos, adding that the office will issue refunds to Forrest City residents who had already paid taxes based on the statements mailed earlier this year.
“If you’re not sure how much is owed, call our office to get the amount that is due to prevent you from coming here with the wrong amount written on your check and to keep us from having to issue refunds,” said Amos.
Amos also asks that people not wait until the payment deadline to call the office for tax information.
“Don’t wait until minute,” she said.
The best number to call for tax information is 870-261-2791, according to Amos.
The issue with the refunds is due to a change in Forrest City’s millage rate, which was approved by the city council after residents voted to support a bond issue funding improvements throughout the city.
SFC Assessor Craig Jones said that basically, Forrest City’s millage rate for which residents were taxed was one mill higher on the tax statements mailed in the spring. He said most refunds for residents would be less than $1.
In 2021, the county collected $9,984,693.12 in property taxes.
Amos said about $12 million is owed in taxes this year for current and delinquent properties. To date, the county has collected $4,625,484.16 of the total amount owed.
After the tax deadline, the collector’s office will be closed the week of Oct. 17 through 21 to post the tax payments and to certify those not paid as delinquent. The office will reopen to the public on Monday, Oct. 24. the last