“We know many of the late bills are due to COVID-19, and we want our taxpayers to know there could be relief,” said McAllister. “They may qualify to have their penalties waived if they file for a COVID-19 cancellation request. Our customers must provide documentation as evidence to show how the pandemic impacted their ability to pay their second installment by April 10.”

This week, the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office is mailing 28,623 defaulted bills to property taxpayers who failed to pay all their 2019-2020 property taxes.

“We’re sending 6,195 more defaulted bills than we sent last year,” said McAllister. “We expected to see an increase in tax defaults due to COVID-19’s impact on the San Diego economy and workforce.”

The defaulted bills total over $127 million; last year, $92 million in defaulted taxes was due.

The deadline to pay the 2019-2020 annual tax bill was June 30.  Beginning July 1, each late bill will incur a 1.5% penalty each month (18% each year) it remains unpaid. That is on top of the 10% penalty added for each late installment.

Taxpayers who have submitted a COVID-19 penalty cancellation request and have not heard back from the Treasurer-Tax Collector yet will receive a response in the mail. The Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office has received 3,196 COVID-19 penalty cancellation requests and has approved 52% of them. Most denials are due to missing documentation. However, if taxpayers resubmit their request with documentation, we will review it again. 

Here is more information about defaulted bills: 

• Partial payments are not accepted.
• You may be eligible to set up a 5-year payment plan for payment of defaulted taxes. 
• Penalties may only be canceled under specific conditions authorized by The California Revenue & Taxation Code.
• Supplemental bills are separate and in addition to the annual tax bill.  They are not sent to your lender for payment.

Penalties will NOT be canceled for the following reasons:

• Forgot to pay
• Lost tax bill/Failed to receive tax bill
• Thought the delinquent date was April 15th
• Out of town on delinquent date
• Payment made through online bill pay not received on time