Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne M. Gannon recently reported that her office collected $2.29 billion of the $3.02 billion billed for the 2013 property tax season during the month of November. The revenue represents 467,985, or 68 percent of all billed properties. November payments receive a 4 percent discount, the highest allowable by Florida law.
Electronic payments increased by $72 million, or 62 percent over November 2012. Also notable is the agency’s successful collaboration with area banks to convert online bill payments from paper checks to digital payments. “That’s more than $31 million, or nearly 10,000 bank transactions, that we didn’t have to hand process,” Gannon said. “This is a huge efficiency improvement.”
The majority of property owners pay by mail. Unlike electronic payments, there is a higher rate of processing delays that result from taxpayers who staple, clip, fold or mark payments. These taxpayer errors cause payment rejections in the agency’s high speed mechanical processing. Rejected payments must be processed manually, creating delays. This issue could be completely avoided if taxpayers pay online.
Property owners can pay online at www.pbctax.com. Multiple transactions are accepted and an online e-pay tutorial is posted to help first-time users. Payments made by Jan. 31 receive a 2 percent discount. Taxes are delinquent on April 1.
