You may pay any amount of $25.00 or more any time between March 1 and September 30 of each year.

Prepayments will be held in a separate account until bills are generated each year. They will be applied before bills are mailed, and your mailed or online bill will reflect your outstanding balance. Overpayments will be refunded after billing files have been completed. Prepayments cannot be adjusted, refunded, or applied to taxes at any time between March 1 and September 30 each year. They will be applied to the annual tax bill in late October, and refunds and adjustments will be made one time, after the annual tax bills have been generated. No prepayments will be accepted after September 30 or before March 1 each year. Taxpayers do not earn interest on prepaid money.

We cannot help you estimate the amount of taxes you will owe. Please use previous tax bills to estimate the amount you should prepay–taking into account any changes in the property you owned, or any changes in the levy rates that apply to your address.

1. Prepayments must be made by written instrument (check, money order, or cashier’s check—no credit cards or cash). You may use your bank’s online bill payment system.
2. All payments received at any time from any taxpayer will be applied to the oldest taxes first. You may not prepay a future year if you owe taxes from a prior year.
3. A valid Clay County parcel number must be written on all prepayments.  Prepayments sent without this information will be returned, uncashed.
4. If you use your bank’s online bill pay to send us a pre-payment, please have your bank write “PREPAYMENT” in the memo line, and make sure your parcel number appears on the check. You may only prepay one parcel per check. Any online bill payments received in this office with uncertain information will be returned, uncashed.
5. Again, you may only prepay one parcel per check. Payments sent to us with instructions to apply a single check to more than one parcel will be returned, uncashed.
6. You must be assessed each year before you prepay! If you send us money, but do not have an assessment on file with the assessor’s office, we will return your money without applying it to a tax bill.
7. Money paid to the Collector’s office in anticipation of a future tax bill cannot be returned or refunded under any circumstances until the annual bill file is created (late October or early November). At that time, all money that is not applied to a tax bill will be refunded. Tax payers who sell their real estate, after making a prepayment, will need to inform their title company before closing.
8. Taxpayers paying money in anticipation of a future tax bill will not earn interest under any circumstances. All interest earned by the prepayment account will offset fees to operate the account or will be disbursed to the taxing jurisdictions.
9. If a prepayment check is returned by the bank for any reason, there will be a $25.00 fee on all returned items.
10. We will mail you a receipt for every payment, but these receipts cannot be viewed online or used at the DMV.
11. If prepayments are returned or refunded to you for any reason, you still remain fully responsible for your taxes, and you will be responsible for interest and penalties that accrue if taxes are not paid on or before December 31 in the year they are due.
12. Taxpayers will need to inform their title company of prepayments towards real estate. We will not issue refunds for prepayments until after the annual bill file has been created (normally early November).