Jefferson County residents have until March 1 to return the personal property assessment declaration forms recently delivered in the mail.
The Jefferson County Assessor’s Office sent out 91,463 of the forms, which ask county residents to declare what personal property, like cars, trucks, SUVs and boats, they owned as of Jan. 1.
Residents also are asked to include information about trailers, livestock, farm machinery and business-related equipment, all of which are considered taxable personal property.
The personal property list will be used to prepare personal property tax bills due by next New Year’s Eve.
Assessor Bob Boyer said the number of forms mailed out this year was down, but not because the number of potential taxpayers is on the wane.
“Traditionally, we’ve had to send out 101,000 or 102,000 of the forms each year,” he said.
However, county residents may now opt to have their forms sent electronically, Boyer said.
“That saved us about $5,000 in postage and printing, which is really good considering the cost of everything has gone up this year,” he said. “We’re happy to save some money for the taxpayers.”
Residents also may file their forms electronically, and Boyer said more and more people are taking advantage of that convenience.
“So far, 20,488 have e-filed,” Boyer said on Friday, Feb. 3. “We’re probably at about 5,000 ahead of where we were last year. Our goal is to be at 45,000 (e-filed forms) this year. It’s really easy, and it saves our office time opening up the envelopes and inputting the information. And you get an emailed response back that your form has been accepted, which is nice. People seem to be really happy about the service.”
The declaration forms include a website address and PIN for those who want to file electronically.
The process to file online takes about 15 or 20 seconds for those who had the same property on Jan. 1 as they did the previous year, Boyer said.
Those who need to add vehicles are advised to have the vehicle information number (VIN) for the new vehicle to be added to the rolls.
“It takes a little longer to do that, but not very much longer,” Boyer said.
Under state law, those who don’t return their declaration by March 1 will be charged a late fee.
“It’s important to get that information to us so we can inform the taxing entities, like school districts, fire districts and ambulance districts, their total assessed valuation so they know how much taxes they will collect when they set their rates later in the year,” Boyer said. “We want to get them the most accurate information possible.”
The traditional alternatives to electronic filing – mailing back the form or dropping it by the Assessor’s Office at the Jefferson County Administration Center, 729 Maple St., in Hillsboro – are still available.
Those who do not receive a property tax declaration form or who have questions about the process may call the Assessor’s Office at 636-797-5343 or send an email to ppassessor@jeffcomo.org.