Partial payments are not accepted by the Sacramento County Tax Office and will be returned for the correct amount due. 

Payments may be mailed, made online, or made or in person at the Sacramento County Tax Collector's Office located at 700 H Street, Suite 1710.

Pay by Mail:

Payments by  check, money order, or cashier's check may be mailed.  Payment should be made payable to "Sacramento County" and show the mailing address of the payer and also the parcel number as shown on the tax bill. Return the appropriate stub with your payment. If you are paying two installments, please include both installment payment stubs from your tax bill. You must include the correct payment stub.  If you send the incorrect stub, your payment may be returned and you may be subject to penalties. 

When you provide a check as payment, you authorize us either to use information from your check to make a one-time electronic fund transfer from your account or to process the payment as a check transaction. Submit your payment in the envelope provided with your tax bill as it is color coded to assist in processing your payment timely.

If you do not have an envelope or a tax bill, you may still mail your payment for secured and personal property taxes to:
Sacramento County Tax Collector, P.O. Box 508, Sacramento, CA 95812-0508.

Bill Pay:

If you use your bank’s Online Bill Pay service, a paper check will be printed and mailed to the Tax Collector. Because the check is sent without a payment stub, for payment identification, please enter in the online account number field the bill number and installment being paid. Examples: 17123456 first, 17654321 second, or 17456123 both.

Your payment is considered received on the date appearing on the check received from the Payment Processing Center. Payments dated after the pay by date will be considered late and returned for penalties. Partial payments are not accepted and will be returned.

Pay by Phone:

Payments for Secured Property Tax Bills and Unsecured Property Tax Bills for real property may also be paid by Credit Card over the telephone by calling 1-844-430-2823. Prior year delinquent taxes cannot be paid over the telephone.

Phone congestion may be high when attempting to use the 844 number. To avoid penalties, the transactions made by this method must be completed before midnight on the deadline date listed on your property tax bill. Telephone transactions may take approximately 10 to 12 minutes to complete per parcel. There is no guarantee implied by the County or the contractor that you will be able to get through on the 844 line. Transactions made for the wrong amount or after the deadline will be returned and penalties will be charged. Partial payments cannot be accepted.

Pay In-Person:

In addition to payments by check, money order, or cashier's check, we also accept cash and credit or debit cards at the Sacramento County Tax Collector office.

Cards accepted are: American Express Card, Discover Card, MasterCard and Master Money debit cards, or Visa, Visa Check Card, and Visa debit card. 

The Sacramento County Tax Collector’s Office cannot accept monthly payments. If you have a mortgage company, ask them if they will open an impound or escrow account for your property taxes. They will increase your monthly mortgage payments by an amount to cover the annual secured property taxes. The mortgage company will pay the annual secured tax bill each year by the December 10 and April 10 delinquent dates.  

Many tax delinquencies occur during the first year of property ownership. Depending on the date of purchase and the policy of the title company handling the escrow, the annual property taxes are usually prorated in escrow. The first or second installment of the taxes may have been paid or you may have received a credit for the liability that accrued during the time the previous owner owned the property. If you received a credit for the previous owner's portion, you may be responsible for paying the tax bill when it becomes due. If you are unable to determine whether the tax bill installment was paid in escrow, please contact your title company. To find out what tax bills are outstanding, using your 14-digit parcel number please call the Sacramento County Tax Collector's Automated Information Line at (916) 874-6622 or look up your parcel number online. 

When property changes ownership after the start of the fiscal year, July 1st, the annual tax bill may reflect the previous owner's name and mailing address. Although you may have purchased the property after July 1, the annual tax bill may be mailed to the previous owner.  A new tax bill is not mailed to new owners.

When property changes ownership, new owners are informed of their responsibility for the payment of property taxes. The escrow papers regarding the transaction to purchase a property include information and accounting for the property taxes and include a statement as to the new owner’s responsibility for paying the taxes.  In addition, the County Clerk/Recorder includes an insert with all recorded deeds advising new property owners about their responsibility regarding payment of property taxes and advising when annual property taxes are due.  Whenever a residential single family residence property changes ownership through a sales transaction, the Assessor’s Office mails an application for homeowner’s exemption to the new owner, which includes a similar insert advising the new owner about their responsibility regarding payment of property taxes. Both of these inserts advise not to wait for a tax bill. Other tax bills you have not received may be outstanding.  

The Service members Civil Relief Act provides tax relief to military personnel, including activated reservists, who are being called to serve in the various, ongoing military operations around the world. The types of relief available are: 

• the postponement of tax payments for activated reservists during their period of active duty, 
• the reduction in interest and penalty assessments of delinquent taxes, and 
• the suspension of the required sale of tax-defaulted property. 

At such time in the future, when unpaid assessments are redeemed, the penalties for nonpayment must be recalculated at no more than six percent per annum, with no other penalty or interest incurred. For further information, please contact the State Controller's Office. To apply for tax relief for military personnel in Sacramento County, please contact the Secured Property Tax Unit between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays at (916) 874-6622.