County tax payment deadline draws near

By Chris Fortune

The payment deadline for personal property taxes in Buchanan County looms as the holiday shopping crunch begins.

Tax bills from Buchanan County are mailed in the first week of November and must be paid or postmarked by the United States Postal Service by December 31. Residents who want to pay in person can visit the Collector’s Office in the courthouse at 411 Jules St.

“If you’re paying by check, we need your driver’s license because we’re going to verify you are who you are,” Collector of Revenue Peggy Campbell said. “Same way with a credit card. We will verify that you are the cardholder to keep down fraud as much as we can.”

Taxes can be paid online through the Collector’s Office website at co.buchanan.mo.us/online-payments.

Residents may also submit a payment through the mail, which is how about 75% of payments come through, according to Campbell.

“One thing I really urge people to do if you’re paying by mail, don’t take them to the post office on the 31st, take them to 30th,” she said. “Because if the post office closes early, let’s say they close at 3:00 on New Year’s Eve, your payment is not going to get postmarked until January 2.”

Late payments will face an immediate penalty of around 11%, and these fees escalate on the first of each month.

Campbell said around half of the personal property taxes in Buchanan County have been paid as of Thursday. Almost 18,000 payments have been submitted through mail, and around 9,000 residents have paid in person.

“Our staff is working around phone calls and around taking care of people’s questions and payments at the window,” she said. “And so we’re getting those payments in as quick as we can. This year I’m blessed to have a full staff.”