Unsecured Property Tax Bills Due August 31

 Pay at TaxBill.octreasurer.gov to Avoid Penalties

“eCheck – Free; New lower credit card rate of 2.25%”

Santa Ana, Calif. – Orange County Treasurer Shari L. Freidenrich announced that the payment deadline for more than 52,000 unsecured property tax statements—totaling more than $302 million—is August 31.  These bills were mailed to the owner of the unsecured property as of January 1, 2026, and are also available online at TaxBill.octreasurer.gov, which is easily searchable by business name or TC reference number, Aircraft number, or Boat number.

Fiscal year 2026-27 unsecured property tax statements include taxes and assessments on business property, leased equipment, boats and aircraft. Avoid possible mail fraud by paying online using the Treasurer’s secure website at TaxBill.octreasurer.gov. eChecks have no service fee for online payments and business credit card fees dropped from 2.57% to 2.25%. Online payments submitted by midnight on August 31 receive same-day credit with an online printable receipt and an emailed confirmation receipt.

In-person payments such as check, money order and cashier’s checks are accepted at the County Service Center at 601 N. Ross Street in Santa Ana until 5 P.M. on August 31.  A 24/7 Payment Depository Box is also available on Ross Street, where payments dropped off by midnight on August 31 will be considered timely. Late payments are charged a 10 percent penalty plus a $75 collection fee. “We highly encourage taxpayers to pay their unsecured property taxes online, securely and at no extra cost by eCheck,” said Treasurer Shari L. Freidenrich. “Last October, we identified a large number of taxpayers whose checks were mailed but never reached the County. In a few cases their bank info was sold on the dark web,” Freidenrich added.

Taxpayers mailing their payments must ensure a U.S. Postal Service postmark dated August 31 or earlier. Because local post offices no longer postmark mail, request a hand cancellation at the postal counter or avoid possible mail fraud and pay securely online. Visit octreasurer.gov/Postmarks for information.

Under state law, the person or entity listed as the owner of record on January 1, 2026, is responsible for the full fiscal year’s unsecured property taxes—even if the unsecured property was sold or transferred afterward. The new owner is not responsible for taxes until the next lien date, January 1, 2027.  Can’t find your tax statement?  Go online and search by business name, then use our free eCheck payment option to pay without a service fee.

Businesses that pay more than $50,000 annually are required to pay electronically. We recommend paying online by eCheck (no service fee) or credit card (2.25% service fee).  If you are a business and can’t pay by eCheck,  please email us at  EFT@octreasurer.gov to see if you qualify for our EFT program that allows payments by ACH.

Taxpayers can subscribe to receive text/email payment reminders at octreasurer.gov/UnsecuredReminders. They can also view prior-year tax bills, a printable statement and past payment history at TaxBill.octreasurer.gov. The site enables search by business name, TC Reference, CF-number, N-number, tax lien number, or tax year and assessment number.

The FY 2026-27 unsecured property tax bills include new assessments for more than 41,000 businesses, nearly 13,000 boat and aircraft owners, and 11,000 leased equipment owners. Taxpayers are reminded that no unsecured property taxes are assessed under the low-value exemption for business equipment, boats, aircraft and leased equipment if the property value is $10,000 or less.  This exemption continues to reduce the number of tax bills issued and eases the burden on small businesses.

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