Property Taxes Must be Paid on or before July 10th to avoid penalties.  On March 20th I discussed the Indiana Governor’s Executive Order No. 20-05, which calls for property payments (for the January 1, 2019 assessment date and payable in 2020) to still be paid on or by May 11th but waiving penalties on payments made within 60 days.  The Department of Local Government Finance has issued a memo providing some guidance on this Order.  The DLGF explains:

Hence, each county shall waive any penalties for any property taxes paid within sixty (60) days after the statutory deadline; therefore, the spring installment may be paid up to and including July 10, 2020 without penalty. However, taxpayers are encouraged to make timely payments (that is, on or before May 11, 2020) in order to ensure orderly operations of government.

Taxpayers encouraged to ask for filing extensions for personal property tax returns.  Regarding personal property tax returns (Forms 103/104), the May 15th filing deadline is still in place, but the DLGF notes that (i) taxpayers could request a 30-day extension and (ii) “encourages” assessors in Indiana’s 92 counties to grant the extensions, so that returns (for the January 1, 2020 assessment date) are due on or before June 14, 2020.  The memo states:

The deadline under IC 6-1.1-3-7 to file personal property returns for the 2020-Pay-2021 tax cycle will remain May 15. However, a taxpayer may on or before May 15 request a thirty (30) day extension under IC 6-1.1-3-7(b). The assessor is encouraged to inform the taxpayers of this extension right and grant this extension to give the taxpayer until June 14, 2020, to make a timely filing.

Assessors hopefully will acknowledge the gravity of the current situation, grant all parties extensions who request them, and give taxpayers a bit of breathing room as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis.