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The Division of Real Property Tax will soon issue the 2013 V.I. real property tax bills, according to Government House. The 2014 bills are expected later in the year as well, which will bring property tax collections up to date for the first time in more than a decade.
Property tax collections were postponed for a number of years due to a lawsuit filed in 2000 contesting the way properties were valued. That case was settled in January 2011, paving the way for multiple billings.
The 2009 tax bills were issued in February of 2012 and the 2010 bills in July of that year, each for roughly $50 million. The Tax Assessor's Office issued 2011 and 2012 bills in 2013.
Members of the administration's financial team have said on several occasions this year that the 2013 and 2014 bills are to be issued this year.
The 2013 bills are the responsibility of all property owners of record as of Jan. 1, 2013. The Tax Assessor's office is advising owners to review their bills carefully, as they are based on new property values which reflect the result of recent assessments, or revaluations, that were conducted by the Tax Assessor’s Office.
ccording to Tax Assessor Ira Mills, property owners should not assume that their bills will automatically increase because of the revaluations.
“Some property owners will see an increase in their property tax bills while some will see a decrease,” Mills said in a statement which encouraged property owners to take advantage of the early payment discount period, which will be offered for 30 days after the bills are issued.
There are several factors that affect each taxpayer’s property tax bill, which are market value, the tax rate and statutory exemptions. Exemptions, or credits, are available in the following categories: General Homestead, Veterans, Seniors, Disabled, Class 1 Inheritance, Visitable Home and Tax Credit Circuit Breaker. Although taxpayers can no longer apply for credits against the 2013 or 2014 bills, they can do so in advance of the 2015 bills.
The tax rates for the 2013 property bills are:
004946 or 0.4946 percent of market value for unimproved non-commercial real property;
003770 or 0.377 percent of market value for residential real property;
007110 or 0.711 percent of market value for commercial real property;
014070 or 1.407 percent of timeshare real property.
As in the past, the 2013 bill will also include information on unpaid tax years. Property owners who owe for prior years should contact the Tax Collector’s Office to make arrangements for payment. Payments for all past due years can be made at the following locations:
St. John: Islandia Building
St. Thomas: Builders Emporium
St. Croix: 1105 King Street (Government House, Christiansted)
1131 King Street, Suite #101 (Christiansted)
4008 Est. Diamond (Dept. of Finance, Sunny Isles)
Lagoon Street Commercial Building No. 1 (Frederiksted)
The Tax Collector’s Office accepts checks, cash, money orders, credit cards (Visa and MasterCard only), ATM and debit cards.
Questions regarding delinquencies should be addressed to the Tax Collector’s office at (340) 776-8505 on St. Thomas, 776-6737 on St. John, 773-1105 in Christiansted or 772-0120 at the Frederiksted Office.
Posted : August 9, 2014 1:17 pm
Alana33,
Thanks for the information............I'll be looking for my bill.
Cheers...........Daniel
Posted : August 9, 2014 4:01 pm
Topic starter
Please note that they say they will be issuing 2 bills this year!
1 for 2013 & 1 for 2014!
Normally the property tax bills are 1 yr. behind (pay 2013 in 2014, 2014 in 2015, etc.) or at least that has always been the case in all past years as I remember until they had to go to court and no bills could be issued until the case was sorted out but they are going to slam us again with 2 bills since the VI Gov. obviously needs more money to waste, misspend, misuse, mismanage, misappropriate and steal.
As a side note, I was speaking with a friend that owns property here and divides time between here and states. She got a delinquent notice with a hefty fine attached for her 2012 property tax. Luckily when she paid it, she sent it return request receipt so she knew it had be rec'd by them. When she checked her bank statement the check had not been cashed. Then the head guy at their division told he would only charge her 1/2 the late fees and penalties since she had proof they had rec'd payment on time. Needless to say, she politely told him to go suck an egg (not exactly in those terms) but he finally admitted the problem was theirs and there would be no fines or late fees! Nice of him!
So what (and whose) drawer was that check lingering in for over a year and how many others are missing being cashed? Good Grief!
Remember, it is up to you to prove you paid your property taxes so it pays to keep good records. I never pay by mail. It's a pain to wait in line, sometimes, to pay but at least you have a proper receipt.
They have been giving a 5% discount for payment before a certain deadline so take advantage of it, if you can.
I'm pissed off they are sticking us with 2 yrs. of bills, again this yr. 🙁
Posted : August 9, 2014 9:05 pm
The deJongh Francis team refused to send out the tax bills at the 1998 rate. They held it up by going to court to get permission to raise the rates so that they would have even more of our money to "waste, misspending, misuse, mismanage, misappropriate, and steal". The court told deJongh-Francis "no". So during the delay, our governments's debts and our tax bills all piled up. Hence the double tax bills in the same years. All the while nothing had prevented deJongh Francis from sending the bills out at the established rate you are now paying. So I agree with the person who posted this recognition of the "government's" egregious mismanagement and theft and disorganized manner in which they bill and collect. If I didn't know better, I would think she could never have been a supporter of the deJongh-Francis team that seems to be giving her what the duck got.
As we say in St. Croix.. Wootoop!
Posted : August 10, 2014 1:04 am
I'd be interested to know how properties were reevaluated and using what basis, considering that since 2009, property values have plummeted in the VI and especially on STX! Back to pre-2004 levels.
I do not recall any specific information about the reevaluation and who was doing it this time around.
When the last property reevaluation was done by Bearing Point, there was a lot of press.
Posted : August 11, 2014 2:23 pm
Topic starter
It's been so long I can't remember but I do know that when they did the re-evaluations on the first go-around, the company that did it so screwed STJ over in their property taxes which went thru the roof. They had to have another company come in that actually had "somewhat" of a clue what they were doing. (More money wasted having to do it 2x's!)
I called property tax division and requested they come back to both my properties because they guesstimated completely on one and had completely wrong info on another even tho I was present, at the time. I was able to lower the bills for both.
If you feel your bill is out of line, you can request another evaluation.
Posted : August 11, 2014 3:32 pm
I wouldn't want to rock the boat. My property is taxed at less than 25% of what I paid for it. Its nice to catch a break once in a while.
Posted : August 12, 2014 12:15 pm
Topic starter
They do not actually tax you on what a purchase price of property is or would be.
The rate is quite different so if you feel you are paying too much you can request the revaluation.
Posted : August 12, 2014 5:34 pm
