NO Charlotte Taxes Due until After Christmas

The Charlotte County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to extend the real estate and personal property tax deadlines to January 5, 2018 due to computer software issues that have prevented the bills from being mailed on time.

Although the board believes the bills will be mailed in November it was agreed that if additional problems occur the deadline would be further extended.

Treasurer Patricia Berkeley and Commissioner of the Revenue Naisha Carter both addressed the board stressing that their offices were doing all they could to get the bills out.  Berkeley told the board, “Our offices are not delaying this. It is a software problem. It is a nightmare that isn’t ending.”

Berkeley stated, “The county has been using the same tax software since 1994. The software company decided to use new technology and upgrade their tax revenue management system.  Charlotte County was the first locality to use this new software.  We have encountered numerous issues associated with this conversion.  The company has had staff working in our office to identify problems and to assist with them.  The staff of the treasurer’s office and the commissioner’s office have been working diligently to identify problems and review data. The problem is not at the local level.  We can only identify the problems, not fix them.  The company has their developers working to resolve them as quickly as they can.  My understanding is that they did not anticipate the number of problems associated with the use of this new technology. I will appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this conversion.”

Since taxes have not increased since last year, unless there were changes in your property, your bill will be the same as last year.  Berkeley said payments could still be made in spite of the fact that the bills have not been mailed.

This is important to those who deduct their county taxes as an expense on Federal tax returns. In order to claim that deduction the taxes must be paid in 2017.