‘Mad Dash’ of Payments Noted in 2nd-Wave Property Taxes in San Diego

Before new federal tax laws took effect this year, 25 percent of San Diego County’s second-installment property tax bills were paid and got the benefit of uncapped deductions.

County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister says 41,000 second installments came in a “mad dash” during the last three days of 2017 alone.

By New Year’s day, nearly 72,000 more second-installment payments had been received than in the prior year.

“Right now we have about $312 million more in payments than we had at this point last year,” McAllister said in a statement issued Thursday. “So getting that money early will allow us to earn some extra interest for our Treasury Interest pool participants.”

Property taxes traditionally are paid in two installments – first, due Nov. 1 and delinquent after Dec. 10, and second between Feb. 1 and April 10.

But since the amount of state and local taxes that can be deducted on federal filings changed this year, many taxpayers apparently chose to turn in their second installments before the deductions are capped.

The County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office says it received 255,407 second-installment payments before Jan. 1, versus 183,808 by the same time last year.