The second installment of property and mobile home taxes in Linn County is due March 1, per Iowa code. Property owners may pay their taxes without late fees through April 1 this year. Late fees of 1.5% will begin April 2. Property tax statements were mailed to property owners in August 2023. Property owners will not receive a second mailing.
“This is the busiest time of year for the Treasurer’s Office, so we encourage residents to pay their property taxes online, by mail, or use our drop box so they can avoid waiting in line,” Linn County Treasurer Brent Oleson said.
PAYMENT OPTIONS
• Pay Online
Pay property taxes online at www.iowataxandtags.org. Payment options include VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express credit cards or eCheck. Property owners paying online are strongly encouraged to pay by eCheck because the fee is only 30 cents. Credit card payments add a non-refundable service delivery fee to the tax amount for the service of paying taxes online with a credit card. Property owners will have the opportunity to exit the payment process without completing the transaction and pay by a different method if they choose. The County Treasurer’s Office does not set the online fees and does not receive any portion of the transaction fee.
• Pay by Mail
Mail property tax payments to the Linn County Treasurer, 935 2nd St. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404. Payments postmarked by April 1, 2024, will be considered paid on time and no interest will be charged. The U.S. Postal Service postmark is the only date recognized for date of mailing. The date written on a check or a business metered date cannot be accepted as proof of the mailing date. To ensure proper credit, the stub portion of the tax statement must be submitted with the payment. Residents who would like a receipt must include a self-addressed stamped envelope with their payment.
• Drop Box Payment
Property tax payments can be dropped off in the white drop box located outside the entrance to the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center, 935 2nd St. SW in Cedar Rapids. Please do not place cash payments in the drop box outside. Cash payments may be deposited in the drop box inside the Public Service Center lobby during normal business hours. To ensure proper credit, the stub portion of the tax statement must be submitted with payment. Residents who would like a receipt must include a self-addressed stamped envelope with their payment.
• Pay in Person
Property taxes can be paid in person at the Linn County Treasurer’s Office at the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center, 935 2nd St. SW in Cedar Rapids, Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Parking is available at the Public Service Center and on the street. (Due to staff development training, hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month.)
Check the current average wait time in the Treasurer’s Office by visiting Linn County’s website at LinnCountyIowa.gov/Treasurer.
• Pay Over the Phone
Property taxes can be paid over the phone by calling the Linn County Treasurer’s Office at 319- 892-5500 Monday through Friday 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Phone hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month. Phone payments can be made with eCheck or credit cards. Due to the high volume of calls, phone hold times could be lengthy.
Email / Text Message Reminders
Receive email or text reminders about property tax payments by visiting Linn County’s website at LinnCountyIowa.gov/NotifyMe and signing up for the “Property Tax Payment Reminder.” Property tax statements will still be mailed each fall. The email or text message will serve as a reminder that the payment is due.
Distribution of Taxes
County Treasurers collect property taxes on behalf of all jurisdictions in the county and then distribute the taxes collected to the other jurisdictions, including the property owner’s city of residence, school district, and other taxing bodies in the county.
Approximately 16% of property taxes paid by Linn County property owners in incorporated areas are used to fund Linn County government operations and services. The remaining 84% of property taxes goes to the property taxpayer’s city of residence, school district, and other taxing bodies in the county. Linn County taxes represent slightly more than one-third of property taxes for rural residents.
View Property Taxes Online
In 2023, Linn County debuted a new online tool that provides increased transparency in the property tax collection and distribution process. The site includes interactive maps, a dashboard, and charts that show countywide property tax statistics, the tax bill cycle, property tax levy rates for all taxing jurisdictions in the county, where property tax dollars are going, and the last three years of an individual property’s tax bill.
Taxpayers can look up their property and compare their current property tax bill to the last three years and see how their property taxes are distributed among the different taxing jurisdictions, such as their city of residence, school district, and county. When entering an address in the mapping tool, the website will display a pie chart with the exact dollar amount and percentage of taxes going to each taxing jurisdiction. The property tax statements mailed in August 2023 also included this detailed breakdown by percentage and actual dollar amount of how your individual property taxes are distributed.
Visit the interactive property tax lookup tool online at https://treasurer-linncounty-gis.hub.arcgis.com/.
Second installment of property taxes due
February 29, 2024