Frequently Asked Questions

Tax amounts for the current year are generally available the first week of February. Statements are typically mailed on or around February 28. These dates are subject to change without notice. Irrigation, Personal Property, and Storm Water Utility statements are mailed with Real Property Tax statements. If you do not receive your statement(s) by March 15, please contact our office to verify your mailing address.

If property was purchased after tax statements were mailed, the Treasurer’s office will mail a "courtesy statement" to the new owner at the address provided at the time the sale was recorded.

Special assessment statement dates are set by the specific district and vary. Please contact our office for further information.

Taxpayer Responsibility

Under Washington law, it is the taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure their taxes are paid. Failure to receive a statement does not excuse interest or penalties on delinquent tax or assessment amounts.

We recommend completing our Online Mailing Address Correction Request Form. You can also mail your address change to our office at P.O. Box 609, fax it to us at 509-745-8412, or you may email the Treasurer’s Office. Provide your:

• Name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Parcel number(s)
• Both the old and new addresses

We will change your address upon receipt of your request.

Be Sure to Include

Please be sure you have all parcel numbers and both the old and new addresses when making your request. Your address request will update both the Treasurer’s and Assessor’s Office records for your parcel(s).

Yes. Paperless statements are available for Real Property Taxes, Irrigation, Storm Water Utility, and Personal Property. Locate your Authorization Code on the upper-right of your statement and visit the eNoticesOnline website to create your account.

Contact the Treasurer’s Office and a statement can be faxed, emailed, or mailed to you.

Taxes become due in full once certified by the Treasurer and may be collected immediately. For your convenience, Washington State law allows you to make two half payments. First half property taxes are due by April 30th. Second half taxes are due by October 31st. If either of these due dates falls on a weekend or a holiday, payments are due the next business day. For more information see the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 1.12.070.

Any tax or assessment under $50 is due in full on April 30th. Prior year delinquent taxes and current year property taxes paid after October 31st must pay the full year’s balance with interest and penalty. Current year taxes may be paid prior to paying any delinquent amounts for a prior year or year(s), per RCW 84.56.060 unless the County has begun foreclosure proceedings on the parcel(s).

If paying on the due date, you may make your payment in person, by mail or through our website. An official U.S. Postal Service postmark determines the payment date for all mailed payments. If first half tax is not paid by due date, total tax becomes delinquent subject to 12% interest. In addition, an 11% penalty will be assessed as follows: 3% for taxes delinquent June 1 and 8% for taxes delinquent December 1. We do not mail delinquent or ’reminder’ statements.

Active Duty Military Personnel

Active duty military personnel may be exempt from payment of interest and penalties on delinquent taxes on their personal residence, if they are participating as part of one of the branches of the military involved in the conflict and assigned to a duty station outside the territorial boundaries of the United States. See RCW 84.56.20(7) for more information.

Irrigation, Stormwater Utility, and Land Improvement District (LID) assessments are collected on the following schedule:

If these due dates fall on a weekend or a holiday, payments are due the next business day. If paying on the due date, you may make your payment in person, by mail (view the Mailed Payments FAQ), or online through our Tax Sifter Parcel Search. LID payments cannot be made online at this time. An official U.S. Postal Service postmark determines the payment date for all mailed payments. Delinquent interest and penalties vary per assessment. Please see your statement for more information.

The Treasurer’s Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, including the lunch hour.

Our office is located in the Douglas County Courthouse Annex at 213 S Rainier Avenue, Waterville, WA 98858. For online directions, visit the Treasurer’s Office page in our directory.

We do not have an office in East Wenatchee.

Please make your check or money order payable to Douglas County Treasurer and mail your payments and/or correspondence to:
Douglas County Treasurer
P.O. Box 609
Waterville, WA 98858-0609

No. If you wish to make your payment in-person, you will need to visit the Treasurer’s Office during regular business hours; view the Treasurer’s Office page in our directory for directions or to view our regular business hours. We can accept cash or check payments only in the office.

We can accept check, money order, or cash payments in person at our office. For mailed payments, please do not send cash; use check or money order only for your safety. Please make your check or money order payable to Douglas County Treasurer. We cannot accept credit or debit card payments in our office. For electronic payment options, including credit or debit card and electronic debit from a checking or savings account, view the Making Electronic Payments FAQ.

You may pay for multiple statements with one check, pay each statement with a single check per statement, or pay a single statement with multiple checks, so long as the total due on your statements is the same as the total of your payment items. We have no preference; please use whatever method is most convenient for you.

You cannot mix credit or debit card payments with other payment types.

No. We cannot accept these types of payment items and they will be returned to you for correct payment.

We understand that you want to ensure that your payment is processed as you presented it. However, staples, tape, paper clips, and glue can cause your payment to become jammed in our payment processing equipment, which can delay processing of your payment up to two weeks. To prevent unnecessary delays in the processing of your payment, simply inserting your statement(s) and check(s) into the envelope is adequate. We kindly ask that you do not fold your payment, or fold it as minimally as possible.

Yes. Taxes can be paid by credit or debit card by calling Point and Pay at 866-898-2916. Credit card, debit card, and electronic check payments can be made online through our Tax Sifter Parcel Search. Land Improvement District (LID) and Road Improvement District (RID) payments can be made over the phone, but are not available online. A fee, set by the vendor, is charged for processing credit card, debit card, and electronic check payments.

Payments are not posted in "real time"; please allow 2 to 3 business days for credit and card payments and 5 to 7 business days for electronic check payments to post to your parcel(s).

No. At this time, we do not have an option to pay directly from your checking or savings account. We do accept "bill pay" checks from participating banks. Please contact your bank for more information on internet/online bill pay.

No. We are not able to accept partial payments or make payment arrangements. However, if you owe for more than one tax year, you may pay one year at a time. Please contact our office for the correct amount due, including interest and penalties, to avoid return of your payment.

As noted previously, we cannot accept partial payments. Your payment is considered a partial payment if the interest and penalties are not included. We cannot bill you for just the outstanding interest amount. If your payment is late it must include interest and penalty at the time of payment or it will be returned to you.

No. Taxes can only be collected in advance to satisfy state requirements regarding sales of personal property. Unless your transaction fits within that requirement, we cannot collect taxes for advance years or allow "credit" balances on your parcel(s). If you overpay your taxes, the Treasurer’s Office will issue you a refund within three weeks of your payment.

All statements are mailed directly to the property owner. Douglas County does not track mortgage lender information and does not know whether to anticipate payments from a lender or the homeowner. If you believe your mortgage lender will be paying your property taxes and assessments, please contact your lender to verify which taxes and assessments they will be paying before filing away your statements each year.

Under Washington law, it is the taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure taxes are paid on their property.

If both you and your lender submitted payments during first half, the payments will be posted to your first and second half taxes, and your account will be "paid in full" for the year. If additional payments are received, they will be returned to the paying party. If you wish to have your payment refunded and the mortgage company payment applied, you will need to arrange this with your lender. Although you have the option to pay half amounts on April 30th and October 31st, taxes are due once certified and we cannot refund a payment once it has been posted.

Yes. If you are 61 years old or older or disabled, own the house you live in, and have an annual income of $40,000 or less, you may be entitled to a property tax reduction: view the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 84.36.385 and RCW 84.36.381 for legal citations. Please contact the Douglas County Assessor by calling 509-745-8521 for more information and forms required to claim the exemption.

Please contact the Douglas County Assessor by calling 509-745-8521.

No. We suggest you retain the customer portions of your current year tax and assessment statements to use for income tax reporting requirements the following year. Please contact your accountant or income tax professional for deduction eligibility.

Yes. Property tax records are public records. We cannot make your records private or "hide" any of your tax or assessment information, even upon request.

Payments under protest must be in writing and comply with the provisions of the state law. These laws can be found in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 84.68.020 and the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 458-18-215.

Real property foreclosure will start if any one tax is three full years delinquent, per Chapter 84.64 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW).

Examples

1. If the 2016 full tax that was due on April 30, 2016 was $100 and nothing has been paid, that tax would be subject to foreclosure June 1, 2019.
2. If the 2015 half tax that was due October 31, 2015 was $50 and was not paid, that tax would be subject to foreclosure June 1, 2019.
3. If the 2016 full tax was $100 and $50 was paid on or before October 31, 2016, that tax would not be subject to foreclosure until 2020.

Please visit our Tax Foreclosure Information page; generally, the list of potential tax foreclosure properties is available in October. A link to the most recent list will be posted on this page when available, and will be replaced by a list of the most recent sales results. A list of surplus funds from tax foreclosure properties are also available on this page.

Finally, you may also request this information by submitting a Public Records Request.

These properties revert to the County and become Tax Title Properties. A list of these parcels appears on the Tax Foreclosure Information page. If you are interested in purchasing one or more of these properties, please contact the Treasurer for more information.

Tax Title Properties, as noted previously, are properties that did not sell during a regularly-scheduled tax foreclosure auction held by the Treasurer. Douglas County Surplus Properties are those properties already owned by the County, not including the parcels of land and buildings used to conduct County business. If you are interested in purchasing Douglas County Surplus Property, please contact the Douglas County Board of Commissioners for more information at 509-745-8537.

Please visit our Real Estate Excise Tax Information page for more information on the process.