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General
Information |
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Q: When will I receive my tax bill? |
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A: Property tax bills for the current calendar year are
usually mailed the first week in October of the same year. |
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Q: When are taxes due? |
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A: Property taxes in Tennessee are paid in arrears for the
year they are due. Current calendar year property taxes are
due from October 1st of the current year through February
28th of the next calendar year without penalty or interest. |
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Q: What if I do not receive a tax bill? |
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A: Call the tax office for a duplicate bill. Taxes are still
due even if you do not receive a notice. State law requires
that we send a notice to the owner of record as of January 1
of the tax year. The reason most notices are not received is
that property has been transferred and a notice has been
mailed to a previous owner. |
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Q: Why did I receive a bill, since my mortgage company
escrows my taxes and insurance? |
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A: In recent years, mortgage companies have bought and sold
mortgages more frequently than ever. We often find that the
company recorded at the Courthouse is not the current
mortgage holder. Many citizens complained about lack of
notice, so we decided to send ALL bills to the taxpayer. |
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Q: Does that mean that I must forward the bill to my
mortgage company? |
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A: Yes, to insure that your property taxes get paid in a
timely matter, we suggest that you forward a copy of the
bill to your mortgage company with your loan number on the
bill and send to the attention of the escrow department. |
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Q: What if I have recently refinanced my mortgage and I’m
not sure if the company has paid the taxes? |
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A: If you have changed mortgage companies within the last
year, we suggest that you forward your bill to the new
mortgage company, just to make certain that they have your
information. We also suggest that you use our online service
to verify that the current taxes have been paid.
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Late Payments |
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Q: How much is the penalty for paying late? |
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A: If payment is not received or postmarked by February
28th, starting the first of March, and each month
thereafter, a 1 percent penalty and 1 percent interest fee
is added to the base tax amount. Penalty and interest
continue to accrue the first of every month, up to 24
percent (12 months) |
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Q: If taxes are not paid, will the property be sold? |
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A: Yes. If taxes are not paid within one year of the
original notice, a lien is filed in Chancery Court. If a
summons from that court is ignored, the city attorney will
join with the county attorney’s office in scheduling a sale
of the property. |
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Payment Options |
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Q: Does the City accept online payments? |
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A: Yes. The City of Brentwood is interested in giving its
citizens choices in the way they do business with the city.
Online payment is one additional choice. This feature gives
citizens the ability to pay their taxes from anywhere in the
world, without the worry of mailing deadlines. |
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Q: Does the city accept credit cards? |
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A: City of Brentwood offers citizens and businesses the
opportunity to pay their property taxes by telephone or
online using credit cards or electronic check. The service
is provided by Official Payments Corporation and accepts
American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover. A
convenience fee will be assessed for each payment
transaction by Official Payments Corporation to cover
operating and servicing costs. The City of Brentwood does
not receive any portion of this fee. When making a payment,
please have your credit card and tax bill handy and, if
needed, enter Jurisdiction Code 5202 at the appropriate
prompt. To make a telephone payment, please call
1-800-272-9829, or via the Internet, please see the links
above. |
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Q: How else can I pay my tax bill? |
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By mail: PO Box 306048, Nashville, TN 37230-6048 (To
insure proper posting, please include the payment stub
from this property tax notice)
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At the Municipal Center, 5211 Maryland Way, Brentwood
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Our outside drop box located to the right of the
Municipal Center, next to the Post Office boxes
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Exemptions |
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Q: Is there a homestead exemption in Tennessee? |
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A: No. |
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Q: Is there any tax relief for elderly and permanently
disabled citizens? |
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A: Yes. The State of Tennessee has a program for certain
elderly and permanently disabled citizens. Please see the
Tennessee Comptroller of the
Treasury
for information and eligibility requirements. In addition,
the County offers Broad Base Tax Relief for the certain
elderly citizens that serves as a supplement to the State
program. Please see the
County website
for information. |
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Q: How do I apply? |
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A: Applications for State tax relief can be picked up at
City Hall for Brentwood City taxes and the County Trustee’s
office for County taxes. For more information, call
615-371-0060. |
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Valuations and Appeals |
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Q: Who determines the valuation of my property? |
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A: The Williamson County Property Assessors office
determines and periodically updates the value of all taxable
property in the county, including Brentwood, using field
inspections, computer programs and formulas required by the
state. The most current countywide reappraisal was effective
January 1, 2006. For more information, call the County
Assessors office at 615-790-5708. |
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Q: What can I do if I think my valuation is wrong? |
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A: Any citizen can appeal his or her property valuation.
Appeals can be started by calling the County Assessor´s
office at (615)790-5708 or writing the Assessor at 1360 West
Main Street, Franklin, TN 37064. There the appeal will be
reviewed by the appraisal staff. If you disagree with their
findings, you may make an appeal to the Board of
Equalization, as the appeals board is called, which is made
up of local citizens. You may file an appeal at any time,
but they are only heard in the spring of each year and the
decision will affect only the taxes for the year in which
the appeal is heard. |
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County
Taxes |
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Q: If I live in Brentwood, do I pay county taxes too?
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A: Yes. All Williamson County residents pay county taxes. In
Tennessee, you receive and must pay two separate bills if
you live inside city limits. Typically, the county annual
tax bill is approximately four times in excess of your city
tax bill. County taxes pay for schools, jails, landfills and
other common services provided by the county. |
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Q: What are the tax rates? |
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A: The city tax rate is $.49 per $100 of assessed valuation
of taxable property. The county rate is $2.26 per $100 of
assessed valuation of taxable property. |
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Q: Whom do I contact with county tax questions? |
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A: The Williamson County Trustee is responsible for
collecting county taxes. Contact the county trustee at (615)
790-5708. |
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Where does my City property tax money go? |
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Q: How much does the city receive in taxes? |
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A: Approximately $8.9 million, or 33 percent, of the general
fund budget is funded by city property taxes |
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Q: How is that money spent? |
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A: The taxes are deposited into the City’s General Fund and
helps pay for basic municipal services such as Police and
Fire protection, Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Public
Library and other general government services. A portion is
also used to fund capital improvement projects and to pay
for principal and interest on outstanding bonds. |
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Q: How much have taxes gone up in recent years? |
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A: The city of Brentwood has not raised its effective
property tax rate in 16 years. Each time a countywide
reappraisal has occurred, the city has lowered its tax rate
to account for the overall increase in property values.
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Online Payments |
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Q: Is paying my property tax bill online safe? |
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A: Making payments online is actually safer and more
dependable than paying by mail. Official Payments
Corporation has a state-of-the-art secured network in place
for processing payments. This system uses encryption
technology to ensure that only approved persons have access
to your payment information. The City does not receive or
store any personal credit card information. |
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Q: What form of payment can I use? |
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A: You may use an electronic check or credit card to pay
your property tax bill online. |
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Q: Will I be charged a fee for this service? |
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A: A convenience fee will be assessed for each payment
transaction by Official Payment Corporation to cover
operating and service costs. The City of Brentwood does not
receive any portion of this fee. |
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Q: Why is my email required on the payment page? |
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A: Official Payments uses e-mail to give you a final
confirmation of your payment or to let you know if there was
a problem processing your payment. They only use your e-mail
address for confirmation or to tell you about changes or
additions to services that may be of interest to you. They
will not sell or distribute your e-mail information to
outside parties. |
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Q: How will I know if my payment is received before the bill
due date? |
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A: Your bill payment should be made prior to the date the
bill is due. The date printed on the confirmation page is
recognized as the date of payment. To receive benefit of
calendar year tax deductions, your payment should be made
prior to December 31. To avoid interest and penalty
payments, your bill payment should be made prior to February
28th of each year. |
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