County residents reminded to declare personal property before May 1

As required by state law, the St. Charles County Assessor’s Office plans to mail approximately 39,000 personal property declaration forms by the end of March to taxpayers who failed to respond to the initial January mailing. Declaration forms were due by March 1. Late filing penalties will be applied for those who file after May 1.

Residents who do not file a declaration form each year find themselves at the Assessor’s Office during the end-of-the-year rush, mainly for three reasons:

 

• New residents are not familiar with the personal property declaration requirement.
• Current residents do not complete and return the declaration form to the Assessor.
• Residents experience difficulties renewing vehicle licenses.

 

By declaring their personal property, residents can avoid problems at the end of the year when they realize they have not received a personal property bill. Declaration forms filed by May 1 also provide the opportunity to appeal the value if necessary.

This year, individual personal property owners can file their declarations online. Printed on the personal property declaration form is an E-filing Web site and unique secure code for individual personal property owners to access their accounts. The E-filing Web site link is also featured on the homepages of county’s Web site, www.sccmo.org, and the Assessor’s Web site, assessor.sccmo.org.

St. Charles County residents who did not receive an assessment form to declare their personal property may download a blank assessment form from the Assessor’s Website or contact the Personal Property Department at 949-7420 or 1-800-822-4012, ext. 7420. The Web site includes both individual and business personal property assessment forms.