July might mean fireworks and cookouts to some – or it least it used to mean that. However, to the staff at the Guilford County Tax Department, it means something else entirely.

It’s the month when tax officials get to hit up property owners and business owners across the county for taxes due. This week, the Tax Department mailed out the annual tax bills and, if one shows up in your mailbox, the county will expect you to send some money their way.

You are not alone. This year, the Tax Department mailed out 139,565 bills directly to property owners. An additional 81,679 bills were already in the mail to property owners whose taxes are escrowed and are paid by their mortgage lenders.

As in previous years, you have a good deal of time to come up with the money. The 2020 bills aren’t due until Tuesday, Jan. 5 of next year. If you don’t pay it by then, however, the Tax Department will make you pay more – and interest will accumulate every month you don’t pay.

For those who want to know what they owe right now, they can view their new bills – and anyone else’s bill they would like to see – at https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/.

If you have questions or complaints about your bill, you can call 336-641-3363.

In recent years, the county has been aggressive and successful in making people pay what they owe. The department has created a special division that forecloses on property, and it has implemented an “eyes in the sky” aerial photography program that takes pictures of every square foot of land in the county (in winter when the leaves are off the trees). With the aid of computers, the department can use those photos to discern where home additions or new structures have been added.  

The Guilford County Tax Department consistently ranks in the top 10 in the state for the high percentage of taxes owed that it successfully collects.

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