Dear Clients and Colleagues,
I am attaching a copy of Governor DeSantis’ Executive Order #22-242 and the Lee County Tax Collector’s 10-26-2022 notification.
In short, the Lee County Tax Collector has stated that ALL Lee County property owners can pay their 2022 property tax bills in DECEMBER and obtain the 4% discount the typically expires at the end of NOVEMBER. This is because the Tax Collector is late in mailing the 2022 tax notices that typically are mailed by 11-1-2022. As of today, the 2022 tax bills are not yet available online and cannot yet be paid at https://lee.county-taxes.com/public. It is believed that Lee County 2022 tax bills will be mailed later this month.
The Governor’s Order postpones 2022 property tax payments only for owners whose property is “completely destroyed or is otherwise uninhabitable” due to Hurricane Ian damage and who are located in one of the 26 FL counties designated by FEMA (which includes Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties, among others). This order allows payments as late as January 31, 2023, to obtain the standard 4% “November” discount, then 3% in February 2023, 2% in March 2023, 1% in April 2023 and full payment with no discount in May 2023. The 2022 property taxes become delinquent on June 1, 2023 (rather than the standard April 1 delinquency date). Note that owners whose property is not “completely destroyed or is otherwise uninhabitable” must still pay without extension (other than the Lee County Tax Collector extension).
It has not yet been determined if an owner claiming to have been “completely destroyed or is otherwise uninhabitable” must provide proof of same to obtain the Governor’s payment extension.
Note that although the Governor has announced plans to seek legislation to provide further relief for hurricane damages properties, as of now the general law applies: the status of the property as of 1-1-2022 carries through for all of 2022, meaning that 9-28-2022 damage will not be considered in property tax assessments until the 2023 tax roll.
CONCLUSION
If your property is undamaged, then pay as usual. Don’t forget that 2022 property taxes, in order to be deductible on your 2022 Federal Income Tax Return, must be paid in 2022.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Hagen, Hagen Law Firm
FL Bar #454788
5290 Summerlin Commons Way, Ste. 1003, Fort Myers, FL 33907
239-275-0808 Info@MikeHagen.com HagenLawFL.com
Click here to read the Lee County Tax Collector notification:
Click here to read Gov. DeSantis Executive Order 22-242 notification:
