Tax and Collections Department
The Santa Clara County CA Tax and Collections Department handles property tax payments and several types of county collection accounts, including medical bills, public assistance debts, and legal and general collections. This article explains how to identify the correct service, prepare the information needed for payment, understand property tax deadlines and fees, request penalty cancellation, claim unclaimed property tax refunds, and contact the appropriate office.
Department Responsibilities and Service Selection
The Department of Tax and Collections, commonly called DTAC, is part of the County of Santa Clara’s Finance Agency. Its services bring together property tax collection and several other county collection functions. The department’s website provides separate service pages because the information needed for a property tax payment differs from the information needed for a medical or public assistance account.
The most useful starting point is the type of bill or statement you received. Secured property taxes apply to homes, buildings, and land. Unsecured property taxes cover categories such as businesses, boats, and airplanes. Medical Collections, Public Assistance Collections, and Legal and General Collections each have their own account assistance and payment instructions.
DTAC also offers services for franchise fees, transient occupancy taxes, parking payments, tax clearance requests, tax-defaulted property auctions, and unclaimed money. A property tax refund claim is a separate process from paying an outstanding bill. Likewise, a request to cancel a late-payment penalty is different from making the underlying tax payment.
Keep the bill or monthly statement available when selecting a service. An assessor’s parcel number, assessment number, collections account number, and public assistance case number serve different purposes. Entering an identifier from one service into another payment process can prevent you from locating the account you intend to pay.
Secured Property Tax Payments
For a home, building, or parcel of land, the secured property tax information page provides access to viewing and paying taxes. You will need the assessor’s parcel number, often abbreviated APN, or the property address. Have that information ready before opening the payment service.
Online secured property tax payments can be made with a major credit card, debit card, or eCheck. Credit and debit card transactions carry a convenience fee of 2.22%, with a minimum fee of $1.49 per transaction. There is no fee for an eCheck payment.
A returned payment has separate consequences. If a check, eCheck, or credit or debit card payment is returned unpaid by the financial institution for any reason, an $85 returned-payment fee applies. Additional penalties and fees may apply when a replacement payment is submitted after the delinquency date. The absence of an eCheck transaction fee does not eliminate the returned-payment charge.
Secured Tax Installment Dates
Secured property tax bills are mailed in October. The first installment is due November 1, and December 10 is the last day to pay it without penalties. The second installment is due February 1, and April 10 is the last day to pay that installment without penalties.
June 30 is the last day to pay the current year’s taxes without additional penalties. That date does not replace the earlier installment deadlines. Readers should distinguish the installment due date from the last day to pay without penalties and review the notes printed on their tax bill.
If December 10 or April 10 falls on a weekend or County of Santa Clara holiday, the delinquency date moves to the next business day. The department also identifies January 1 as the lien date, when the property’s value is assessed. The lien date is separate from the dates for paying the installments.
Unsecured Property Tax Accounts
The unsecured property tax information page covers businesses, boats, and airplanes. Its payment instructions identify the assessment number, assessor’s account number, business name, or business address as information used to locate the tax account. These identifiers differ from the APN or property address used for secured property taxes.
Unsecured tax bills are mailed in July and are due upon receipt. August 31 is the last day to pay without penalties. If August 31 falls on a weekend or county holiday, the delinquency date extends to the next business day.
For the 2026–2027 annual unsecured property tax bill, DTAC’s notice states that payment must be made, or carry a valid USPS postmark, by August 31, 2026, or earlier to avoid penalties. A mailed payment should therefore be considered in relation to the postmark requirement, rather than only the day it was prepared.
The unsecured payment page provides online credit card and eCheck payment options. Its card-fee notice specifies a 2.22% credit or debit card rate, with a $1.49 minimum per transaction, while eCheck payments have no fee. Select the unsecured service when handling this type of bill, even if you also own real estate with a separate secured tax account.
Property Tax Portal and Payment Access
The department’s bill payment page identifies online, mail, phone, and in-person payment options. Its property tax payment site includes a user profile feature for securely storing payment methods and a shopping cart for paying tax bills for multiple properties in one transaction. The department also announces that scheduled property tax payments are available.
When handling several properties, identify the bill associated with each property before placing payments in the cart. The multiple-property feature brings payments into one transaction, but each property still has its own tax information. A collections statement should be handled through the relevant collections service rather than treated as another property tax bill.
Monthly Online Maintenance Window
The secured and unsecured property tax pages state that the online payment site is unavailable every third weekend of the month, from 8:00 a.m. Saturday until 5:00 p.m. Sunday, Pacific Time. Account for that scheduled interruption when planning an online payment near a deadline.
The maintenance hours are stated in Pacific Time. Readers accessing the system from another time zone should use that time reference when determining whether the site is in its scheduled outage. DTAC’s bill payment page provides the other payment categories, including mail, phone, and in-person options.
Public Assistance Collection Payments
Public Assistance Collections accepts payments for public assistance and welfare debts involving CalWORKs, CalFresh, General Assistance, CAPI, Adoption Assistance, Foster Care, and IHSS provider overpayments. These accounts have different payment identifiers from property tax accounts.
For online payment, use the case number, last name, and first name shown on the monthly billing statement. Online card payments are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Accepted cards include Discover, American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and bank-issued debit cards.
Phone and Mailed Payment Requirements
Automated phone payments are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The phone payment process requires the account number and ZIP code. DTAC directs customers to contact their Collections Representative to obtain the account number for phone payments.
The distinction between a case number and an account number matters here: the online instructions call for the case number and name, while the phone instructions call for the account number and ZIP code. Use the information specified for the payment method you select.
For mailed public assistance payments, make a check or money order payable to SCC DTAC and include the case number and debtor name. Do not mail cash. The public assistance mailing address, including the extended ZIP code provided by the department, appears in the office list at the end of this article.
Card Fee Beginning October 2026
Beginning October 1, 2026, public assistance payments made by credit or debit card include a 2.22% processing fee. The payment processor adds that fee to the total at the time of payment. No fee applies to eCheck payments under this notice.
The dated notice governs the announced fee change even though the page also contains earlier statements describing card payments as having no fee. For a card payment made on or after October 1, 2026, account for the announced processing charge. Questions about payment options belong with Public Assistance Collections.
Medical Collections and Account Assistance
The Medical Collections payment page provides access to online payment and assistance from a Revenue Collections Officer. DTAC has migrated to a collection system called Impact, and the department warns that account numbers may have changed as a result.
If you cannot log in to the medical payment website, contact Medical Collections for assistance with the account. An older account number may be the reason for difficulty accessing the payment service. Keep the monthly billing statement available so you can discuss the account shown on it.
Medical Collections sends billing statements monthly, with more than 25,000 bills mailed during each monthly cycle. Calls can be especially heavy during those billing periods. When telephone lines are busy, callers are routed to voicemail. The department’s goal is to return calls within two business days; that is a stated service goal rather than a guaranteed response time.
Legal and General Collection Accounts
The Legal and General Collections service handles a range of county accounts. These include third-party litigation subrogation matters, civil suits involving County Counsel and Small Claims Court, wage garnishments on DTAC litigation accounts, and Santa Clara County Court retiree services.
The unit also handles accounts involving the Registrar of Voters, Roads and Airports, the Planning Department, Animal Control, Weights and Measures, probate, and demand requests from financial institutions. This range makes the account or statement type especially useful when identifying the correct collector.
Legal and General Collections has also moved to Impact. As with Medical Collections, the account number may have changed. Customers experiencing payment website login problems should contact this unit for assistance. Medical and legal collections have separate contact numbers, so direct the inquiry to the service responsible for the bill.
Court Debt and Restitution Changes
Effective January 5, 2026, DTAC no longer collects fines, fees, and restitution orders for criminal and juvenile cases on behalf of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County. The department’s court debt and victim restitution notice explains this change.
DTAC continues to distribute collected restitution. Questions about restitution warrants therefore remain distinct from questions about making criminal or juvenile court debt payments. The department also directs people who were receiving restitution payments to its restitution contact for last-payment information.
Older references to DTAC’s court collection responsibilities should not be treated as current payment instructions. The January 2026 notice separates the department’s continuing restitution distribution role from the court debt collection work it no longer performs.
Penalty Requests and Tax Clearance
DTAC accepts requests to cancel penalties assessed for late property tax payments. The department’s forms page includes a property tax penalty cancellation form. A request asks the department to remove a penalty from the account; it does not itself establish that the penalty has been removed.
The forms page also includes a mobile home tax clearance request form and subdivision documents, including a property ownership questionnaire and recording-of-maps form. DTAC’s services include tax clearance requests for business transfers, mobile homes, and subdivisions. Select the form associated with the transaction involved.
Other available forms include a parking payment plan application, a public inquiry form for collections, an unclaimed general collections form, and a property tax refund claim form. Parking payment plans and property tax penalty cancellation are separate services with different purposes and forms.
Unclaimed Property Tax Refund Claims
The unclaimed property tax refund search allows searches by name and displays the payee name, APN, and refund amount. Property tax refunds can result from reduced assessments, overpayments, or duplicate payments. They may become unclaimed because of returned mail, uncashed checks, refusal of funds, or a lack of response to notifications.
Review both the payee name and APN when identifying a refund to claim. The required document checklist includes:
Government-issued photo identification, such as a driver’s license, identification card, or passport.
Proof of ownership for the listed APN.
A notarized limited power of attorney document if filing for someone else.
The electronic claim cannot be completed without uploading the required documents. People unable to file electronically may download the PDF claim form and mail it with the required documentation to DTAC’s Fiscal Division–Property Taxes.
Claim review may take 45–60 days, depending on the volume of claims. The department states that funds remaining unclaimed for more than two years are removed from the list and transferred to the county’s general fund under Government Code 29802. Property tax refund claims are separate from unclaimed general collections money, which has its own service and form.
Office Hours and Payment Drop Locations
DTAC’s office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Telephone assistance is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The department is closed on county holidays. The difference between office and phone hours matters when arranging a visit or trying to reach a collector.
The property tax payment drop box is inside the building on the east wing’s first floor. It is available during normal weekday business hours. Medical, public assistance, and legal and general collections use a payment drop slot on the southeast corner of the building, near the entrance adjacent to the parking lot.
Do not deposit cash in either payment drop location. Select the location designated for the type of account being paid: the property tax box and collections slot serve different payment categories. Public assistance customers mailing payments should also follow that service’s check or money order instructions and include the case number and debtor name.
Department and Collection Office Contacts
Department of Tax and Collections — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 — (408) 808-7900
Unsecured Property Tax — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 — (408) 808-7962
Medical Collections — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 — (408) 326-1002
Public Assistance Collections — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134-1700 — (408) 326-1004; (844) 472-9772
Legal and General Collections — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 — (408) 326-1006
Court Ordered Debt — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 — (408) 326-1007
Unclaimed Property Tax — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134 — (408) 808-7949
Department of Tax and Collections, Attn: Fiscal Division - Property Taxes — 110 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134
Tax and Collections Department FAQs
How can I check a suspicious property tax letter?
DTAC’s secured property tax information page includes a “Scam Letters” section for questionable tax correspondence. Open the county website directly and review that guidance before following payment instructions in an unfamiliar letter. The same page provides access to official property tax information, so you can check your tax account separately from the letter. A letter’s wording or appearance alone should not be your basis for sending money.
Where can I update my tax mailing address?
The property tax information page includes a “Change your mailing address” option. Follow that option for the county’s instructions when your mailing address changes; entering an address during a payment transaction should not be treated as confirmation that your tax mailing record has been updated. DTAC also lists property tax email reminders and electronic notifications. These are useful options to review if you want reminders or information about receiving e-bills.
Where do I find help with special assessments?
DTAC lists separate options for special assessment contacts, parcel tax exemption requests, and City of San Jose garbage and sewer assessment information. If your question concerns a specific charge on your property tax bill, identify that charge first and follow the corresponding assessment information. For an exemption question, review the option associated with the charge rather than assuming every exemption applies to every assessment.
Does the county list property tax assistance programs?
Yes. DTAC’s property tax information page provides links for the Property Tax Postponement Program, available exemptions, taxpayer assistance programs, and disaster relief. These options address different circumstances, so review the relevant program’s requirements before deciding whether to apply. The supplied department information does not establish eligibility, application deadlines, or an automatic reduction in taxes. Use the program instructions to determine what documentation and next steps apply to your situation.