(Washington, DC) The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) announced that today it will begin to mail more than 170,000 real property tax bills for the 2010 first half tax year to District property owners. Payments, which reflect current and past due real property tax liabilities, are due Monday, March 31.

This year, some residential property owners will see an increase in their tax liability as a result of legislation enacted in 2009, which requires that all properties be taxed at least 40 percent of their assessed value. In prior years, a combination of homestead, senior citizen and tax cap benefits could have resulted in tax bills of less than 40 percent of a property’s assessed value.

Property owners can pay their real property tax bills by check using the self-addressed envelope included in the tax bill (enclose the stub part of the tax bill and write the square, suffix and lot numbers on the memo line of the check), in person at a Wachovia bank in the District of Columbia or by using OTR’s free online eCheck payment system. The eCheck payment system is convenient and easy to use, and it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at www.taxpayerservicecenter.com under “Real Property Service Center.”

If taxpayers do not receive a real property tax bill in the mail, they should call OTR’s Customer Service Center at (202) 727-4TAX (4829). Failure to receive a tax bill does not justify non-payment of taxes owed. If a tax payment is late, the property owner will be charged 1.5 percent interest for each full or partial month the payment is late and a 10 percent penalty. Properties with delinquent tax bills may be sold at the annual Tax Sale.

For more information about real property tax bills and tax relief programs, visit www.taxpayerservicecenter.com or call OTR’s Customer Service Center at  (202) 727-4TAX.