BajaNomad

Property tax discount

bajafreaks - 1-26-2011 at 02:55 PM

My property taxes are now due (los cabos muni.) does anyone know how long the 20% discount applies if paying early.

karenintx - 1-26-2011 at 02:58 PM

January 31st...the hubby paid our's two weeks ago. Paid with our Capital One credit card which does not charge an international transaction fee.

[Edited on 1-26-2011 by karenintx]

bajafreaks - 1-26-2011 at 08:17 PM

Thanks Karen I'll be paying right away.

Howard - 1-26-2011 at 08:59 PM

I paid my property taxes for my properties in Loreto in very early December and got a 30% discount! Go figure.

CortezBlue - 1-26-2011 at 10:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Howard
I paid my property taxes for my properties in Loreto in very early December and got a 30% discount! Go figure.


Make sure that you keep your receipt and go back and verify that they are paid.

I was told, in BN, that I could not pay until January, as the govt. was not setup to pay them. So to verify, I went on line and tried to pay them, and in spanish it stated that the tax record was not available until Jan.

In our neighborhood this year, for the first time, they placed embargo warnings on any house that did not pay taxes. And many of the, "claimed" they had paid and had to find their facturas to go back and fight it.

Double check to be on the safe side.

grace59 - 1-27-2011 at 07:06 AM

For property in San Felipe I have paid on line. I printed off the page to show that payment was made, but the Mexicali office also emailed a receipt. I've gotten the best discount when I was there and could go into the office to pay with Pesos (I got the Pesos from the ATM for the best rate even though my bank does charge a small fee). Be sure to keep a copy of the receipt in Mexico and US just incase you need it to prove you've made the payment.

CortezBlue - 1-27-2011 at 08:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
For property in San Felipe I have paid on line. I printed off the page to show that payment was made, but the Mexicali office also emailed a receipt. I've gotten the best discount when I was there and could go into the office to pay with Pesos (I got the Pesos from the ATM for the best rate even though my bank does charge a small fee). Be sure to keep a copy of the receipt in Mexico and US just incase you need it to prove you've made the payment.


Hi Grace
I think you are at either PDO or El Dorado?
Did you see the "Embargo" forms on the electric meters where you are?
I paid my taxes in town this year as I was in town to do my FM2 and pay my electric bill. I received a 20% discount.

FYI
If you pay your annual electric bill in January, they give you a 12% discount.

bajafreaks - 1-27-2011 at 11:43 AM

This is my first time paying on line, does it normally take awhile to go thru ? I did the transaction about 2 hours ago and just checked the site as well as my credit card website and nothing ??? Be patient its Mexico ???

Bill Collector - 1-27-2011 at 05:20 PM

When I pay online I normally don't get a receipt until the next day.I have paid online for the last three years never a problem.

Woooosh - 1-27-2011 at 05:45 PM

think the discount drops to 15% for February and 10% for March payments.

Riom - 1-28-2011 at 12:03 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Woooosh
think the discount drops to 15% for February and 10% for March payments.


It's different for each municipality (and year).

For example San Felipe (Mexicali) for this year is 20% in January (was 14% last year), 10% in February, only 5% in March.

Rob

grace59 - 1-28-2011 at 06:59 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by CortezBlue
Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
For property in San Felipe I have paid on line. I printed off the page to show that payment was made, but the Mexicali office also emailed a receipt. I've gotten the best discount when I was there and could go into the office to pay with Pesos (I got the Pesos from the ATM for the best rate even though my bank does charge a small fee). Be sure to keep a copy of the receipt in Mexico and US just incase you need it to prove you've made the payment.


Hi Grace
I think you are at either PDO or El Dorado?
Did you see the "Embargo" forms on the electric meters where you are?
I paid my taxes in town this year as I was in town to do my FM2 and pay my electric bill. I received a 20% discount.

FYI
If you pay your annual electric bill in January, they give you a 12% discount.

Hi CortezBlue,
We are in El Dorado. I've not noticed any embargo forms on the meters, but there aren't many houses on our street. Next month when we are down I will have to pay closer attention. It would be crazy for someone to loose their property there for non payment of taxes...a year of taxes there will pay about a half a month's worth here in WA. In Jan. there is a person from the tax office in the El Dorado HOA office so you can go in and pay there and then give a copy of the receipt right to the HOA office. It's handy. I didn't know about the power bill discount. I will have to learn more about that. Right now we are doing an automatic payment to CFE from our Bancomer account so that we don't have any late payments. We hear that they (CFE) are pretty strict about paying on-time and not being short. Maybe we will see you at some point on our travels down...we are finally able to stay in our own home!!!

CortezBlue - 1-28-2011 at 08:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
Quote:
Originally posted by CortezBlue
Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
For property in San Felipe I have paid on line. I printed off the page to show that payment was made, but the Mexicali office also emailed a receipt. I've gotten the best discount when I was there and could go into the office to pay with Pesos (I got the Pesos from the ATM for the best rate even though my bank does charge a small fee). Be sure to keep a copy of the receipt in Mexico and US just incase you need it to prove you've made the payment.


Hi Grace
I think you are at either PDO or El Dorado?
Did you see the "Embargo" forms on the electric meters where you are?
I paid my taxes in town this year as I was in town to do my FM2 and pay my electric bill. I received a 20% discount.

FYI
If you pay your annual electric bill in January, they give you a 12% discount.

Hi CortezBlue,
We are in El Dorado. I've not noticed any embargo forms on the meters, but there aren't many houses on our street. Next month when we are down I will have to pay closer attention. It would be crazy for someone to loose their property there for non payment of taxes...a year of taxes there will pay about a half a month's worth here in WA. In Jan. there is a person from the tax office in the El Dorado HOA office so you can go in and pay there and then give a copy of the receipt right to the HOA office. It's handy. I didn't know about the power bill discount. I will have to learn more about that. Right now we are doing an automatic payment to CFE from our Bancomer account so that we don't have any late payments. We hear that they (CFE) are pretty strict about paying on-time and not being short. Maybe we will see you at some point on our travels down...we are finally able to stay in our own home!!!


Sorry, meant to say Water Bill,not Electric. When you pay in advance for annual water, you get a 12% discount. Granted it is only 66.00 bucks, so not a bunch, however, I pay someone do pay my bills and they charge me 50 pesos per bill, so it really saves me on a month to month basis.
I am going to open a bank account when we go down in Feb. So does CFE just take the payment out of your account or do you have to pay online?

woody with a view - 1-28-2011 at 09:01 AM

wow. they give you a discount for paying your taxes?

why?

do they charge you extra to cover the discount in the end?

longlegsinlapaz - 1-28-2011 at 01:04 PM

Woody, I think all municipalities tend to run out of budget toward the end of the year, but they still have to pay salaries & aguinaldo (Christmas bonuses). By offering early payment discounts, it serves two purposes....it encourages payment of a lot of taxes many of the locals couldn't otherwise afford to pay & it brings in much needed money to finish out the year in wages & bonuses & other operating expenses.

It's apparent that different areas offer much different discount terms. I can only tell you historically what La Paz has done:

Oct......40% (first time ever was in 2010!)
Nov.....35% (fairly common)
Dec.....30% (most common)
Jan......20% (fairly common)
Feb.....10%
Mar......Payment due in full & no discount

It seems like there's a direct correlation between how early the taxes are calculated & the financial health of the area. I know that La Paz ran out of money really early this year & it's also the first time in my 11-year history here that they got the taxes calculated in October & offered an previously unheard of 40% discount if paid by the last day of Oct. The steeper the discount, the more crowded the office is! In Oct. 2010, there was one individual at the counter when I walked in who had to have been elected to make the trip to town for an entire community, because there was a stack of forms on the floor that had to be for over 150-200 individual property tax bills! The clerk had to load a new box of the continuous feed forms mid-stream! They were just starting to separate their copy & stamp each individual customer form "PAID" when I left over an hour later! That guy shoulda had an armed escort for the big bucks he had to be carrying! :lol:

I think the philosophy is "A whole lot of something is better than a little bit of the whole....or nada!" Everyone benefits....the municipality get a stronger revenue stream than if there were no discount & we all get to save a little money, depending on what month we chose to pay.:bounce: And yes, there is a late charge if not paid by the end of March, but I can't tell you what it is....I sincerely doubt its as high as the discount rates for early payment.

longlegsinlapaz - 1-28-2011 at 01:36 PM

The municipality must still be desperate for funds! This doesn't bode well for the 2011 budget! :( Thanks for the corrected information, I stopped paying attention since I paid in October! ;)

grace59 - 1-28-2011 at 08:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CortezBlue
Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
Quote:
Originally posted by CortezBlue
Quote:
Originally posted by grace59
For property in San Felipe I have paid on line. I printed off the page to show that payment was made, but the Mexicali office also emailed a receipt. I've gotten the best discount when I was there and could go into the office to pay with Pesos (I got the Pesos from the ATM for the best rate even though my bank does charge a small fee). Be sure to keep a copy of the receipt in Mexico and US just incase you need it to prove you've made the payment.


Hi Grace
I think you are at either PDO or El Dorado?
Did you see the "Embargo" forms on the electric meters where you are?
I paid my taxes in town this year as I was in town to do my FM2 and pay my electric bill. I received a 20% discount.

FYI
If you pay your annual electric bill in January, they give you a 12% discount.

Hi CortezBlue,
We are in El Dorado. I've not noticed any embargo forms on the meters, but there aren't many houses on our street. Next month when we are down I will have to pay closer attention. It would be crazy for someone to loose their property there for non payment of taxes...a year of taxes there will pay about a half a month's worth here in WA. In Jan. there is a person from the tax office in the El Dorado HOA office so you can go in and pay there and then give a copy of the receipt right to the HOA office. It's handy. I didn't know about the power bill discount. I will have to learn more about that. Right now we are doing an automatic payment to CFE from our Bancomer account so that we don't have any late payments. We hear that they (CFE) are pretty strict about paying on-time and not being short. Maybe we will see you at some point on our travels down...we are finally able to stay in our own home!!!


Sorry, meant to say Water Bill,not Electric. When you pay in advance for annual water, you get a 12% discount. Granted it is only 66.00 bucks, so not a bunch, however, I pay someone do pay my bills and they charge me 50 pesos per bill, so it really saves me on a month to month basis.
I am going to open a bank account when we go down in Feb. So does CFE just take the payment out of your account or do you have to pay online?

We just went to the bank and gave them our CFE account number and they set it up for us right there. Now it comes out of our account automatically each month. We did this through the new Bancomer. They have a "preferred customer" rep who speaks English. It was quick and easy.

larryC - 1-29-2011 at 07:50 AM

I recently tried to pay my property taxes at the Delagation office. When the gal typed in the number it came back as "sin precio". I paid last year so there should be a record of it. She told me to try again in February. Could someone post the website address where you can do it on-line?
Thanks
Larry