FAQs: Paying Taxes
If your taxes are current, (not delinquent) simply write a personal check made payable to the Saline County Collector and mail it to the address below. We do not accept credit card checks or temporary checks.
If your taxes are delinquent, we do not accept personal checks. We will only accept a money order, a cashier's check, cash, or pay on-line with a credit/debit card here.
Important Reminders
- Do not send cash, through the postal mail.
- Include your taxpayer ID number on your check or enclose your tax statement stub.
- If you want a PAPER RECEIPT, enclose your self-addressed stamped envelope.
- We will e-mail you a FREE receipt if you include your e-mail address on your tax statement stub.
- Remember if you mail your payment, the envelope with your tax payment must be postmarked on or before October 15 to avoid the 10% penalty.
- The Benton and Bryant Post Office close at 4:30 pm, if you mail your tax payment after 4:30 pm on the last day to pay taxes, a penalty will be applied.
MAKE CHEKCS PAYABLE TO:
SALINE County COLLECTOR
Mail to:
Saline County Collector
215 N Main St, Suite 3
Benton, AR 72015
PLEASE DO NOT SEND PAYMENT TO THE BRYANT OFFICE.
What are the hours of operation for the BENTON and BRYANT Collector's offices? 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Regular hours of operation are Monday thru Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Depending on the day of the week that the tax payment deadline of October 15 falls, the BENTON office does extend hours of operation from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. We do have a drop payment box at the Benton Office, 215 N Main Street. The drop payment box will remain open until midnight October 15.
26-35-506. Credit cards.
(a) All county collectors may accept payment of county property taxes, penalties, and associated costs by an approved credit card or debit card.
(b) (1) As authorized by subsection (a) of this section, all county collectors may enter into contracts with credit card companies and may pay the fees normally charged by those companies for allowing the county collector to accept their cards as payment. (2) (A) When a taxpayer pays his or her property taxes by an approved credit card, the county collector shall assess a service fee equal to the amount charged to the county collector by the credit card issuer. (B) This charge may be added to and become part of any underlying obligation.
We are unable to accept partial payments on delinquent taxes, those must be paid in full. However, we encourage all taxpayers to make tax payments (in any amount and at any time) between March 1 and October 15. If the tax bill is not paid in full before October 15, a 10% penalty will be applied to the balance due on October 16.
26-34-103 Liability of executor or administrator.
The personal property of any deceased person shall be liable in the hands of any executor or administrator for any tax due on the same by any testator or intestate.
AG Opinion No. 1994-022: Collectors and Sheriff Collectors are not authorized to forgive the amount due from a taxpayer. Ark. Code 26-28-111 only authorizes correction of actual and obvious errors. All taxes assess become a lien upon the property assessed and do not extinguish at the time of death of the taxpayer. Ark. Code 26-35-401, the personal property of the deceased is a liable in the hands of the administrator or executor.
26-35-401 Liability generally.
Every person holding lands as guardian, executor, or administrator and neglecting or refusing to list or pay the taxes upon them, in the manner indicated, sahll be liable to an action by his or her ward or devisee for any damage sustained by his or her neglect. (b) Every person having the care of lands as agent or attorney as indicated having funds of the principal in his or her hands, for such purpose, and neglecting or refusing to list or pay the taxes on the lands shall be liable.
26-18-201 Attempt to evade or defeat tax.
(a) Any taxpayer who willfully attemps to evade or defeat the payment of any tax, penalty, or interest due under any state tax law shall be guilty of a Class C felony. (b) Any person who willfully assists a taxpayer in evading or defeating the payment of any tax penalty, or interest due under any state tax law shall be guilty of a Class C felony.
Video Tutorial
Watch this brief video to learn more about voluntary taxes:
Saline County has three (3) voluntary taxes. A sample tax statement is attached and you will see just below the Total Mandatory, there are three voluntary taxes. 1) County Animal Care & Control, 2) The Saline County Sheriff's Law Enforcement Protection Services, 3) the Weather Warning System.
The only amount you must pay is the Total Mandatory. The three voluntary taxes are REAL NEEDS in Saline County. Attached you can view the ordinances that were passed to allow these voluntary taxes to be collected.
26-25-106 and 26-73-103 authorize the imposition and levying of voluntary taxes for the benefit of residents; and the Arkansas Attorney General in Opinion No. 94-003 has opined that a county quorum court can establish a voluntary tax by ordinance.
Saline County Tax Statement Sample.pdf
Voluntary Animal Care & Control.pdf
Real Estate and Personal Property taxes are the primary funding mechanism for our public schools. Each year, school administrators determine their budgets using the assessment values and last years tax collections. A quality education is necessary for the growth of our county. An educated workforce is a key pathway to economic success. Currently, there are 10 school districts in the county. Approximately 76.3% of the average tax bill that we collect, is paid to our local schools. That is an average of $.76 of every dollar the taxpayer pays in county taxes goes directly to fund our school's operations and teacher salaries.
All mortgage companies, that pay escrow taxes, must submit a parcel list to the Collector prior to February 1st of each year. The tax statement is then sent to them for payment. All escrowed accounts must be paid in full by the last business day in April. Most real estate property owners that have a mortgage, have an escrow with that mortgage company. The escrow, in most cases, is set up to pay the real estate taxes and homeowners' insurance. If you receive a tax bill from the tax collector for your real estate, call your mortgage company and have them call the tax collector's office at 501-303-5620. If it is not paid by the April deadline, the parcel will be put back on your tax statement.
Opinion No. 2010-042
May 27, 2010
In Ark. Ops. Att’y Gen. Nos. 90-040, 90-040A, 94-143 and 96-006, various of my predecessors opined that the collector could not accept partial payment of delinquent taxes. Although A.C.A. § 26-35-501, as amended by Act 295 of 2003, authorizes the initial payment of taxes in installments, the Code contains no parallel provision for the partial payment of delinquent taxes. In my opinion, then, the collector is not authorized to accept any such partial payment, regardless of whether the lien would continue to attach.
If the value and/or the millage have increased since the prior year, the current tax bill will be higher. Tax is calculated by multiplying the effective value times the millage.
Read Amendment 79 Here.
Amendment 79 does place a freeze on REAL ESTATE Property, but only on the assessed value and not on the millage. If the millage is voted on and passed by the PEOPLE, ALL the REAL ESTATE Tax bill increase in that school district. For more information, call the assessor at 501-303-5622.
Also, if you make substantial improvements to your property (a swimming pool, additional square footage, etc.) your taxes will go up. The assessor needs to be notified when your age is 65 for the freeze to take effect.
All forms of payment need to be made out to Saline County Tax Collector. Please note that we do not accept personal checks on delinquent accounts. Delinquent Accounts can be paid with money order, cashiers check, credit/debit card (approximately a 2.8% fee will apply) or cash in office.
It is the taxpayers responsibility to make sure their personal property and real estate taxes are paid on time. Failure to receive a statement does not excuse you from the taxes or the penalties and interest.
26-35-501. Time to pay
(1) A county collector shall assess a penalty of ten percent (10%) against all unpaid tax balances remaining after October 15 for every taxpayer other than a utility or carrier or after the prescribed dates listed in subsection (b) of this section for utilities and carriers.
(2) (A) A taxpayer paying in installments under subdivision (a)(2) of this section shall not be assessed a penalty until the taxes become due and remain unpaid after October 15. (B) However, if the last day for the payment of taxes on any installment is a Saturday, Sunday, or postal holiday, the last day to pay taxes without a penalty is the following business day.
(3) (A) A property tax balance payment is timely received under this subsection if mailed through the United States Postal Service and postmarked by October 15. (B) If October 15 is a Saturday, Sunday, or postal holiday, a property tax balance payment is timely received if mailed and postmarked through the United States Postal Service the following business day.
26-35-601. Personal property taxes to be collected with real estate taxes.
- Each collector shall be charged with collecting personal property taxes shown to be due by the taxpayer as reflected by the records in the county collector’s office at the time the taxpayer pays the general taxes due on real estate. (b) Any county collector willfully accepting payment of general real estate taxes without requiring the payment of personal property taxes due as on the records shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in a s sum not less than ($25) nor more than ($100).
- (c) (1) It is the intention of this section to require the collection of personal property taxes and prevent a tax payer from paying real estate taxes without payment of personal property taxes. (2)