Tax Office

Our tax office is located across the street from the Jr. High Campus and next door to the Kubacak Elementary Campus. During the school year there is a lot of traffic between the hours of 3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Please note you can make payments over the phone, online, or by mail. We also have a drop box located by the front door of the tax office if you would like to drop off your payments after hours or on the weekend. 

Taxes are always due on or before January 31:

Taxes become delinquent on February 1, therefore never wait for a tax bill to pay taxes. Section 31.01, Texas Tax Code states that failure to receive a tax bill is not grounds for waiver of penalty and interest and will not affect validity of the due date. Many taxpayers pay by December 31 for income tax purposes. Should the last day of month fall on a weekend or holiday, payments will be accepted the next business day.

Tax bills are usually mailed the same time each year. If you have not received a tax bill by December seek out the information. How do you do that?  You can print a bill from our website www.texaspayments.com. or call the tax office 409-925-9040. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Santa Fe ISD is a separate taxing entity from the Galveston County Tax Office. The two taxing entities have the same account number because this is your property account number. It is how the property is identified. The Galveston County Tax Office collects taxes for the County, City of Santa Fe, Road & Flood, Drainage District #1, EMS District #1, and College of the Mainland. The Santa Fe ISD Tax Office collects for the school and the water district, WCID #8.

No. When you turn 65 you receive an additional exemption that helps lower and freeze the amount of tax that you pay, but it does not eliminate the tax.

In some cases, if the exemption amount is greater than the property value there may not be a tax for that property.

Once you receive your tax statement in October you can make partial payments on the current taxes up until January 31st. The balance will be due by January 31st unless you are set up to pay quarterly. 

Installment payments for taxpayers with a disabled person or over 65 exemptions on their homestead, may pay the taxes in four equal installments. Payments are due as follows:

• 1st payment due by January 31
• 2nd payment due by March 31
• 3rd payment due by May 31
• 4th payment due by July 31

As long as the installment payments are paid on time, no fees or penalties will be added to the payment. 

Ownership Records and Mailing Address
Please note that tax offices are required to mail tax bills to the "address of record" maintained by the property's county appraisal office. If you are the new owner of a property, or there is an ownership error
including misspellings, or you need to change a mailing address you must contact the county appraisal district office of the property.

The appraisal district is the only authority to change property tax records, not the individual tax offices. The tax office cannot add, remove or correct owners or mailing addresses without a certified tax roll from the appraisal district.  The tax office may get a tax roll once a month or sometimes
longer depending on the time of year.  

Please note that a post office change of address is not acceptable. They often have time limits and may expire before appraisal notices or tax bills are mailed.  

If taxes are due, never wait for an ownership change to pay. Avoid any penalty and interest being added to the account by paying the tax bill on time. Taxes are due on or before January 31, no matter whose name is on the bill. 

Taxes Paid by Mortgage or Tax Service

In the State of Texas all mortgage companies or tax service providers are required to request the tax bill(s) annually, even if they have requested them in the past.

If the mortgage company requests the tax bill, the tax bill will be sent to the mortgage company not to the property owner. If the mortgage company did not request the bill by September 30, the tax bill will be mailed to the property owner. If you have received a tax bill that is to be paid by the mortgage company, write your loan number on the bill and forward it to your mortgage company’s loan escrow department. If yours is a new account or a refinance, the mortgage company may not have had your account information in time to request a bill before the deadline. All mortgage companies have 24/7 access to our website.

We do not contact mortgage companies about delinquent taxes.