The automated payment program is a great opportunity for residents and businesses to pay their taxes in small, regular installments instead of receiving a bill for the entire amount right before the due date. If you worry about being able to pay your tax bill on time, this is a good alternative and can help prevent you from becoming delinquent. Payment plans are also available once you become delinquent, but that is a different program and does not prevent the addition of penalty and interest.
Fairfax County currently offers an automated payment program for the payment of vehicle, real estate taxes, and business tangible property. Participation in this program authorizes Fairfax County to deduct funds directly from a checking or savings account based on a predetermined amount and schedule. To participate, all taxes must be current prior to enrollment. The deductions will continue as authorized until notified by the participant, in writing, to make a change to the plan, or to terminate the plan entirely. In addition, any tax balance that your automated payments will not cover by the due date must be paid on time separately. You will be sent a bill for any such balance.
There is no service charge or fee to make payments with the automated payment program.
To enroll, please use the Automated Installment Application form.
It's also available from our forms page, along with a variety of other tax forms and information regarding usage.
Fairfax County offers multiple payment schedules. You may select either monthly, quarterly, or lump-sum deductions. Deductions will occur on either the 1st or 15th of the month. Lump-sum deductions will be scheduled on the due date of the respective tax types (Oct. 5 for vehicle taxes and July 28 and Dec. 5 for real estate).
Transactions may not appear on your bank statement for 2-3 business days after the scheduled deduction date.
For real estate taxes, if your tax bill has been paid in full for a given year, any subsequent deductions made will be held and applied to the next year’s taxes, unless otherwise requested.
For personal property taxes, any overpayment will be refunded.
All requests to stop or change the automated payment program must be submitted in writing. If you no longer own a property, please let us know at DTAEFT@fairfaxcounty.gov.
Participation in an automated payment plan does not prevent a bill from being mailed to you, as our bills include other pertinent information besides payment information.
Real Estate tax bills reflect the total amount of payments made before the bill was created and projects scheduled payments to be made between the creation of the bill and the due date. The projected payments are reflected in the balance due reported at the bottom of your bill.
Currently, personal property payments only reflect payments made on the property up to the date that the bill was created.
Please feel free to contact us by email (DTAEFT@fairfaxcounty.gov) or by phone (703-222-8234
) if you have questions. Any requests for changes must be submitted in writing, so email is the best option for fast and easy assistance regarding your automated payment program.