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Texas property tax is due by January 31. In 2027, January 31 is a Sunday. Travis County's Tax Office says that when the date lands on a weekend or holiday, the delinquency date moves to the next business day, which makes the last penalty-free day for 2026 taxes Monday, February 1, 2027. After that day the bill starts to grow, and it grows every month until July.
Bills for tax year 2026 can go out starting October 1, so this is the week they begin to land. Here is the schedule, what the penalty costs, and two details that catch people: how mail is postmarked now, and who is eligible to pay in installments. For what each taxing unit charges, see our October 14 breakdown of the five rates on an Austin address.
The dates that matter
The Travis County Tax Office keeps a year-round important dates page. These are the ones that bear on a 2026 bill:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Oct. 1, 2026 | Collection period begins; bills may start mailing, and email delivery through the office's eBill is the fastest route |
| Dec. 31, 2026 | Last day to pay if you need a paid receipt for IRS purposes, per the Tax Office |
| Jan. 31, 2027 (a Sunday) | The posted last day to pay without penalty or interest; on a weekend it moves to the next business day |
| Mon., Feb. 1, 2027 | Unpaid taxes without a payment plan are delinquent and penalty and interest begin |
| July 1, 2027 | Penalty on unpaid taxes reaches 12% |
The December 31 line is about your federal return, not the county. Whether paying in December matters for you depends on your own tax situation, so ask a tax professional.
What waiting costs
The county publishes the schedule on its penalties and interest page. It follows Texas Tax Code section 33.01: a 6 percent penalty in the first month, one more point for each month before July 1, then 12 percent flat from July 1, plus 1 percent interest for each month or part of a month. The Tax Office says it has no authority to remove penalty and interest.
The dollar columns are our arithmetic on an illustrative $6,000 bill. They are not the bill for any particular home.
| Paid in | Penalty | Interest | Total | On $6,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | 6% | 1% | 7% | $420 |
| March | 7% | 2% | 9% | $540 |
| April | 8% | 3% | 11% | $660 |
| May | 9% | 4% | 13% | $780 |
| June | 10% | 5% | 15% | $900 |
| July | 12% | 6% | 18% | $1,080 |
The first month is the steepest step in relative terms: missing the deadline by one day costs 7 percent. After that each month adds two points until July, when the penalty jumps from 10 to 12 percent.
The postmark catch
Paying by mail has a trap. In a January 28, 2026 release, the Tax Office explained that since August 2025 the Postal Service postmarks an envelope when it reaches a regional processing center, not when you hand it over. Texas law makes the postmark date the payment date. The office reported about a three-day gap between the date on a check and its postmark, and recommended handing the envelope to a postal clerk and asking for a hand cancellation.
That was last winter's guidance. Postal practice can change, so check the Tax Office's current page before you rely on it. The simplest way around the question is to pay online at TravisCountyTax.org. The same release described an eCheck option at a $1 fee with an immediate receipt; confirm the current fee when you pay.
Installments: who they are for
Texas lets some homeowners pay a bill in four equal parts without penalty. Travis County's January release describes it for homeowners who are 65 or older, disabled, or disabled veterans and who have a homestead exemption, plus homeowners whose homestead was damaged in a declared disaster. The important dates page lists the payment dates as March 31, May 31 and July 31 after the first quarter.
Here the county's own pages do not agree on one point. The January release says to enroll before January 31. The important dates page lists February 28 as the last day to enroll with a letter of intent and the first quarter paid. We could not reconcile the two, so if you think you qualify, enroll early and call the office rather than counting on the later date.
Our research database can say how large the group is on the roll, with one caution. The number below counts exemption records on the appraisal roll. It does not count installment enrollments, and it says nothing about which homes will use the option.
| Measure | Houses | Share of all houses |
|---|---|---|
| One-family houses with an Austin situs city (state class A1) | 188,600 | 100% |
| With a residence homestead exemption | 150,195 | 79.6% |
| Homestead plus a 65-and-older or disability exemption record | 53,340 | 28.3% |
About one in four Austin houses on the roll has a homestead exemption and a 65-and-older or disability record, which makes the installment option relevant to a lot of bills. It is a count of records, not people, and we do not break it down by area. For how the homestead exemption itself reaches new owners, see our October 21 analysis.
What this means if you're buying or selling here
If you are buying: the bill that arrives after a closing reflects the exemptions on the property as of January 1, and the tax is usually split between buyer and seller at closing. Our October 1 piece walks through how that split works. If your lender pays taxes from an escrow account, the Tax Office says you can check the payment status and receipts online.
If you are selling: the Tax Office says a tax lien attaches to a property on January 1 to secure that year's taxes, penalties and interest. Ask your title company how an open bill is handled at closing, and pay before the deadline if you can so no penalty is in the picture.
If you own and rent the house out: the deadline and penalty schedule are the same. There is no installment option tied to a rental, since it depends on a homestead exemption.
This is general information, not advice about your bill. For a specific question, call the Travis County Tax Office or a tax professional.
How we counted
Austin Local Team analysis of Travis Central Appraisal District 2026 roll records, loaded into our research database on October 7, 2026 (the parcel layer was last assembled October 5). We kept one record per property classified by TCAD as state class A1 with an Austin situs city, then counted the residence homestead flag and, among those, the over-65 or disability exemption flags. Percentages are rounded to one decimal. Penalty dollar figures multiply the county's published percentages by a round $6,000.
To see what the 2026 rates and your appraisal do to a specific address, our property tax analyzer is the place to start, and a local agent can explain a closing statement line by line.