Listing Personal Property

To access a 2026 listing form:

Click Here for personal property.

Click Here for business personal property.

Listing Forms are due by 01/31/2026. A 10% fee is added to all listing forms returned with a postmark after 01/31/2026. North Carolina General Statutes requires that taxpayers owning certain personal property list that property with the Tax Assessor's office each year during the month of January.


Information on Real and Personal Property Billing

Tax Bills
Tax bills for real and personal property are mailed to all Burke County property owners in July of each year. If you do not receive your tax statement, please contact the Tax Collector’s Office during regular office hours to request a statement of taxes due. To pay your real and/or personal property taxes, Click Here.

Discount
Burke County offers a one percent discount on ad-valorem tax bills paid in July and August. Motor vehicle bills issued by the DMV do not receive a discount. All tax payments on tagged vehicles should be remitted to the DMV. Visit our Vehicles page to pay your vehicle taxes or to learn more about the DMV's Tax and Tag program.

Due Date
Taxes are due on September 1st each year. Payment without interest may be made through January 5th. Should January 5th fall on Saturday, Sunday or holiday, payment deadline is extended to the next business day. Mail payments are deemed as received as of the date affixed by the U.S. Postal Service, not a metered postmark.

Property taxes not paid in full by January 5th are subject to 2% interest, effective on January 6th, and another 0.75% interest will be accrued each month thereafter until paid. North Carolina General Statutes require local tax collectors to advertise annually all current year unpaid taxes levied on real estate in the local newspaper between March 1st and June 30th. Burke County typically publishes the Lien Advertisement the second Sunday in March each year. Each property advertised will incur a $5.00 fee.

Real Property Transfers
Real estate taxes are generally the legal obligation of the owner of record as of January 1st. However, in the case of a transfer of ownership, North Carolina Session Law now transfers the liability for unpaid taxes to the owner as of the date the taxes become past due. This means if the taxes are unpaid as of January 6th, the owner as of that date is now liable and responsible for the payment of the taxes. Ordinarily, taxes are prorated at the time of the transfer of ownership. To determine if your taxes were prorated at the time of closing, please review your closing statement or contact your realtor or closing attorney. The best way to make sure there are no surprises regarding unpaid taxes is to request that the taxes are paid upon the closing of the transaction. If current year taxes are not yet due, Burke County will accept prepayments based on the previous year's rate. When prepayments are made, additional taxes may become due if the Tax Rates had not yet been set.

Mortgage Escrow Accounts
Tax bills are only mailed to the property owner. The Tax Office will gladly provide billing information to your financial institution (or their servicing agent) at their request.


AnchorExemptions & Exclusions

There is one combined APPLICATION for the three tax relief programs listed below.

When applying for any of the following exemptions or exclusions, please send the application to us by US Mail or drop it off in our Personal Property Listings Department in person. To safeguard your personal information, we ARE NOT able to accept these applications over the internet or by email. Please, explore below for complete descriptions of the programs and their eligibility information.

Elderly or Disabled Homestead Exclusion

This exclusion is for homeowners at least aged 65 or those that are totally and permanently disabled. To qualify, the income of the homeowner and spouse must not exceed $38,800 for 2025.

Required for the disabled homestead exclusion is the, Physician Certificate of Disability Form.

(This form is NOT to be used for the Disabled Veterans Homestead Exclusion. See below for more information.)

Disabled Veterans Homestead Exclusion

This exclusion is for Honorably Discharged Disabled Veterans that are 100% totally disabled from a service-connected disability or that received benefits for specially adapted housing under 38 U.S.C. Sec. 2101. There is no income test for this exclusion.

Required for this exclusion is the Certification of Disabled Veteran's Form.

Circuit Breaker Homestead Tax Deferment Program

This program limits the amount of taxes one must pay annually on their permanent residence to a fixed percentage of their income. The amount of taxes above that percentage is deferred and does not have to be repaid until such time a disqualifying event occurs. Examples of a disqualifying event would be death, transfer of the property, or the property is no longer the taxpayer’s permanent residence. Deferred taxes that become due must be repaid including interest from the date the taxes would have originally become due. To qualify, the income of the homeowner and spouse must not exceed $58,200 annually.


Use Burke County GIS to retrieve property information:


Contact our office at 828-764-9430 for more information.