When you can’t pay your Long Island property tax bill on time

Nassau penalties are billed by the Town Receiver of Taxes (Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay, or Glen Cove / Long Beach for cities). The schedule below is from the Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes (the other towns are substantively the same):

First-half school tax (due November 10):

• Nov 11–30: 2% penalty
• Dec: 3%
• Jan: 4%
• Feb: 5%
• Mar: 6%
• Apr: 7%
• May: 8%

Second-half school tax (due May 10):

• May 11–31: 2%
• After May 31: tax is closed at the town — must be paid to Nassau County Treasurer with additional county penalties + interest.

First-half general (county/town/special districts) (due February 10):

• Feb 11–28: 2%
• March: 3%
• April: 4%
• May: 5%
• June: 6%
• July: 7%
• August: 8%

Second-half general (due August 10): similar 2%-per-month escalation; after Aug 31 the tax moves to the county.

Once the tax moves to the Nassau County Treasurer (after the town collection period closes), the rate compounds rather than adding a flat percentage — expect 10–12% effective interest annualized.

Suffolk bills come from the Town Receiver in each of the 10 Suffolk towns (Babylon, Brookhaven, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton, Southold). The pattern, sourced from the Suffolk County Comptroller:

• First-half due January 10: no penalty if paid by Jan 10.
• Jan 11 onward: 1% per month penalty on the first half, payable to the town.
• Second-half due May 10: payable up to May 31 with the same monthly accruing penalty.
• After May 31: everything moves to the Suffolk County Comptroller. A flat 5% penalty is added, plus interest accruing from February 1.
• Comptroller-level interest: 5% (June) → 6% (July) → 7% (August) → 8% (Sept) → 9% (Oct) → 10% (Nov) → 11% (Dec).
• After August 31: a tax-sale advertising fee is added.
• November / December: the county holds a tax lien sale on parcels still unpaid.

The town-level penalty is mild (1% per month). The Comptroller-level penalty is where it accelerates. If you can pay by May 31, you save real money vs. letting it slip to June and beyond.

Both counties accept partial payments and have informal flexibility, especially in month 1–3. Your levers:

1. Pay what you can, as soon as you can. Partial payments reduce the base on which the monthly penalty is calculated. Even paying half today and half in 60 days is much cheaper than paying nothing now and the full amount in 60 days.
2. Use a credit card. Both counties accept card payments online (with a convenience fee, typically 2.5–2.95% of the payment amount). If your card has a lower APR than the accumulating penalty + interest, it can be cheaper to charge the bill and pay the card down over a few months. Compare carefully: a 2.5% convenience fee + 24% card APR is still much cheaper than 12–15% county interest if you pay off the card in a few months.
3. HELOC or home equity loan. If you have equity, a HELOC at 7–9% is cheaper than letting the county compound at 10–15%. The application takes weeks though, so this only works if you start early. Beware of HELOC closing costs.
4. Ask about a formal payment plan. Neither county publishes a standardized hardship plan, but both treasurers/comptrollers can work with you informally if you call before the lien sale. Nassau Treasurer: (516) 571-2090. Suffolk Comptroller: (631) 852-3000.
5. Apply for a senior or hardship exemption you may have missed. A retroactive senior or disability exemption can sometimes reduce the underlying bill enough to make the catch-up feasible. See senior exemption + disability exemption.
6. NY State HAF (Homeowner Assistance Fund). NY State runs a federally-funded homeowner-assistance program (post-COVID) that covers up to $50,000 of property tax delinquency for qualifying low-to-moderate income households. Check current availability at nyhomeownerfund.org. The program has paused and resumed several times — enrollment depends on funding cycles.

Both counties hold an annual tax lien sale, usually in November–December (Suffolk) or fall (Nassau). At the sale, the county sells a lien on your property — not the property itself. The buyer of the lien pays the county the back taxes, and in exchange gets the right to collect that amount plus interest from you.

Critical: you do not lose your home at the lien sale. You retain ownership. The lien buyer is in line to collect, but you still have a 12-month redemption window (NY RPTL § 1110) during which you can pay off the lien plus interest and clear the cloud on title.

If you don’t redeem within the redemption period — typically 12 months but it can extend — the lien buyer can begin foreclosure proceedings. Even at that point, NY State law gives you additional notice and opportunities to redeem. From the original missed payment to actually losing the property usually takes 24–30 months minimum, often longer.

This timing matters: it means you have real runway to fix the problem, but you also accumulate significant interest the whole way. Sooner = cheaper.

If you got behind once, three things to check before next year:

• Is your escrow correctly funded? If your mortgage has an escrow account, the school bill should never reach you directly. If it did, your escrow analysis was wrong or your servicer missed a payment. See our escrow shortage explainer.
• Are you over-assessed? If your bill is high compared to comparable homes, file a grievance. Reducing the bill permanently is the most durable fix. See the grievance overview and cost guide.
• Are you claiming every exemption? Basic STAR is automatic for new owners as a credit; Enhanced STAR (65+, income-tested), senior, veterans, volunteer firefighter, disability exemptions all require active applications. Each missed exemption is $300–1,500/yr in unnecessary bills. See the exemption guides on this site.