Assessments can be e-filed starting Jan. 1

The St. Francois County Assessor’s Office will be making a couple changes to assessments this year. One will be allowing residents to e-file their personal property taxes online. As of Jan. 1 residents will be able to make changes or corrections to their personal property tax documents.

St. Francois County Assessor’s Office Director of Personal Property Susie Skaggs said they are launching a new e-filing system with Vanguard Appraisal Systems in 2016.

“The site will be up and running and taxpayers will have the option to report their personal property on an assessment list from the convenience of their computer or smartphone,” said Skaggs. “It’s more convenient to taxpayers and it will also aid in creating better time management in the assessor’s office.”

There will be benefits to taxpayers if they file online, which includes saving time, cost of a stamp, and not worrying if it got lost in the mail.

E-filed lists marked as the same as last year with no changes won’t have to be touched, sorted out or scanned into the system. The e-file software will automatically send the e-filed lists to each individual taxpayers account marked complete and done. That alone will save taxpayers’ dollars.

“The e-file site is very user friendly, I have even tested it myself, along with several other staff members to report our own property,” said Skaggs. “It walks you through step-by-step, if you can pay a bill or use the ATM, you can e-file your personal property online.”

The assessor’s office will send every taxpayer who has an active account a paper assessment list. From there, residents will have the option of reporting in paper form or e-file. If the e-file option is chosen, an account number and PIN number will be needed, which will be clearly noticeable and highlighted on the front of the assessment list.

“It is our hope that every year more folks will start using the e-file,” said Skaggs. “I think this is going to be a win-win all around. There are several other counties in Missouri that are using e-file already and we are hearing positive feedback from them. We are excited to see all the benefits it will bring to our department.”

Another thing the assessor’s office is implementing is a new assessment list because of the fast rate of growth they have had in the county in recent years.

“The personal property workload has increased and it has motivated us to make some changes in our department to better and more efficiently serve the residents of the county,” said Skaggs. “The formatting on the new assessment lists will be different. The paper size will be longer with quite a bit more detailed information printed on the list.”

Skaggs said they don’t want people to get overwhelmed when they see the new list for the first time and wonder if they will get it filled out correctly.

“We want the taxpayers to know that if they need help with completing their form, we are more than happy to assist them,” said Skaggs. “All of our ladies in the front office go above and beyond to serve. Anyone can stop in, call or e-mail and we will accommodate you.”

For more information or for help filling out the new forms or accessing e-file contact the assessor’s office at 573-756-1878.

The St. Francois County Assessor’s Office will be offering e-filing as an option with personal property taxes as of Jan. 1. A special “PIN number” will be located on each assessment, which will enable residents to file or make changes online.

Renee Bronaugh is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3617 or rbronaugh@dailyjournalonline.com