Mortgage Escrow Accounts

Get information on property taxes that are included in escrow accounts. Find out how most mortgage companies access tax bill data and when payments are normally received by the tax office.

Taxes paid through Escrow

The majority of lenders access and retrieve tax data directly through tax office files online.  This practice eliminates the need for a paper copy of the bill to be sent to the mortgage company.

Most mortgage companies contract with a tax service to handle the processing and payment of tax bills.  Although a mortgage company may forward escrow funds to the tax service as early as August, the tax service does not normally remit payment to the County until December.

Mortgage companies not using a tax service also generally wait until December before remitting payment. The County applies payments as they are received.

Please be advised that even if the taxes are to be paid from an escrow account, the property owner remains responsible for ensuring timely payment of the bill.

In an effort to reduce operating costs, the Department of Tax Administration will not mail real estate tax bills to property owners whose prior year bill was electronically paid by a mortgage lender. Lenders are provided with access to the tax office files and can retrieve billing information for their serviced properties.

If you would like a copy of your billing statement, it is available for printing through our Online Tax Bill Search - https://services.wake.gov/ptax/main/billing/ beginning in July of each year.