Mississippi Property Tax: Rates, Homestead Exemption, and Appeals

Mississippi property tax is calculated by multiplying your property’s assessed value by the local millage rate set each year by your county, school district, and city. Assessed value is a fixed percentage of market value that depends on how the property is classified: 10 percent for an owner-occupied home, 15 percent for rental property, commercial buildings, vacant land, and business equipment, and 30 percent for motor vehicles. Bills are due by February 1, and most homeowners can claim a homestead exemption that either trims up to $300 off the bill or, for owners 65 and older or totally disabled, wipes it out entirely.

How Your Tax Bill Is Calculated

Two numbers drive the bill: the assessed value of the property and the combined millage rate where it sits.

The Mississippi Constitution sorts all taxable property into classes and sets a different assessment ratio for each.¹ The ones most people deal with:

Class I, assessed at 10 percent of true value, covers single-family owner-occupied homes used as a primary residence.
Class II, assessed at 15 percent, covers everything else that counts as real property: rental houses, second homes, vacant land, and commercial buildings.
Class III, assessed at 15 percent, covers business personal property such as furniture, fixtures, equipment, and machinery.²
Class V, assessed at 30 percent, covers motor vehicles. Vehicle tax is handled by the county tax collector at registration renewal, not through a separate tax bill.³

The county tax assessor sets a true (market) value for each parcel, then applies the class ratio. A home with a true value of $200,000 that you live in has an assessed value of $20,000. The same home used as a rental sits in Class II and is assessed at $30,000.¹

Millage is the other half. One mill equals $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value, and rates are set annually by the Board of Supervisors, school district, and any municipal taxing authority. At a combined 100 mills, that $20,000 assessed homestead produces a $2,000 bill before any exemption. Current rates by county and city are posted in the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s property tax data.⁴

The Homestead Exemption

Mississippi gives homeowners a break on the home they live in, but you have to apply. The county does not add it to your bill automatically.⁵

Under 65 and Not Disabled

Regular homestead gives you a graduated credit against your tax bill that maxes out at $300 per year once your assessed value hits $7,351.⁶ It is a direct credit, not a deduction from value, so the $300 ceiling is the real-world benefit on most homes.

65 or Older, or Totally Disabled

Once you turn 65 or qualify as totally disabled, the exemption fully removes the assessed value of your homestead from taxation. This expanded benefit has been in place since January 1, 2015, and extends to unremarried surviving spouses of qualifying homeowners.⁶ Separate full exemptions apply to unremarried surviving spouses of service members killed on active duty and, starting in 2025, to honorably discharged veterans who have reached age 90.⁷

Applying

You must own and occupy the home as your primary residence on January 1 of the year you are claiming. You and your spouse also have to comply with Mississippi income tax law; claiming residency in another state for income tax purposes disqualifies you.⁵ File the application at your county tax assessor’s office between January 1 and April 1.² Bring proof of age or medical documentation of total disability if you are claiming the senior or disability tier. Miss April 1, and you wait a full year.

When the Bill Is Due

Property taxes are due on or before February 1 following the assessment year. If February 1 falls on a weekend or holiday, you have until the next Monday.⁸ Payment goes to the county tax collector by mail, in person at the courthouse, or online in most counties. Online portals ask for your parcel number and typically add a convenience fee of around 2 percent for credit cards.

Some counties offer a partial payment plan. Where it is available, half the tax is due by February 1, a quarter by May 1, and the final quarter by July 1. Anything still owed on August 1 sends the property to tax sale on the last Monday in August.⁸ Not every county participates, so call your tax collector before counting on it.

Once February 1 passes, interest runs at 1 percent per month on unpaid taxes. Keep the receipt. You will want it for closings and for any later dispute.

Appealing an Assessment You Think Is Too High

If the assessor’s value looks wrong, the one place to challenge it is the county Board of Supervisors. The board convenes on the first Monday of August each year to hear objections to the assessment rolls, and it keeps meeting day to day until every objection has been resolved or taken under advisement. Any matter taken under advisement gets a final order by the first Monday of September.²

File your objection by the first Monday of August. Bring comparable sales from your neighborhood, any recent appraisal, and photographs showing condition problems. The board has power to raise or lower any valuation so that similar properties are treated the same. Skip this window and you are generally stuck with the assessment for the year. Your county chancery clerk can walk you through the local filing procedure.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Mississippi moves quickly on delinquent property. After August 5, the tax collector advertises every parcel with unpaid taxes for two consecutive weeks in a local newspaper, and the sale takes place on the last Monday of August at the courthouse or through an online auction platform.⁹ Investors bid by paying the delinquent taxes, interest, and fees on each parcel.

A tax sale does not immediately take your home. You have two years from the sale date to redeem the property by paying the chancery clerk the back taxes, all costs from the sale, a 5 percent damage fee on the taxes owed, and interest at 1.5 percent per month on the total from the date of sale. Costs that accrue after the sale also draw the same 1.5 percent monthly interest.¹⁰ The charges stack fast. A $2,000 delinquency can cost well over $3,000 to redeem by the end of two years.

Before the redemption period runs out, the chancery clerk has to notify you through several channels between 180 and 60 days before the deadline, including attempted personal service by a sheriff or constable, certified or registered mail, and newspaper publication at least 45 days before expiration. Mortgage holders get their own certified notice. Courts enforce these notice rules strictly; if the clerk fails to complete every required form of notice, the sale can be voided. If you do not redeem in time and notice was properly given, the purchaser applies for a tax deed and ownership transfers permanently.¹⁰

If You Own a Business

Property tax in Mississippi is not limited to real estate. Business furniture, fixtures, equipment, and machinery are taxable as Class III personal property at 15 percent of true value, reported to the county tax assessor and taxed at the same millage rates that apply to real property.² A $50,000 piece of equipment is assessed at $7,500; multiply by your local millage to find the annual tax. Business vehicles are handled separately as Class V at 30 percent of true value and paid through registration.³

1
FindLaw. Mississippi Constitution Art. 4, Section 112 – Taxation
2
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Property Tax Frequently Asked Questions
3
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Motor Vehicle Ad Valorem Taxes
4
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Property Tax Data
5
Mississippi Department of Revenue. Homestead Exemption
6
Justia. Mississippi Code Title 27 Chapter 33 Article 1 Section 27-33-75
7
Justia. Mississippi Code Title 27 Chapter 33 Article 1 Section 27-33-67
8
Justia. Mississippi Code Title 27 Chapter 41 General Provisions Section 27-41-1
9
Justia. Mississippi Code Title 27 Chapter 41 General Provisions Section 27-41-55
10
Justia. Mississippi Code Title 27 Chapter 45 Section 27-45-3