Pulaski County Property Tax: Credits, Deadlines, and Appeals

Pulaski County property tax is calculated by applying your local millage rate to 20% of your property’s market value, with real estate bills due between the first business day of March and October 15 each year. A home worth $200,000, for example, is taxed on an assessed value of $40,000, and the total you owe depends on the combined county, city, school district, and improvement levies at your address.¹ Several credits and exemptions can reduce the bill, and missing the October 15 deadline triggers an automatic 10% penalty.

How Your Bill Is Calculated

Two numbers drive every property tax bill in Pulaski County: assessed value and millage rate. Arkansas law requires all real and personal property to be assessed at 20% of true market value.¹ The Assessor’s office sets that market value using comparable sales, property characteristics, and periodic county-wide reappraisals. A home with a market value of $250,000 has an assessed value of $50,000.²

The millage rate is then applied to that assessed value. One mill equals one-tenth of one percent, or $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. A 50-mill rate on $50,000 in assessed value produces a $2,500 tax bill. Millage is not uniform across the county. Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, and other municipalities each carry their own voter-approved levies for schools, infrastructure, and debt service, so two houses with identical market values can owe very different amounts depending on which side of a boundary line they sit on.

Assessment Caps After Reappraisal

Amendment 79 to the Arkansas Constitution limits how fast assessed values can rise after a county-wide reappraisal. For a primary residence, the assessed value cannot increase by more than 5% per year. For all other real property, the annual cap is 10%. These caps apply only to increases from reappraisal. New construction and substantial improvements are assessed at full value right away.³

Personal Property Is Taxed Too

Arkansas taxes personal property in addition to real estate, which catches many new residents off guard. Between January 1 and May 31 each year, you must report your taxable personal property to the Assessor’s office. Filing after May 31 adds a 10% late assessment penalty to whatever tax you owe.⁴

Taxable personal property includes:

Cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, and boats that must be licensed in Arkansas
Motor homes, travel trailers, and campers
Business inventory, furniture, computers, tools, and heavy equipment
Farm tractors, implements, and mobile irrigation systems

Personal property is assessed at 20% of value, and vehicles are typically valued using standard depreciation schedules rather than individual appraisals.⁵

Credits and Exemptions That Lower Your Bill

Homestead Tax Credit

If you own and occupy a home as your primary residence, you can receive a homestead tax credit of up to $600 per year applied directly to your real estate tax bill. If your bill is less than $600, you owe nothing, but the leftover credit does not roll over or transfer to another property.⁶ You apply once through the Assessor’s office, and the credit renews automatically each year as long as you remain in the home.

Assessment Freeze at 65 or With a Disability

Homeowners who are 65 or older, or who have a qualifying disability, can lock in the assessed value of their primary residence. Once the freeze takes effect, the assessed value stays the same even as market values rise around you. The freeze is tied to the assessed value at the time you turn 65 or become disabled, whichever is later.³

One detail trips people up: the millage rate is not frozen. If voters approve a new levy, your bill can still rise slightly, just not because of rising property values. The freeze remains in place as long as you own and live in the home.⁷

Disabled Veteran Exemption

Veterans with a 100% service-connected permanent and total disability, or who receive special monthly compensation for the loss or loss of use of a limb or for total blindness, are exempt from all state property taxes on their homestead and personal property. The exemption covers the home occupied as a primary residence and up to 40 contiguous acres not used commercially. Unmarried surviving spouses and minor dependent children of qualifying veterans also receive the exemption.⁸

To claim it, submit a Summary of Benefits letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Pulaski County Treasurer’s office. As of 2025, that letter only needs to be submitted once, with no annual renewal, as long as you report status changes such as remarriage, relocation, or a change in disability rating. Veterans receiving this exemption are not eligible for the homestead credit or the age 65 freeze, since the full exemption already eliminates the tax.⁹

Payment Deadline and How to Pay

Real estate and personal property taxes are due between the first business day of March and October 15. Anything unpaid after October 15 is delinquent, and the Treasurer’s office adds a 10% penalty to the outstanding balance. That penalty applies even if you never received a bill in the mail. The obligation runs with the property, not the piece of paper.¹⁰

You have three ways to pay:

Online through the Pulaski County Treasurer’s payment portal, using your Parcel ID for real estate or your account number for personal property. Credit and debit card payments carry a vendor processing fee, while electronic checks are $0.25 per transaction.¹¹
By mail, with a check or money order sent to the Treasurer’s office along with your tax bill stub for proper account credit. The current mailing address appears on your statement and the Treasurer’s website.¹²
In person at the Treasurer’s office in the Pulaski County Courthouse, which accepts cash, checks, and money orders.

Keep your receipt after paying. It serves as proof for vehicle registration and can settle disputes if the payment takes a few business days to appear in public records.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Ignoring a Pulaski County tax bill starts an escalating process that can end with losing the property. The 10% penalty applies the day after October 15.¹⁰ If taxes remain unpaid for a full year, the Treasurer can certify the property to the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, which effectively transfers ownership to the state.

The Commissioner then notifies the owner and anyone with a lien or recorded interest in the property. After proper notice, the property is advertised and sold at public auction to the highest bidder. If no acceptable bids come in, the Commissioner can sell it directly through post-sale procedures. Original owners and lien holders have two years after a sale to the state, or any time before the Commissioner sells the property, to redeem it by paying all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and fees.¹³

The redemption math gets ugly fast. You owe the original tax, the 10% penalty, accumulated interest, and administrative costs. For most homeowners, paying late, even borrowing to do it, costs far less than trying to redeem a certified property or losing it at auction.

Appealing an Assessment You Think Is Wrong

If the Assessor’s office overvalued your property, you have the right to challenge that assessment. The process has two stages: an informal review and a formal appeal.

Start by contacting the Assessor’s office and requesting an informal review. Bring documentation showing why the assessed value is too high: recent sales of comparable homes in your neighborhood, a professional appraisal, photos of property condition problems, or proof that the Assessor has incorrect data on file such as wrong square footage or inaccurate lot size. Comparable sales from the past 6 to 12 months carry the most weight. General complaints about high taxes or estimates from consumer real estate websites will not move the needle.¹⁴

If the informal review does not resolve the issue, file a formal appeal with the County Board of Equalization, which hears appeals during the summer and early fall. If you remain unsatisfied after the Board rules, the next step is an appeal to the county court, which must be filed on or before the second Monday in October. The county court must hear and decide the appeal by November 15. You cannot skip the Board of Equalization and go directly to county court. That remedy must be exhausted first.¹⁵

1
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Property Tax FAQs
2
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-26-1202 – Valuation Procedures
3
Justia. Arkansas Constitution Amendment 79 – Property Tax Relief
4
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Personal Property
5
FindLaw. Arkansas Code 26-26-1408 – Dates Taxes Due and Payable
6
Pulaski County Treasurer. Homestead Tax Credit
7
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Property Tax Relief
8
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-3-306 – Disabled Veterans, Surviving Spouses
9
Pulaski County Treasurer. DAV
10
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-36-201 – Dates Taxes Due and Payable
11
Pulaski County Treasurer. Pulaski County Treasurer
12
Pulaski County Treasurer. Pay Options
13
Arkansas State Legislature. Act 673 of 2019 – Commissioner of State Lands
14
Pulaski County. Assessor’s Office
15
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-27-318