Summit County Property Tax: 2026 Due Dates, Penalties, and Payment Plans

Summit County property tax due dates for the 2025 tax year are February 27, 2026 for the first-half installment and July 17, 2026 for the second-half installment. The Summit County Fiscal Office bills and collects both payments, and missing either date triggers an automatic 10% penalty on the unpaid half under Ohio law.¹²

The Two 2026 Deadlines

Bills for the first half go out several weeks before February 27, 2026. If you mail your check, the envelope has to carry a United States Postal Service postmark on or before that date. A private postage meter stamp will not count, no matter what date it shows.¹

The second-half payment is due July 17, 2026.³ Both dates shift a little from year to year because of weekends and holidays. Ohio’s statutory baseline deadlines under the Revised Code are actually December 31 and June 20, but counties routinely extend them under Ohio Revised Code 323.17, which is why Summit County’s real deadlines fall in late February and mid-July.² The Fiscal Office prints the exact due dates on the mailed bill and posts them on its website.

How to Pay

Every payment method requires your parcel number, which appears on your mailed bill and in the Fiscal Office’s online Property Access database. Before you send anything, pull up your account and check whether the balance includes any delinquent amounts carried over from prior years. Delinquent taxes have to be paid alongside the current first-half installment, so your total owed may exceed the current tax alone.⁴

You have four ways to pay:

By mail, using the payment stub from the bottom of your bill. Write your parcel number on the check. The envelope must carry a USPS postmark by the deadline.
Online or by phone through ACI Payments, Inc., the Fiscal Office’s third-party processor. Electronic checks cost $1; debit and credit cards carry a service fee set by ACI.
By drop box at the Fiscal Office during business hours, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
In person at the Treasurer’s service windows during those same hours.

The Fiscal Office’s permanent address is 175 South Main Street, Akron, OH 44308. As of January 12, 2026, Treasurer Division services temporarily moved to 1 Cascade Plaza in downtown Akron, so check the Fiscal Office website for the current location before you go in person or use a drop box.⁵ Keep your cleared check image or digital confirmation as proof of payment.¹

What a Late Payment Costs

Miss either deadline and a 10% penalty is automatically added to that half’s unpaid balance. There is no grace period built into the penalty itself. It applies the day after the due date passes.²

Ohio law does offer one narrow relief valve. If your payment arrives within ten days after the deadline, the county treasurer can accept the underlying tax without requiring the penalty at that moment, provided you file an application with the tax commissioner asking that the penalty be waived. The penalty is not automatically forgiven. It stays on your account unless and until the commissioner grants the remission, but you can at least get the tax paid while the request is pending.⁴

Interest starts accruing on all delinquent taxes on top of the penalty. The rate is set under Ohio Revised Code 5703.47, and in counties that have established a land reutilization corporation, the treasurer may charge interest at 12% per year, or 1% per month. Interest is calculated on the full delinquent balance and compounds over time, so a short delay gets expensive quickly.²

What Happens If You Keep Not Paying

Unpaid property taxes in Ohio don’t sit quietly on a ledger. The county treasurer can file a civil action to foreclose on the tax lien against your property, treating the debt the way a bank treats an unpaid mortgage. The county then sells the property to satisfy the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and court costs.⁶

You can stop a foreclosure by paying the full delinquent amount plus all penalties, interest, and costs any time before the court confirms the sale. Once that confirmation is entered, your right to redeem the property is permanently extinguished.⁷

Delinquent Tax Payment Plans

If you cannot pay the full delinquent balance at once, Ohio law lets you enter a delinquent tax contract with the county treasurer. For owner-occupied residential property, the contract can spread payments across up to five years. The treasurer sets the number of installments, the amount of each, and the schedule. Miss a single installment, or fall behind on current taxes or special assessments while the contract is active, and the entire agreement is voided. Whether the treasurer offers a replacement contract is entirely discretionary.⁸

A standard delinquent tax contract is not available if a tax certificate has already been sold on your property. In that case, you would need a separate redemption payment plan under Ohio Revised Code 5721.38.⁸

If Your Mortgage Has an Escrow Account

Many homeowners never touch the tax bill directly. If your mortgage includes escrow, your loan servicer collects a portion of your estimated annual taxes with each monthly payment and pays Summit County on your behalf. You remain responsible either way. If your servicer pays late, the penalty attaches to the property, not the lender.

Federal law requires your servicer to send an annual escrow account statement within 30 days after the end of each computation year, showing what was collected, what was paid out, and whether the account has a surplus or shortage. Read it. Shortages are common after an upward reassessment, and your monthly payment will rise to cover the gap.⁹

1
Summit County Fiscal Office. First Half 2025 Real Estate Tax Bills in the Mail, Due February 27, 2026
2
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 323.121 – Penalty and Interest for Failure to Pay Real Estate Taxes
3
Summit County Fiscal Office. Property Tax and Appraisal – Taxes Due
4
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 323.132 – Paying Delinquent Taxes
5
Summit County Fiscal Office. Summit County Fiscal Office
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 323.25 – Enforcing Tax Lien
7
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.15
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 323.31 – Delinquent Tax Contract With Treasurer
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1024.17 – Escrow Accounts