At closing, the year's property tax bill gets split between seller and buyer by day of ownership. Enter the annual bill and your closing date to see exactly who owes what — and how the answer changes under the 30/360 convention your lender may use.
Each row below was produced by this page's own calculation, so the figures match what the calculator returns for those inputs.
| Annual bill & closing date | Seller share | Buyer share | Days (seller/buyer) | 30/360 seller share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $7,200 closed 15 June 2026 | $3,254.79 | $3,945.21 | 165 / 200 | $3,280.00 |
| $7,200 closed 1 March 2026 | $1,163.84 | $6,036.16 | 59 / 306 | $1,200.00 |
| $9,500 closed 30 September 2026 | $7,079.45 | $2,420.55 | 272 / 93 | $7,098.61 |
| $5,400 closed 15 November 2026 | $4,704.66 | $695.34 | 318 / 47 | $4,710.00 |
Note how close the two methods run: on a $7,200 bill the calendar and 30/360 answers differ by about $25. The gap widens when the closing lands on the 31st or at the end of February, which is why the settlement statement and the lender's escrow worksheet sometimes disagree by a few dollars.
Property taxes are billed annually but paid in arrears or in advance depending on the county. Whoever owns the home on the assessment date is legally liable for the whole bill, which is almost never the same person who owned it for the whole year. Proration is the settlement-stage adjustment that puts the economic cost on the right party.
Three details trip people up. First, the closing date itself usually belongs to the buyer — the seller is credited through the day before. Second, leap years change the denominator to 366, so a 1 July closing shifts by a few dollars compared with the prior year. Third, many lenders and title companies still compute on a 30/360 basis, which treats every month as 30 days and the year as 360; that convention can move the split by $20–$40 on a typical bill.
Seller already paid. The county has the money, but the buyer will own the property for the rest of the year. The buyer owes the seller a credit equal to the buyer's share — this is the most common case, and it appears as a debit to the buyer on the closing disclosure.
Buyer pays at closing. If the bill is due shortly after closing, the title company may have the buyer fund it, in which case the seller owes the buyer a credit for the seller's share.
Bill unpaid and not yet due. Nobody has paid, so no credit moves. The buyer simply inherits the obligation and should budget for it — this is why escrow accounts often start with a cushion of two to three months' taxes.
Your annual bill is on the county assessor's or treasurer's website, usually under a parcel number search. If the current year's bill has not been issued yet, the prior year's bill is used and then re-prorated once the new one arrives — a supplemental adjustment. Watch for pending assessor appeals: a successful appeal can retroactively reduce the bill and trigger a second proration after closing.
⚠️ Estimate only. Closing statements are prepared by the title company and governed by your purchase contract and state statute. This calculator models the standard daily proration; it does not account for supplemental assessments, pending appeals, homestead exemptions that transfer mid-year, or state-specific no-proration rules. Always reconcile against the settlement statement before funding.