Residents of Charlotte County are looking at a delay in real estate and personal property taxes until Jan. 5 following a decision to extend the due date for both at a Charlotte County Board of Supervisors meeting. The delay stems from glitches in an upgraded system to streamline revenue management in the county. RDA systems President and CEO Dave Davis said at an October meeting of the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors there is a need to bring new technology to the market as it becomes available, and the company is partnering with Charlotte County to bring out a new generation of software called Breeze.

According to RDA’s website, “Breeze offers a brand-new state of the art system to simplify and streamline Revenue Management.” The new product was released in 2016.

According to County Administrator R.B. Clark, the software was provided free since Charlotte County is a beta site. The county’s website cites that, county taxes are billed twice each fiscal year. Taxes are typically due Dec. 5 for the first half of the fiscal year and June 5 for the remainder of the year.

While a majority of the towns in Charlotte County may be unaffected, it could still affect those who itemize their federal tax returns. In order to deduct personal property taxes on a federal tax return, the tax must have been paid within the year filed. Paying personal property tax in January 2018 means you can’t deduct these expenses on your 2017 tax return. It’s unfortunate that these glitches have gotten in the way of routine. People plan for their taxes, they understand there’s a certain timeline they have to adhere to. While pushing the deadline back could potentially benefit some, it could hurt others who wait until the new deadline.

Morgan White is a staff reporter for The Charlotte Gazette. His email address is Morgan.White@TheCharlotteGazette.com.