Fern Plant

How it works

FAQ

Easy Smart Pay (ESP) is a service product of Smart Easy Pay (SEP), a California corporation started by the California State Association of Counties Finance Corporation for the purpose of improving the way in which taxpayers pay government and the way in which government collects tax.

ESP improves the process of paying taxes by lowering the fees imposed to collect certain types of payments while also enabling taxpayers to customize the timing and sources of property tax payments. Additionally, we are committed to improve the collection process for tax collection agencies.

ESP is designed primarily and initially for the payment of property tax in California only.

ESP accepts ACH Bank Transfer, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover

The monthly payment amounts in your first year are dependent on when you enter in to your agreement. For example, for the first year you enroll in October your payments will be larger, to make up for the “missed” months. Once you are enrolled, your second year (and every year after) will then be spread over the course of the entire year. For example:
First Year Second Year
October $1,250 April $416.67
November $1,250 May $416.67
December $625 June $416.67
January $625 July $416.67
February $625 August $416.67
March $625 September $416.67
October $416.67
November $416.67
December $416.66
January $416.66
February $416.66
March $416.66
Total $5,000 Total $5,000

If you have entered your address correctly and it cannot be found in our database you can click on "I don't know the address" and enter the APN number from your tax bill ("APN" stands for assessor parcel number), which you received from your county tax collector. The tax bill data we receive is directly from the tax collector, so while we may not have the address data match, the tax bill data will be correct. We make every effort to maintain accurate, high quality data but we may not have the exact address match all the time. We are continually improving our address matching algorithms. Our mission is to be the best, most widely used government payments system.

If, after enrolling in our payment program, you wish to cancel for any reason you will be refunded to the amount of any payments you have made, minus any applicable transactions fees which are minimal and are clearly stated at the checkout process.

We believe in the value of our taxpayer service and believe if this service does not meet your needs for any reason you should be able to cancel enrollment at anytime. It is important to note, however, that depending on the exact timing of the cancellation and the payment process relating to required bank and processor transaction settlement times the timing of refunds may vary slightly but we commit to make every effort to process all cancellations and refunds expeditiously.

Yes, you may cancel auto-pay at any time, however, this may impact the timely payment of taxes and could transfer the obligation to pay from us to you.

If, after enrolling in monthly auto-pay, your credit limit is reached, or there are insufficient funds to cover the amount to be debited, or it is denied for any reason, we will immediately notify you and request you to provide an alternative or additional account. If we do not hear from you, we may cancel enrollment and process of refund for all payments made, minus applicable transaction fees.

Initially, in your first year of enrollment, our payment platform will automatically set a payment schedule on a monthly basis.

Depending on the time of year you enroll, the number of monthly payments to equal your first year of property tax payment may vary. However, if you choose to stay enrolled in the service, your monthly payment schedule will be spread over the 12 months of the year in year two and beyond.

No. ESP is a bill assignment service and a product of SEP, which is focused on providing products, and services that offers taxpayers the ability to customize and assign the responsibility to transmit property tax payments and insure the timely payment of those payments free from late penalties. For that reason, the funds transmitted to SEP become the property of SEP for the purposes of reinvesting in lowering transaction fees that are charged by variously financial entities throughout payment processing process as well as further improving and making more efficient the process of paying taxes.

Privacy and security, while last on this list, is first among our priorities as a company. We do not collect or store credit card information or sell any information about you to anyone for any reason. However, to learn more about our commitment to privacy and security please visit the following links: