Shelby County property tax

A Memphis home gets two tax bills a year. The City of Memphis bill comes in the summer. The Shelby County bill comes in the fall. Both are figured from the value the Shelby County Assessor sets. See Memphis property tax for the city bill.

The county starts with your appraised value. That is what the Assessor says your property is worth. A home is taxed on 25% of it. That part is the assessed value. The tax rate is a charge on each $100 of assessed value.

Appraised value × 25% = assessed value
Assessed value ÷ 100 × tax rate = tax for the year

A property inside a city pays the county tax and the city tax. The table shows the two rates together. A property outside a city pays the county rate, $2.702382.

The Memphis rate is $5.283192. At that rate a home pays $1,320.80 a year for each $100,000 of appraised value. $100,000 × 25% is $25,000 of assessed value. $25,000 ÷ 100 × $5.283192 is $1,320.80.

These are the 2026 rates, as the Trustee published them. A commercial property is taxed on 40% of its appraised value, at the same rates.

Figure the tax on your own value, or see the rate in every Tennessee county.

When the bill comes and when it is due

The county tax can be paid from the first Monday of October. Pay in full by the last day of February to avoid interest. The Assessor sets your value. The Trustee sends the bill and takes the payment.

Interest on the county tax is 1.5% for each month from March 1. The Trustee prints the 2026 rate for the county and for Memphis. For the other six cities the table adds the city’s 2025 rate, the latest the state has published. The Trustee also bills and collects the city tax for Arlington, Lakeland and Millington. Memphis, Bartlett, Collierville and Germantown send their own bills. The City of Memphis tax is due after the City Council sets the rate, usually in mid to late June, and it is late after August 31.

Office

Shelby County Trustee

Trustee

Joseph Lee III

Address

157 Poplar Avenue, 2nd Floor
Memphis, TN 38103

Mail

P.O. Box 2751, Memphis, TN 38101-2751

Phone

(901) 222-0200

Hours

Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

You can ask the Assessor to look at your value again. This is the informal review. It costs nothing.

When to file

The Assessor takes informal review requests all year. A request for the current tax year must be in by the last day of May. In October 2026 the Assessor was taking requests for the 2027 tax year.

How the review works in Shelby County

You file the request online, from your property’s page on the Assessor’s website. Search for your property, open its details, and choose the Informal Review section. You need an email address. You can attach up to 2 files. You can also call the Assessor’s Action Center at (901) 222-7001 or visit the office. The Assessor mails you the result. An informal review is not an appeal. It does not hold your place with the Board of Equalization.

A review can lower your value, leave it the same or raise it.

What to send

Send facts about the value. The Assessor sets the value and does not set the tax rate, so a complaint about the bill does not help.

• Recent sales of similar homes near yours, for less than your appraised value.
• Errors in your record, such as the wrong square footage or a basement marked as finished.
• Photos and repair estimates for problems that lower the value.
• Your closing statement, if you bought the home for less than its appraised value.

More evidence helps. A price estimate from a website is not a sale, and an assessor does not count it. See how to find comparable sales and the Tennessee appeal guide.

If the Assessor keeps your value

The next step is the Shelby County Board of Equalization. The Board takes appeals for the current tax year from May 1, and the deadline is usually the last working day of June. Call the Board at (901) 222-7300 for forms. You can go to the Board without an informal review first. After the county Board, you can appeal to the State Board of Equalization. See the appeal dates for every Tennessee county.

TN.tax in Shelby County

TN.tax does not file informal reviews in Shelby County yet. We file in Davidson, Hamilton and Williamson counties. Enter your address at the top of this page, and our team will review your property. We email you within 1 business day and tell you if you have a good case. The review is free. Start your free review.

Shelby County set new values for every property in 2025. The next reappraisal is in 2029, on the state Comptroller’s schedule.

The county is on a 4-year cycle. You can ask for a review in any year. You do not have to wait for the next reappraisal.

Your value stays the same between reappraisals unless the property changes or a review changes it. A sale does not reset it. If you bought your home for less than its appraised value, the county keeps the higher value until you ask for a review. See how a purchase price can lower your value.

A reappraisal does not raise the county’s total tax by itself. State law makes the county set a rate that brings in the same total as before. The county commission then votes on the rate for the year.