2025 property tax bills delayed, penalties waived after senator calls out Rev & Tax

Many Guam property owners are still waiting on their 2025 real property tax bills. A technical delay at the Department of Revenue & Taxation has prompted legislative scrutiny - and now action from the governor.

For weeks, property owners across Guam have been left wondering why their 2025 real property tax bills never arrived. Typically mailed by mid-December, the statements are now nearly two months late, with no firm mailing date announced.

Rev & Tax blames a technical issue with its real property tax assessment and billing software, but Senator Chris Duenas says the issue was made worse by a lack of communication.

Earlier this week, Duenas– who oversees finance and government operations– sent a letter to Rev & Tax director Marie Lizama, calling for immediate public notice and protections for taxpayers. He says his office was flooded with calls from residents who had no information and no timeline, despite the department knowing ahead of time the bills would be delayed.

"We just kept getting an overwhelming amount of calls," he stated. "The biggest concern, of course, was letting the public know and understand what’s going on, to take away some of that anxiety. Property is an important thing and they don’t want to pay the penalties and fees associated with it."

Duenas warned that many families live paycheck-to-paycheck, and a delayed billing cycle can disrupt budgeting if payments are later due on a shortened timeline.

Following his letter, the governor directed Rev & Tax to waive penalties and interest and extend the deadline for full payment. "It’s really taken a weight off people’s backs and alleviate them from inconvenience. So many people I met the last couple of days said, ‘Thank you for doing this because we can’t get through on the phones and we were going to go up there and you saved us time.’"

The agency says before bills can be mailed, the 2025 tax roll must first be certified by the Board of Equalization. Officials hope that will happen within the next few weeks.

Duensas says he’ll “get to the bottom” of the issue during an upcoming oversight hearing, raising concerns that the delay could be tied to late vendor payments– a claim not yet verified.

The senator said, "I have been getting information that they may be behind on vendor payables on this issue with the software, and they may have not renewed some of their contracts and subscriptions. I think that’s the biggest thing, to make sure that this is something that wasn’t beyond their control."

KUAM has reached out to Rev & Tax for comment. For now, the agency is advising property owners to wait for their official billing statements and says additional public notices will be issued.

For the time being, the Department of Revenue & Taxation executive director maintains that the delay is due to a technical issue.

She says, "We recognize that the issue has greatly impacted property owners who rely on timely invoices for budgeting and payment planning purposes, and apologize for the inconvenience it has caused."