South Dakota · reference

South Dakota calendar and forms

Every date that matters for a South Dakota household in the 2027 filing season: the federal calendar, which is the whole income tax calendar, and the property tax calendar the counties run on their own schedule, from the March 1 assessment notice through the March 15 owner-occupied deadline, the April 1 freeze application, the April 30 and October 31 payment halves, and the July 1 refund deadline in Pierre. Plus the short list of South Dakota forms an ordinary resident actually meets.

By Charles Trautman, EA, editor

Need to Know Tax · written from South Dakota Department of Revenue sources, November 3, 2026; updated November 12, 2026 after the election · not yet reviewed by a South Dakota practitioner

South Dakota has no income tax return, so there is no state due date, no state extension, no state estimated payment and no state withholding form. The federal calendar is the income tax calendar: Form 1040 is due Thursday, April 15, 2027, the extension runs to Friday, October 15, 2027, and the four estimated payments fall on the federal dates. What South Dakota adds is a property tax year with its own rhythm: assessment notices by March 1, the owner-occupied application by March 15, the assessment freeze and homestead deferral applications by April 1, the first half of the tax by April 30, the Sales and Property Tax Refund window from May 1 to July 1, the second half of the tax by October 31, and the veteran exemptions by November 1.

The forms side is short. The Department of Revenue has almost nothing to do with an individual who does not own a business, and the forms a household meets are filed with the county director of equalization, the county treasurer, or, for the senior refund, the Department’s Tax Refund Office in Pierre. A sole proprietor who sells goods or services, or a contractor, meets the Department for a sales tax or contractor’s excise tax license. The tables below list the dates and the forms in the order a resident is likely to need them.

The 2027 season, dated

Federal and South Dakota dates for the 2026 return and the 2027 property tax year
Date	What happens	Form
Sunday, November 1, 2026	Deadline for the disabled veteran and paraplegic veteran property tax exemptions for the 2026 assessment, with the county director of equalization. Also the legal assessment date: values for the 2027 assessment year are set as of this day. Second half of 2025 property taxes was due October 31.	PT 46C, PT 46A
Thursday, December 31, 2026	Last day of the 2026 tax year: required minimum distributions, charitable gifts, Roth conversions. A property tax payment made by today is a 2026 federal deduction. Income through today is what the 2027 assessment freeze and refund applications will count.
Friday, January 1, 2027	2026 property taxes (payable 2027) become due and payable; the county treasurer mails the bills in December or January. The owner-occupied school general fund levy on this bill is $0.669 per $1,000 under HB 1051, down from $2.518. The indexed 2027 assessment freeze limits are announced; forms PT 38, PT 38A and PT 38C become available at the treasurer.	County tax bill
Friday, January 15, 2027	Fourth and final 2026 federal estimated payment due. No state equivalent.	1040-ES
Late January 2027; the IRS announces the date in January	IRS begins accepting 2026 returns.	1040
Monday, February 1, 2027	W-2s and most 1099s due from employers and payers; January 31 is a Sunday. Brokerage 1099s usually come in mid-February.	W-2, 1099
Monday, March 1, 2027	Assessment notices mailed by the county director of equalization on or before this date, showing full and true value and classification for the 2027 assessment (taxes payable 2028). Check that the home is marked owner-occupied.	Assessment notice
Monday, March 15, 2027	Owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification application due with the county director of equalization for anyone who bought or moved into a home and has not filed before. One per person statewide. Also, by about mid-March, the deadline to appeal the assessed value to the local board of equalization (verify local date).	Owner-occupied application
Thursday, April 1, 2027	Assessment Freeze for the Elderly and Disabled (65 or disabled; 2027 income and value limits to come), Property Tax Homestead Exemption deferral (70 or older), paraplegic reduction, and the Rapid City municipal reduction all due. Freeze and deferral to the county treasurer; paraplegic reduction to the county auditor.	PT 38, PT 38C, PT 46B, PT 38A
Thursday, April 15, 2027	2026 federal return and balance due. Extension request due; an extension is time to file, not time to pay. First 2027 federal estimated payment due. Last day for a 2026 IRA or HSA contribution. No South Dakota filing.	1040, 4868, 1040-ES
Friday, April 30, 2027	First half of 2026 property taxes (payable 2027) due to the county treasurer; delinquent if not paid by this date.	County tax bill
Saturday, May 1, 2027	Sales and Property Tax Refund applications open at the Department of Revenue for 2026 taxes: 65 by January 1, 2026 or disabled, South Dakota resident all of 2026, 2026 income under the limit (to come; $17,215 alone and $23,265 household for 2025 income).	Refund application
Tuesday, June 15, 2027 (verify)	Second 2027 federal estimated payment due.	1040-ES
Wednesday, June 30, 2027	Last day of the 4.2% state sales tax rate.
Thursday, July 1, 2027	State sales and use tax returns to 4.5%; a 2% town goes from 6.2% to 6.5%. Last day to file the Sales and Property Tax Refund application in Pierre; refund checks begin in early September. Sections of SB 245 directing sales tax revenue to the homeowner property tax reduction fund take effect, with deposits starting August 1.	Refund application
Wednesday, September 15, 2027 (verify)	Third 2027 federal estimated payment due.	1040-ES
Friday, October 15, 2027	Extended 2026 federal return due. Medicare open enrollment begins; 2028 IRMAA premiums are based on the 2026 return.	1040
Sunday, October 31, 2027	Second half of 2026 property taxes (payable 2027) due; the date falls on a Sunday in 2027, so check the treasurer’s rule for the next business day. A payment made in 2027 is a 2027 federal deduction.	County tax bill
Monday, November 1, 2027	Disabled veteran and paraplegic veteran exemption applications due for the 2027 assessment. Legal assessment date for the 2028 assessment year. County auditors compute 2027 levies (payable 2028) by this date.	PT 46C, PT 46A
Tuesday, January 18, 2028 (verify)	Fourth 2027 federal estimated payment due; January 15 is a Saturday and the 17th a holiday.	1040-ES
Counties that adopt the SB 96 sales tax of up to 0.5% may begin it as early as January 1, 2027, with the proceeds shown as a credit on the county portion of owner-occupied tax bills; check with the county (verify adopting counties). Sales tax returns for a business run on the Department’s schedule, monthly, bi-monthly or semi-annually depending on the account.

How the property tax year works

Everything runs from the November 1 assessment date, and the bill arrives two years later. The county director of equalization values the home as of November 1, 2026 for the 2027 assessment year, mails the notice by March 1, 2027, hears appeals at the local board of equalization in March and April, and the taxing districts build their budgets through the summer. The county auditor computes the levies by November 1, 2027, the treasurer bills in December or January, and the tax is payable January 1, 2028, in halves by April 30 and October 31, 2028. The classification and relief applications filed in March and April 2027 therefore affect the bill paid in 2028, not the one in hand. A homeowner looking at a bill in January and wondering why the owner-occupied form filed last March has not shown up has the right form and the wrong year.

The two payment halves give a homeowner who pays directly a choice that matters on the federal return. Property tax is deducted on Schedule A in the year it is paid. Paying both halves in April puts the whole year’s tax in one calendar year; paying the second half on October 31 does too. The only way to shift a payment across the year end is to pay the first half in December, before January 1, if the treasurer has the bills out and will take it (verify with the county); paying the second half late to push it into the next year costs a penalty and is never worth it. For most South Dakota households the question is academic: without a state income tax in the SALT line, property tax plus sales tax rarely gets a household past the standard deduction, and the property tax saves nothing federally in either year.

Worked example: does the property tax get this couple over the standard deduction?

A retired couple, both over 65, pays $4,400 of property tax on the home, deducts $2,100 of sales tax from the IRS table (verify with the IRS calculator), has $6,000 of mortgage interest and gives $3,000 to church. The 2026 standard deduction for a joint return is $32,200, plus $1,650 each for age 65, plus the $6,000-per-person senior deduction.

Property tax, both halves paid in 2026	$4,400
Sales tax, IRS table amount	$2,100
SALT deduction (cap $40,400)	$6,500
Mortgage interest and charitable gifts	$9,000
Itemized deductions	$15,500
Standard deduction, joint, both 65 or older, with the senior deduction	$47,500
Result	Standard deduction; the property tax changes nothing on the federal return

The property tax is still worth managing, through the owner-occupied classification and the freeze, because it is a real bill; it just does not feed the federal return for this couple. A household with a large mortgage or large gifts should run the numbers.

The forms a household meets

South Dakota forms for an individual or household
Form	What it does	Filed with, and when
Owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification	Puts the home on the owner-occupied school general fund levy: $2.518 per $1,000 of taxable value for taxes payable 2026 instead of $5.211, and $0.669 instead of $4.867 for 2027. One per person in the state; not available to commercial owners. Stays in place while the same owner occupies the same home.	County director of equalization, by March 15; may be submitted electronically through the Department’s website
PT 38, Assessment Freeze for the Elderly and Disabled	Freezes the home’s full and true value for an owner 65 or older or disabled, with 2026 household income under $56,595 (one person) or $66,885 (two or more) counting Social Security, home worth under $514,500, five years of South Dakota residency and 200 days in the home. 2027 limits to come.	County treasurer, by April 1, every year
Sales and Property Tax Refund application	Refund of part of the sales tax paid, or part of the property tax on the home, for a person 65 by January 1 of the tax year or disabled, resident all year, with income of $17,215 or less alone or $23,265 or less in a household (2025 income). Renters claim the sales tax share.	Department of Revenue, Tax Refund Office, 445 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501-3185, or online; May 1 to July 1
PT 38C, Property Tax Homestead Exemption	Defers the property tax for an owner 70 or older, or a surviving spouse, under income and residency limits; the tax plus interest is a lien paid when the home is sold. Not available with the refund program.	County treasurer, by April 1, every year
PT 46C, Property Tax Exemption for Disabled Veterans	Exempts the first $200,000 of the home’s value for a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability, or the unremarried surviving spouse.	County director of equalization, by November 1
PT 46A, PT 46B, PT 38A	Paraplegic veteran full exemption (November 1, director of equalization); paraplegic graduated reduction (April 1, county auditor); municipal reduction for the elderly and disabled, Rapid City only (April 1, treasurer).	As listed, from the Department’s relief programs page
Residency affidavit and full-time traveler documents	For a new resident without a fixed South Dakota address: the notarized residency affidavit, proof of a personal mailbox address under a year old, and a one-night stay receipt. Not a tax form, but the first document a former state will ask about.	Department of Public Safety licensing office, in person for the first license
Vehicle title application	Titles and registers a vehicle; 4% motor vehicle excise tax on the purchase price, with credit for tax paid to another state.	County treasurer; new residents within 90 days of arrival
Sales tax license and returns	Required for any business with a physical presence in South Dakota selling products or services; services are broadly taxable here, so a sole proprietor consultant, cleaner or repair shop collects tax from the first sale. Returns are monthly, bi-monthly or semi-annual.	Department of Revenue, online, before the first sale
Contractor’s excise tax license	Anyone doing construction work or installing or repairing a fixture to real estate pays 2% of gross receipts, including the tax itself billed to the customer.	Department of Revenue, before the project begins
What is missing is the point: there is no South Dakota income tax return, no state W-4, no state extension and no state estimated payment voucher. A South Dakotan whose software asks for a state return should answer that there is none.

Filing the federal return from South Dakota

The federal return is filed from South Dakota as from anywhere: electronically, with direct deposit, through a preparer, commercial software or the IRS Free File partners; there is no state program because there is no state return. The one thing a preparer does differently for a South Dakotan is run the sales tax side of the SALT deduction, since there is no state income tax to deduct: the IRS table amount for the household’s income, size and local rate, plus the actual tax on a large purchase (verify whether the 4% motor vehicle excise tax qualifies). Where to check a refund is the IRS’s Where’s My Refund tool; there is no state refund to track.

Federal estimated payments matter more to a South Dakota retiree than to one whose pension carries state withholding, because federal withholding is the only withholding there is. A household living on Social Security, an IRA and a brokerage account with nothing withheld meets the federal underpayment penalty unless it pays estimates or has tax withheld from the IRA withdrawal; the safe harbors are in Estimated payments, and the simplest fix is a December IRA withholding large enough to cover the year.

Behind the scenes: why the bill arrives two years after the value

South Dakota’s property tax runs on a two-year lag by design. The value is set as of November 1; the notice goes out in March so the owner can appeal before the budgets are built; the districts set budgets through the summer, when they know their valuations; the auditor turns budgets into levies in the fall; and the bill is payable the following January, in two halves spread across the year so that the county’s cash arrives in spring and fall. The result is that a home valued in November 2026 is first taxed on that value in a bill paid in 2028, and every relief application has a deadline in the spring between the notice and the budgets. The Legislature’s 2027 levy cut followed the same track: HB 1051 was signed in March 2026 (verify date), applies to taxes payable in 2027, and SB 245 moved $55.9 million into the fund on July 1, 2026, in time for the auditors’ fall calculation.

The deadlines are spread among three offices because the programs were created at different times for different purposes. The classification and the veteran exemptions change what the director of equalization records about the parcel, so they go to that office. The freeze, the deferral and the municipal reduction change how the treasurer bills, so they go to the treasurer. The refund was written as a state program paid from a state appropriation, so it is the Department of Revenue’s, and it is the only one with a window rather than a deadline. HB 1258 (2026) requires tax bills to point to a state property tax information website (verify), which should make the three offices easier to tell apart from the bill itself.

What to bring

The county property tax statement for each parcel and the dates and amounts of both halves paid in the year
The March assessment notice, to confirm the owner-occupied classification and any freeze
The title paperwork for any vehicle bought in 2026, showing the 4% excise tax, and receipts for other large purchases
Federal estimated payments made in 2026, with dates; there are no state payments to list
1099-Rs and the SSA-1099 with the federal withholding boxes, and confirmation that any former state’s withholding was stopped
For the freeze or refund application: last year’s federal return and the full Social Security amount for everyone in the household
For a new resident: the license issue date and the move date, in case the former state asks
For a sole proprietor or contractor: the sales tax or contractor’s excise tax license number and the returns filed

Questions people ask

Do I file anything with South Dakota for income tax?

No. There is no individual income tax return, no extension and no estimated payment. The federal return is the only return. The South Dakota filings an individual meets are property tax applications at the county, the refund application in Pierre, and sales tax if you run a business.

I filed the owner-occupied form in March. Why is it not on this year’s bill?

Because of the two-year lag. A form filed by March 15, 2027 goes with the 2027 assessment, which is billed in January 2028 and paid during 2028. The bill you paid in 2027 is for the 2026 assessment.

When is property tax due?

It is payable January 1. Nothing is delinquent if half is paid by April 30 and the rest by October 31. Many homeowners pay through a mortgage escrow; check the servicer’s statement for the dates paid if you itemize.

Should I pay both halves in April for the federal deduction?

Only if you itemize, and most South Dakota households do not, because there is no state income tax in the SALT line. Both halves fall in the same calendar year either way; the second half simply waits until October.

When does the sales tax go up?

July 1, 2027, from 4.2% to 4.5% at the state level. A 2% town goes from 6.2% to 6.5%, and a restaurant meal with the 1% gross receipts tax from 7.2% to 7.5%. A large purchase planned for the summer of 2027 is cheaper in June.

Where do I check on my senior refund?

With the Department of Revenue, 1-800-829-9188. Applications filed by July 1 are paid starting in early September. There is no state income tax refund to check on.

One federal return, two property tax halves, and a spring full of county deadlines

Put April 15 on the calendar for the IRS, March 15 and April 1 for the county, July 1 for Pierre, and April 30 and October 31 for the treasurer, and keep the assessment notice where you can find it.

Written by Charles Trautman, EA, editor  ·  Need to Know Tax, Lone Tree, Colorado
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Forms and official pages named in this article

Sources and where to check

Updated November 12, 2026, after the November 3 election · tax year 2026 figures · awaiting review by a South Dakota practitioner