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ANCHOR Payments Began October 1, 2026 — Plus the Full Senior Freeze and Stay NJ Payment Schedule
ANCHOR payments for the 2025 application started going out on October 1, 2026, according to the payment schedule the New Jersey Division of Taxation publishes on its property tax relief status site. Payments continue on a rolling basis as applications are processed, and the Division notes that in some cases they will be made after 2026.
That start is about two weeks later than many guides — including ours — expected from past seasons, when payments began in mid-September. If you have been waiting since September, it does not mean something is wrong with your application: the first 2025-year payments only began going out this month.
Who this affects: homeowners and renters receiving ANCHOR for the 2025 benefit year, whether the state auto-filed for them (the August 2026 confirmation letter) or they filed their own application or a PAS-1. The Division's long-standing guidance is that most payments arrive within about 90 days of filing, so a summer filer can expect an ANCHOR payment in October or November 2026, while a filing made close to the November 2 deadline is likely to be paid in early 2027.
The same schedule sets the Senior Freeze (Property Tax Reimbursement) payment windows by filing date. Applications filed before May 1 are paid between July 15 and September 15, 2026; May 1 to June 1, between September 1 and October 1, 2026; June 2 to September 1, between November 2, 2026 and January 2, 2027; and September 2 to October 31, between December 2, 2026 and February 2, 2027. These windows replace the single wave dates we listed earlier (September 1, November 1, and December 1), and they mean a late-season filer may now be paid in early 2027.
For Stay NJ, the schedule lists all four quarterly installments for the 2025 benefit year: February, May, August, and November 2027. The 2024 benefit year's final installment is due around November 15, 2026.
What to do now: check your status by application year at propertytaxreliefstatus.nj.gov, typing the address yourself — no state agency texts you a payment link. If your status shows a payment issued, allow a few banking days for a direct deposit or two to three weeks for a mailed check before following up. Seniors and residents receiving Social Security disability benefits who have not yet filed still need to submit the PAS-1 by November 2, 2026.
We have updated every guide that described the earlier timing. Each page's “what changed” log lists the specific correction.