Taxing incompetence
Richmond residents were a bit miffed when they received their personal property tax bills with very little time to pay and in some cases incorrect. An extension for filing was granted but the incompetence doesn’t end there. The following is a tale from an H&H resident.
We recently called the city to dispute charges on a 2011 car tax bill that was never received after buying our new car in November of 2011. We were charged penalties and interest and when I called the city I was told someone would get back to me within ten business days. On the tenth day (of course) I received a message that all appeals had to be in writing (even though we were never billed) and they would send me a form. I just had to share to pictures of the forms I received. Note the dates of 2003-2008, with 2011 scratched in, as well as the part about looking on the other side of the form for tax code information.
Anybody else have any other tax tales to share?
I bought a new car in May of 2010. I never received a tax bill from the city, nor did I receive a late notice or any other documentation about taxes. When I received my 2011 tax bill last year, it only listed a “back due” amount, with no explanation. When I called to protest, I learned that there was a sizable “late fee” that was growing monthly.
I argued that it’s not reasonable to charge a late fee on an invoice that was never issued, but they wouldn’t waive the fee (even though I was willing to pay the taxed amount). They suggested I write a letter of dispute (which I did).
I never received return correspondence, and after a few more months, I simply paid the bill out of resignation.
That experience, combined with this year’s “delay” (I received my tax bill on 4/30/12 with a 5/1/12 due date), has lead me to conclude that our local tax office is completely inept.
I completely agree with Steve. My husband and I have had multiple issues with the city with regard to personal property tax bills this year, and in years past. Emails and letters seem to fall into a black hole. This year, my mom did not receive a bill, I did not receive a bill (as of this writing) and the one issued for my husband’s vehicle indicated that he owed two years’ worth of taxes, even though he paid last year’s taxes last year. Would love to see a change, as this seems to go on and on.
If anyone elects to pursue this issue, I’d be curious if an explanation can be given as to why you have to pay your bill in one room (102), yet, must walk across the hall to a separate department in a different room (103) to obtain a print out of your bill that you must then walk back to the original room to pay.
If you’re there to (voluntarily?) remit money, it seems like it could be made easier for you to do so.
Every time I have dealt with the City finance department, it has been a nightmare for me. When I started a small business 4 years ago, I anticipated the difficulties I would have dealing with the City for a business license and taxes (based on past experience), and opted to locate it just across the city limit in Chesterfield Co. Wow, what a difference! The County staff have been polite, respectful, responsive, and knowledgeable. My calls there have always been answered by a person (not a recording or a hand-off) who gave me a correct answer, with no “attitude”. My business is a minuscule drop in the bucket tax-wise, but I wonder how much bigger business and tax dollars the City has driven away.
I still haven’t received my property tax bill either. Went to the office (at Southside Plaza) to pay and had them print a copy. Same for someone else in my family.
A few years back, without any previous correspondence, my account was put into collections because of unpaid personal property taxes of 1 cent. I called and fought it for more than a month, faxed and emailed letters which were ‘never received’. Eventually, someone realized it was a computer error! They also realized they owed me money! It took more than a year and multiple calls to the manager of finance and his boss when nothing was happening and no calls were being returned. Mr. Ervin is the director over there. Ask for him when you call or I can dig up his email address.
In 2010, I received a collections notice for unpaid car tax from a law firm. I went back through my records and, sure enough, the city had cashed my check several months earlier. I called the law firm and they had no record of this. I called the city and they confirmed that, yes, it had gone to this firm. When I asked why the firm had no record of it, I received lots of “I don’t know why” type answers, with no offer of resolution. Further, the person at City Hall told me the amount outstanding on the account was about $120 less than the amount I paid earlier in the year but could not account for the discrepancy. I ended up going to City Hall in person, with a copy of the canceled check and tax bills in hand. After waiting in line for 20 minutes, the one person working told me I had to go to another office, where I waited another 20 minutes. When I was finally helped there, I was told that “Oh, Mrs. Somethingorother will have to handle this, I don’t do this.” Mrs. Somethingorother, I was told, would be back in 5 minutes. 20 minutes later, she arrived and, full of attitude, informed me that I needed to talk to the law firm. When I explained that they had no record of this account, she grabbed by paperwork and stomped off. 15 minutes later, she returned and said that If I just paid the outstanding amount now, DMV could release the hold on my registration (which I didn’t even know I had!). I explained that I’d already paid it– showing her the canceled check– and that I should not have to pay extra for their mistake. She took my check copy and stomped off again. 15 minutes later, she returned and informed me–more full of attitude than ever– that they would look into it and, if they were in fact at fault, would issue a refund for the overpayment within 10 business days, but the only immediate solution was to pay them the amount showing as outstanding. I relented and paid and was given yet another person to contact “in a few days” to see if it had been resolved. Predictably, for the next few days, this person was never available. Finally, a week later, I received a message on my home phone (despite specifically instructing them to call my cell) informing me that I had, in fact, been correct and that I could expect a refund check within 30 days (which is different from 10 business days). No apologies or even an attempt to sympathize with my position. A week or so later, I finally did receive the refund…with my name misspelled. Fortunately, my bank took it- god only knows what Dantesque Hell-ring I’d have encountered trying to get THAT corrected.
Letters detailing this ordeal went to the offices of the Director of Finance, Dwight Jones and Kathy Graziano. Below is a summary of the responses I received:
Every single year, the city sends me a bill of ‘Back Due’ personal property tax. Which I then pay. Then, the next year, I get the same ‘Back Due’ notice. It’s ridiculous.
Glad to know I’m not the only one who’s had tax issues with the city — mine was real estate tax problems involving the sale of a my first house…I don’t recommend going thru closing in late May…Yea, bureaucracy!!!!!
Similar story over here! Received one of those letters last year (that apparently a lot of people received) saying that I owed about $120 for delinquent personal property taxes but no documentation on what property it was or when the amount was originally billed. After multiple calls and messages left, no one ever contacted me to clarify so I let it go. Then my 2012 tax bill came with an even higher “delinquent” amount. This time when I called, a person was able to tell me that it was for taxes unpaid back in 2010 on my car and now they’d tacked on interest and penalties. I went back, found the original bill with the cancelled check and faxed it to them as instructed but so far I’ve heard nothing further. I REALLY hope it didn’t fall into the black hole that seems to be their bookkeeping system over there!
The entire Finance Office at the City is inept. They have no idea what is going over there and just print and mail bills (it appears) at will. I know that they have been implementing a new computer system for the past few years and that there have been some real signifcnat issues with the data conversion part of hte project – transferring the old database records to the new system. I beleive that much of the problem lies in this area.
I’ll be headed over to their office later this week to pay my 2012 bill and dispute my “back taxes and penalties” charges. I feel the only way to be able to deal with these fools is to do it in person – they cannot ignore me this way.
Thanks for all of the postings on this topic – I am going to print this out and wave it around while I’m over there.
The incompetence downtown is amazing…..we too have had issue after issue in regards to the personal property taxes regarding our car. The city government is a farce. Who keeps electing the folks that let so much incompetence go unanswered?
did anyone ever get these issues with the city personal property taxes resolved? i’m STILL trying to get answers from them – heck, i’m just trying to get someone to return my phone call! i’m at my wits end, today i got a letter from collections about my “delinquent” amount that i’ve proven, more than once, that I DON’T OWE. help!