Could You Owe Back Property Taxes And Not Know It?

Last year, when it came time to renew my vehicle registration, I received notice that I owed taxes in Naugatuck for a car that my husband and I owned five years prior.  I was stunned.  We had always paid our taxes responsibly and this $900 bill came out of nowhere. How could I owe money on a tax bill I didn’t know I had?

I called the Naugatuck tax office who informed me that because of the cycle in which they bill, the amount due was something that had been sent to me after we moved from Naugatuck to Portland and despite my informing the DMV of our change of address, no notifications were sent to me regarding these back taxes.

I was stunned to find out that Connecticut statutes say that municipalities are not required to send notifications of the amounts of property taxes due and if they decide not to send a notification one year and you fail to pay it, you could be accruing 18% interest per year or 1 ½% every month.  In my case, we accrued it for five years without every receiving notification or having any knowledge that we owed anything.

I was told that "it is the tax payer’s responsibility to know what they owe." When I called around, sympathy was not hard to find but what was hard to find was anyone who could help me.  I was stuck and everyone’s hands were tied because the law is the law, regardless of how unfair it might be.  One office worker told me a story of an elderly woman who had missed a property tax bill on her house one year because no bill was sent.  She paid the following year’s bill and was up to date every year since but that one delinquent year accrued so much interest that she couldn't afford to pay it with her monthly social security checks.  She eventually went into foreclosure and was left homeless.

In fact, interest can be allowed to accrue for up to 15 years and you may never know! The Middletown Tax Collector’s office stated that they “try their best to get statements out as frequently as possible” but they are not required by law to do so and there are times when all municipalities miss sending bills.  Most taxpayers aren’t pacing the floors waiting for their tax bills to arrive and since the town tax collector sends bills only once a year but collects twice a year and the bills are often for the previous billing cycle, you can see where it can all get a tad confusing.

The times when most people miss bills are when they move (either within a town or outside) and when they purchase a new vehicle.  In our case, we bought a new vehicle, moved and didn’t get a bill which was a trifecta of disaster. During these times it’s especially important to be hyper vigilant about making sure you pay all taxes, often in multiple towns, to avoid fees.

Whatever you do, don't depend on the DMV to update your address and hope you'll get a bill.  It often takes a year and a half for that information to be updated in their system and by the time they find you, you could already owe 2 years’ worth of back taxes and fees.

I spoke with a representative of Lee Muscatello’s office in Middletown about the details of this state statute and they were confirmed although I was told that not only do they try to send statements consistently but they are happy to work with taxpayers to make payment plans in order to avoid foreclosures and repositions at all costs.  The Naugatuck office, while bristly, allowed me to pay my bill in three monthly installments which was great except for the part where I was down $300 a month.

While it’s reassuring that cities aren’t eager to leave us homeless or without transportation, it doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s easy to get into a situation to begin with. Nobody wants to be facing those kinds of serious repercussions.  Most of us aren’t trying to purposely avoid taxes but we often assume that we will get a bill and when that time comes, we’ll cringe, let out a deep sigh and cry over our check books as we make the payment.  I never intended to be delinquent on my taxes and if I had known that it was my sole responsibility to keep up with when and how much I owed, I would have been more careful.

As with anything, knowledge is power.  If you didn’t know that you might not get a bill and you need to stay on top of how much you’ve paid and how often, consider yourself informed.  Be sure to check with your local tax office if you aren’t certain that you’ve paid every bill completely.  If you move, be sure to keep track of billing cycles so you don’t miss a payment.  Make sure your mortgage company is staying on top of making payments even if they dont' receive a statement from your tax collector. 

The same goes when you buy a car.  Just because you get a tax bill for your new car doesn’t mean that you got one for the part of the year in which you owned the previous one so be sure to make a call to be sure!   During these times when money is already tight, the last thing you need is a surprise bill in the mail telling you that you missed part of your property taxes back in 2002 and you now owe your town several thousand dollars.