A Taxing Mistake
Oct. 22nd, 2024 06:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeYesterday I worked my way through a pile of mail that I thought was all bulk/advertising. Imagine how I felt when the letter from the Lyon County Treasurer's office with the property tax bill fell out. That's the property tax for both Fernley House and the East Lot.
Lyon County property taxes are due in four installments. I would have missed the first installment anyway because the bill probably arrived in early August and I was still in the UK when the payment came due. That's a 4% penalty for late payment. But wait: the second payment was due more than ten days ago, and that means a 5% penalty over all four payments. (Not cumulative; just 5% total for all of the payments.)
I paid the four payments, plus the 5% penalty. I also scheduled the remaining payments (with no further penalties) in my online banking. Those payments aren't due until the first week of January and the first week of March. At least there is no further penalty other than the 5% penalty on the first four payments.
The property taxes may be the only bills I get only on paper. (That includes the tax on a piece of property in Yuba County, California in which I inherited a half-interest from my mother, but I got that one after I got home and paid my half of it with no issue.) I don't know any way to have them delivered electronically. Had they been e-billed to me, I would have scheduled all eight payments.
I do not resent paying property taxes. They are necessary for funding services, and the rates here are not high (of course, the level of services are also not high). I just wish there was an e-bill option. Other local services like the city water/sewer bill can manage it; I wonder why the county can't.
Lyon County property taxes are due in four installments. I would have missed the first installment anyway because the bill probably arrived in early August and I was still in the UK when the payment came due. That's a 4% penalty for late payment. But wait: the second payment was due more than ten days ago, and that means a 5% penalty over all four payments. (Not cumulative; just 5% total for all of the payments.)
I paid the four payments, plus the 5% penalty. I also scheduled the remaining payments (with no further penalties) in my online banking. Those payments aren't due until the first week of January and the first week of March. At least there is no further penalty other than the 5% penalty on the first four payments.
The property taxes may be the only bills I get only on paper. (That includes the tax on a piece of property in Yuba County, California in which I inherited a half-interest from my mother, but I got that one after I got home and paid my half of it with no issue.) I don't know any way to have them delivered electronically. Had they been e-billed to me, I would have scheduled all eight payments.
I do not resent paying property taxes. They are necessary for funding services, and the rates here are not high (of course, the level of services are also not high). I just wish there was an e-bill option. Other local services like the city water/sewer bill can manage it; I wonder why the county can't.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-22 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-10-22 10:09 pm (UTC)If the county offered a discount for payment up front like your council does, I'd consider paying the whole thing at once, but since they do not, I prefer to keep the money in my account a long as possible.
I hope that someday they go to e-billing, because I would have incurred that first penalty no matter what, on account of them giving me so little time to pay it. The ability to do nearly all of my banking and pay all of my bills online gave me the freedom to take a seven-week trip to Iceland/England/Scotland/Wales.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-23 06:32 am (UTC)I have used online banking in the past, but our City Hall didn't seem to be good about handling those checks when I tried, so I gave it up. They might have improved, but I just keep on with what works.