you should honestly just email or call the tax department, they responded to me by email within 24 hours last time i needed something...

the original deadline was indeed Nov 1 but because of the disaster that is our local executive govt the budget was late and therefore the tax bills were late and therefore the due date was changed to nov 28

i suspect either the systems were not properly updated and interest is still being calculated from nov 1 by mistake or whatever silly rule they used to change the deadline from nov 1 to nov 28 purposely didn't forgive interest

I did email them. Valerie Forester responded and said that the system is correct, that the due date was November 28th, but because the payment wasn't received by then, the interest accrual date reverted back to November 1st. I don't understand how anyone was supposed to know that, and given that their website expressly states that there's a 10 day grace period on payment, this seems a little predatory.

Is it because the bill was DUE on the 28th for a bill ended on 11/1. So as long as you pay on time you’re fine but miss and you owe internet accrued from 11/1 to 11/28? Kinda like those furniture deals where you don’t pay for 48 months. But if you DONT then 48 months of interest is due at the end.

I know policies like that exist, but generally people are actually aware of the policy. I was actually surprised when I went on the portal and saw the due date was November 28th, but I decided to go off of what the tax portal expressly said rather than assume interest would start accruing from the beginning of the month.

[deleted]

Luckily that wasn't the case. I was able to pay by CC, I'm just pissed about the unexpected month of interest.

Just fyi I am pretty sure after the  10 day grace period you will be locked out of paying by credit card online. You will have to go to the tax department in person and pay
with cash or a bank check.
 
You will also be put on the naughty  list  (tax lien) list that gets published in the local
newspapers every 2 weeks. They only do that for 4th quarter late payments.
 
Happen to me a few times because I just forgot to pay the 4th quarter bill.  Even after you pay your name is still published they don’t clean up the list for publishing.
 
Being on that list is no fun neighbors start rumors that you are losing your house … “is everything all right the  Anderson’s? I heard they are losing their house”. Also investment sharks start calling your house.

They explained the penalty in the letter they sent out with the bill. Also, the bill is normally due 11/1 but they extended it as a courtesy because the budget was not finalized until merely days prior. We are expected to know these things. Ignorance of the law does not excuse you of penalty unfortunately.

I too do not read the fine print for everything. The way I do not let this impact me is to make sure I pay my bills in time. Life happens. Consider it tuition paid for a life lesson learned and move on.

Normal qtr bill is due on 11/1 every year. Just pay the bill in time to hit the system by normal due date and you will never be penalized. If there is an extra grace period some years, don’t take it. Simple. Foolproof.