Personal Property Tax

Submitted by kristinatsarina t3_127lcu9 in rva

Hey everyone,

So I’m trying to figure out what I can do regarding my personal property tax. I haven’t received any correspondence about it in probably almost two years now. I’ve tried reaching out via email but no response. I’m also not able to look it up because it requires an account number which would be on the bill. Any suggestions? I’ve checked all of my information regarding my new address etc but I’ve lived in this building for almost 3 years so not really sure what’s going on. Any else have any similar problems with it?

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TripawdCorgi t1_jeekyra wrote

Go down to the finance dept in city hall to ask in person. They take forever to return phone calls or emails. It took getting my councilperson involved and they finally called the same day I got them involved.

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fusion260 t1_jeeu34k wrote

This is going to suck, OP, but that's the only way to do this. Stop trying to make it convenient for yourself and go in person because, as far as the City is concerned, you're responsible for paying those taxes.

You'll probably get multiple tax bills at the same time since they'll want back taxes; see my comments elsewhere in this thread since it happened to me 😒

I wish someone gave me that advice the first year I moved to Richmond because it would have saved me a lot of unnecessary frustration years later.

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MrDeene t1_jegd7xk wrote

This is the way, the only way.

Went down to city hall last year and had it handled after getting hit with bills even though I'd been a Henrico resident for over a year. At least 6-8 other people were there for the same reason.

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PimmentoChode t1_jeeopxe wrote

So, are you saying you haven’t received any personal property tax bills in years and so you haven’t paid any?

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fusion260 t1_jeeste0 wrote

It happens more often than you think.

It happened to me when I moved here from Florida 11 years ago. I got my VA Driver's License, registered my car, registered to vote, got my utilities set up, and thought that was all I had to do. Three years later, I heard coworkers talking about their personal property taxes for their car and I went "whaaat, I haven't gotten any bills, is this for anyone who has a car here in Virginia?"

So, being the honest person I was, I tried contacting Richmond City's tax department over a few weeks and would only get the answering machine. Left voicemails, sent two emails, and nothing. Then a few months later, I get three year's worth of personal property tax bills on the same day... all due upon receipt. I couldn't afford the $2950 they were asking for (for a three year-old car) and could only pay one of the three bills at the time, so of course the other two went to collections until I could pay them over the next few months 😑

Shame on me for not doing their job, I guess.

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fusion260 t1_jeetka2 wrote

Oh! And when I moved to Henrico in 2016 and updated my registration, Henrico was on the ball and had me on record within weeks of moving here.

Richmond, on the other hand, continued to bill my leased car originally signed when I lived in Richmond, for two years after I returned it to the dealer. Then, because Kia Financing refused to pay taxes for a car I didn't have (and didn't notify me since that account was closed), and they probably sold to someone else, Richmond found my Henrico address and sent me collections notices for two years of back taxes... for a car I didn't have.

Took over six months to get them to finally knock it off and cancel the collections agency's account for me. I had to send them multiple copies of me returning the car to the Kia dealer and that I had been living in Henrico (and had that and my new car registered there) the entire time they were trying to collect taxes. 🤬

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BureauOfBureaucrats t1_jef92fi wrote

This right here is the standard and typical City of Richmond tax experience. I initially moved to the city (Southside) because I don’t like suburbs at all.

The City of Richmond is so fucking incompetent and up its own ass I promptly moved to Henrico at the end of my lease. I hate that city’s government on a cellular level and the car tax issue was just one of several negative experiences I had in that year. Richmond City is so bad I’d rather live in a meh suburb than a shitty city.

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goodsam2 t1_jeetgss wrote

I think this is due to flawed thinking about how often people move, the average is incredibly low sometimes. They never follow up via email or phone which are not tied to an address.

The average person who owns a home moves every 8 years... Right before 2008 the average for an owned home was much lower at 4 years. That's not including renters.

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PimmentoChode t1_jeetewc wrote

I guess, but everyone knows they owe taxes. One of the only 2 guarantees in life, and the other is death. After 1 year knowing I didn’t pay taxes, I’d be quick to get that figured out so fees and interest don’t pile up, and it doesn’t go to collections. Ever tried to tell the city they’re at fault?

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fusion260 t1_jeeun0n wrote

>I guess, but everyone knows they owe taxes.

Yeah, I knew I owed taxes and was already paying several new taxes I didn't have in Florida. But nobody gave me a guidebook for "first time Virginia residents" telling me I had to make sure all the different agencies did their jobs and set up my account in their systems so they could bill me.

I certainly didn't think I'd be owing Richmond City taxes on a new car I purchased (and already paid Florida sales tax) five months before moving here.

ETA: I did try telling the city they're at fault for not getting the records from the DMV, despite me registering for utilities and voting in the city 3 months after I moved here in 2012. They didn't care and literally said this was on me.

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PimmentoChode t1_jeeuwdl wrote

Fair, I missed that Florida part! No PPT, niiiiice.

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fusion260 t1_jeevg9e wrote

As a Florida native and resident of 30 years, IMHO, that's the only good thing about Florida 😏

Saw off the state and let it float away, Bugs!

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BureauOfBureaucrats t1_jef9afg wrote

> But nobody gave me a guidebook for "first time Virginia residents"

I’ve lived in 7 states and Virginia was the least “user friendly” for new first-time residents of them all.

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No-Bet-7897 t1_jeevuks wrote

Not every state requires personal property taxes on a vehicle

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jhilljr t1_jefcaw8 wrote

Hey everyone! I work at city hall but not in this department.

The best way to get this resolved is to come in person. I know that is a pain in the ass but you will get it resolved quicker that way.

The problems with the city government are because the people running city hall do not care about you. It is not the employees fault. Mangers and such making 80k+ a year do next to nothing and do not have any initiative to make it easier for you to pay your taxes.

As for your personal situation, be prepared to pay penalty and interest on all of those bills you have not paid as of yet. Its gonna hurt. They won't waive penalty and interest because "you should know that these bills are due."

PM me if you have any questions.

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kristinatsarina OP t1_jeflz78 wrote

That’s wild. Yeah I might have to do that. I mean when I was waiting on my passport I contacted Mark Warners office as they had the wrong address so I never got correspondence that they needed additional info. They took care of it very quickly and I didn’t have to pay an additional passport application or anything after like an additional six months of waiting. That’s really shitty to charge people when they don’t have either the address correct and then never reach back out to people.

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momthom427 t1_jefm3ab wrote

That office is terrible. My realtor warned me when I bought in the city to put the due dates on my calendar because the city likely wouldn’t send a bill. Then they WOULD send a late notice with penalties. I’ve been here two years and have still not received real estate or personal property bills. I occasionally get utility bills. I have given up on any communication other than going in person. It sucks, it’s inconvenient, but it’s the only way I know to stay on top of it.

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thepointsdontmatt3r t1_jeequ2e wrote

When it comes to personal property taxes in the City, as has been mentioned, going in person is the best solution.

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_paige1 t1_jefcz7g wrote

Email your local representative and explain your situation. My partner experienced a similar issue and he got a response and the issue was fixed within days.

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burneraccountlolz t1_jegr6gg wrote

Co-sign on the emailing of your council person. I was in the same boat as you and emailed mine and they sent it directly to the finance director who handled it for me personally. When they fucked it up again the next year all I had to do was re-reply to the chain and say “hey it happened again” and it got taken care of quickly.

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hachikocarlotta t1_jefsuy7 wrote

I had the same problem. Emails only resulted in replies sending me to the website to look it up but since I didn't have a bill number, etc. and which is why I was emailing (sigh). So I tried to call one time before I went down to city hall. I admit I was on hold for almost 15 minutes but the representative was able to find out the amount I owed (with interest), the bill number, and also found out the address on file was my old address. (I've lived at new address for 4 years.)

She submitted a 311 ticket to update address and I went online with my bill number and paid.

(804) 646-5700

Before going down there try calling, and prepare to stay on hold for awhile but it beats going down there.

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