Norwalk Issues Tax Bills

Press release from the City of Norwalk:

July 8, 2021

The Norwalk Tax Collector’s office released the following information about tax bills.

General Information:

Norwalk taxpayers will have until Monday, August 2, 2021 to pay their property tax bills for real estate, motor vehicle, and business personal property taxes, and sewer use charges, without interest penalty. These bills are due July 1, 2021, and reflect the first installment of charges due on the grand list of October 1, 2020. Bills were mailed to Norwalk taxpayers beginning on June 21.
Please visit norwalkct.org/taxcollector for complete details.

Norwalk City Hall is open with no appointment necessary, and payment can be made in-person at the Tax Collector’s Office on the first floor of City Hall. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Taxpayers may pay by check, money order, cash, credit card, debit card, or ATM card.

Taxpayers may also pay taxes in person at one of 10 Norwalk bank branch locations of the following banks: Bankwell; M & T Bank; Fairfield County Bank; Patriot National Bank; Webster Bank; and Norwalk Bank and Trust. There is no charge for the service, and the taxpayer does not need to be a customer of the bank to use this service, but they must bring their current tax bill. The banks accept payments through August 2 only. This service is offered subject to the bank branches’ own COVID-19 restrictions and directives, if any.

Information on the various options for making tax payments is available at
norwalkct.org/taxcollector. Taxpayers may pay in person; by mail; online; or by telephone. Taxpayers may call (203) 318-9523 to pay by telephone using a credit, debit or ATM card, or an electronic check (“E Check” or ACH payment). Credit, debit, and ATM cards may also be used to pay on line, or in person at City Hall. The charge for an E Check is $1.25. The E Check is an economical, secure option that eliminates the anxiety and delay of mailing payments. Visit www.invoicecloud.com/cityofnor... to pay online.

Taxpayers who wish to pay by mail may use the response envelope mailed with their tax bill. Payments postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service on or before August 2, 2021 will be considered timely, regardless of when they are received by the tax collector’s office

Electronic Bill Pay:

Warning about electronic bill payment / telephone bill pay services: Please be careful when using your own banks’ bill payment services. These services may not mail your payment when you expect them to. You assume the risk of your payment arriving late if you choose to use these services. These payments come to us without a postmark, and because of this, payments must be RECEIVED BY OUR OFFICE before the last day to pay (on or before August 2) in order to be considered timely. Normally, the postmark controls, but if there is no postmark, timeliness depends solely upon our receipt of the payment. Read the instructions and warnings provided by your own bank before using any 'pay by phone' or electronic bill payment service. Many service providers advise NOT to use the service for tax or other time sensitive payments. If you use electronic banking services, you are responsible for entering your payment information accurately and completely. Your payment may not being processed if you fail to provide accurate account numbers and other necessary information. If your payment cannot be processed due to your own error or omission, you will be charged a $20 return transaction fee, as if you had a check returned unpaid.

Motor Vehicle Clearance Information:

The Department of Motor Vehicles encourages taxpayers to go online to process transactions. You can verify your tax status and other compliance issues with DMV online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.ct.gov/dmv/online. Please note that if you pay today by credit card through the city’s service portal (Invoice Cloud), either by phone or online, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE IMMEDIATE CLEARANCE FOR DMV.

If you pay through Invoice Cloud today, the City will update your account with your payment information on the following business day. You will then be cleared with DMV the morning of the next business day following that. This means you will not be cleared to register with DMV until TWO BUSINESS DAYS AFTER you make payment through the Invoice Cloud service.
Payments made in-person today at the Tax Collector's office window are cleared with DMV overnight. You will be cleared to register with DMV on the following business day. If a tax clearance for DMV is needed, please DO NOT USE the E-Check option for method of payment. If you choose to use this method, the Tax Collector's Office may not be able to clear you for registration for as long as 30 days, unless you are able to show that the check has cleared your account.

The best way to avoid problems with compliance at the DMV is to pay your motor vehicle taxes on time, before they are late.

Late Payments:

Payments received August 3, 2021 and later will be charged at the rate of 3% through August 31. This represents 1.5 % per month for two months (July and August) as interest reverts back to the July 1 due date. This rate will remain the same throughout the month of August. Interest is not charged per diem but rather by the month. Taxpayers who are unsure about what they may owe may look up their taxes online at http://my.norwalkct.org/eTaxbill/.

Failure to have received a tax bill does NOT exempt the taxpayer from interest charges. Interest is charged on all late payments, with absolutely no exception, in accordance with state law.

Please visit norwalkct.org for more information about city services and government, as well as timely and reliable information about COVID-19.

This press release was produced by the City of Norwalk. The views expressed here are the author's own.