Deadline For Filing Marietta Municipal Income Tax Extended

MARIETTA, OH — Tax season is upon us and the IRS just pushed the due date for filing federal returns to May 17. While the City of Marietta doesn’t have to change their deadline too, they are. Bonnie Duff, Deputy Tax Director for the City of Marietta Income Tax, says it’s important to take advantage of this extension to pay your taxes. “You have between now and May 17, 2021, to get your Marietta municipal income tax in.”

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Any Marietta city resident who didn’t receive a city tax return in the mail can go to city hall and pick one up. Duff says they’re even willing to help filing it. “We just need your tax return, your W-2s. It takes us five minutes and we don’t charge anything.”

Duff says the most important thing for city residents to do is just file. Because of covid, Marietta city residents can still file their 2019 returns without late fees, penalties, or interest. “Now would be a good time to file if you owe.” She says if you owe money, that isn’t a problem, they can work out payment plans. “We do have options. If you are on a payment plan, you’re charged a 1% penalty every month.”

According to Duff, it is very important to pay city taxes. “Our taxes pay for our police, fire and streets. It’s all divvied out. If anyone’s hurt, if a house is on fire, people are there to help, and that’s because of city taxes.” You can go down to city hall to get your income taxes done, they only do city income taxes. “We’ve had a couple of people call asking if we do federal, we do not.”

Paying your local taxes isn’t just the right thing to do, it is a legal obligation. “If someone just doesn’t pay their taxes, we take them to court.” Retired city residents are exempt from the 1.85% city income tax. But anyone else who doesn’t pay can face legal action. “We don’t want to, but we will if we have to.” They notify folks that they need to file, but if that doesn’t work they send an in-office subpoena, then it can escalate to a law director. “They may owe us money, but when we go to court they’re going to owe us a lot more money.”

Duff says, for the most part, they get these situations worked out. “People are just scared, they get behind and then they just don’t want to do it.” She reiterated that once they get people in to file, they can figure something out. “Just come in, we will work with you and treat you the same way you would want to be treated if we were in your shoes.”

According to Duff, once people who are behind on their taxes get in the door, they’re surprised by how easy they make it. “I get it, no one wants to pay taxes. We pay it too, we understand.” Many people living in Marietta work for an employer who doesn’t withhold city income tax. Her message is simple. “Come in, we’ll help you out.”

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