So, like a fool, I failed to pay my automobile excise tax. Then, like a bigger fool, I got confused about when my (non-renewable) car registration was going to expire. It was last week, not the end of this month.
So I've been driving my daughter's car all week. Not a big problem, but not normal/convenient. Also, FYI, my cell phone is on the fritz at the moment. Probably need a new one.
Today, I was going to go pay the back taxes. So I drove up to the special "deputy tax collector" office.
The nice lady there took my name and told me how much I owed. Oh, by the way, cash or money order only. I wasn't entirely surprised by this, so I walked to the nearest ATM to get some more cash.
Walked back to the office, paid the amount.
She handed me a receipt stating the tax was paid and that the registry "flag" had been cleared via computer.
So I asked her for a copy of the directions to get to the nearest registry branch.
Drove to the nearest registry branch.
Got my little "now serving #" number.
Waited for 25 minutes until my number came up.
Went up to the window and talked to the nice registry lady.
The nice registry lady said "You have outstanding excise taxes you need to pay."
I cleverly pulled the receipt from my pocket, both for the excise taxes and for the parking ticket that Colleen went and paid earlier in the week.
"No," she said, "you need a 'registry release'."
This seemed odd to me, given that my excise receipt said it had been managed electronically. She seemed to think it slightly odd too, because when she suggested I call them and I allowed as how my phone wasn't working, she picked up the phone and called the excise tax people.
And that's when we discovered that only 1 of our cars is registered in my name first. The other two have Colleen's name first. And of course, they have back taxes owed on them too. But they didn't come up under my name when I went to pay.
So, I drove back to the excise tax office and talked to a different nice lady who told me how much I owed. Unfortunately, this was more than I could take out of the bank at an ATM in one day, so I wrote her a check for the portion for which a check was acceptable and went on my way. I'll have to go back, and of course, it's not real convenient to spend 30-40 minutes driving up there, another 10-15 to get to the registry, half an hour at the registry, and then another 30-40 driving home (assuming all goes well).
So I'm not real happy at the moment.
But I bet you could figure that out.
So I've been driving my daughter's car all week. Not a big problem, but not normal/convenient. Also, FYI, my cell phone is on the fritz at the moment. Probably need a new one.
Today, I was going to go pay the back taxes. So I drove up to the special "deputy tax collector" office.
The nice lady there took my name and told me how much I owed. Oh, by the way, cash or money order only. I wasn't entirely surprised by this, so I walked to the nearest ATM to get some more cash.
Walked back to the office, paid the amount.
She handed me a receipt stating the tax was paid and that the registry "flag" had been cleared via computer.
So I asked her for a copy of the directions to get to the nearest registry branch.
Drove to the nearest registry branch.
Got my little "now serving #" number.
Waited for 25 minutes until my number came up.
Went up to the window and talked to the nice registry lady.
The nice registry lady said "You have outstanding excise taxes you need to pay."
I cleverly pulled the receipt from my pocket, both for the excise taxes and for the parking ticket that Colleen went and paid earlier in the week.
"No," she said, "you need a 'registry release'."
This seemed odd to me, given that my excise receipt said it had been managed electronically. She seemed to think it slightly odd too, because when she suggested I call them and I allowed as how my phone wasn't working, she picked up the phone and called the excise tax people.
And that's when we discovered that only 1 of our cars is registered in my name first. The other two have Colleen's name first. And of course, they have back taxes owed on them too. But they didn't come up under my name when I went to pay.
So, I drove back to the excise tax office and talked to a different nice lady who told me how much I owed. Unfortunately, this was more than I could take out of the bank at an ATM in one day, so I wrote her a check for the portion for which a check was acceptable and went on my way. I'll have to go back, and of course, it's not real convenient to spend 30-40 minutes driving up there, another 10-15 to get to the registry, half an hour at the registry, and then another 30-40 driving home (assuming all goes well).
So I'm not real happy at the moment.
But I bet you could figure that out.
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