New Due Date for Property Tax Bills/Temporary Waiver of Penalties and Interest

At the Halifax Board of Selectmen meeting held on Tuesday, April 7, 2020, the Board of Selectmen voted to:

a) change the official due date for payment of the second-half property tax bills from May 1, 2020 to June 1, 2020;

b) change the official deadline for filing applications for property tax exemptions (such as elderly, blind, veteran) from April 1, 2020 to June 1, 2020;

c) waive any penalties and interest for late payments made between March 10, 2020 and June 29, 2020 on all bills (motor vehicle, property tax, water) that have due dates between March 10, 2020 and June 29, 2020.

Why June 29, 2020? The wording of the state legislation is specific that payments must be made _before_ June 30, 2020, not _before_or_on_ June 30, 2020. Therefore, if a late payment is made on June 30, 2020 or after that date, then penalties and interest will be charged. If there is a clarification or a new law that changes the end of the waiver period from June 29, 2020 to June 30, 2020, I'll post that information here.

If a late payment is made on June 30, 2020 or after that date, interest will be calculated based on the due date of the bill. So, the calculation of interest will be based on the due date of June 1, 2020 for property taxes and the specific due dates for any motor vehicle excise bills or water bills.

The waiver described above does not include bills that had a due date before March 10, 2020. For instance, there will be no waiver of interest on a late payment made for a property tax bill that was due on November 1, 2019.