Submitted by yaxgto t3_z999ep in springfieldMO
First year paying taxes in Missouri. Ouch. Hope can the county want all this money and only gives someone 31 days to pay it at Christmas time. What happens if you don't pay by the 31st can you still register a car?
Tbh I hardly ever pay my taxes on time. It’s the worst time of year for it. I know I should plan it out during the year but I also never know how much it’s going to be either. It sucks. They do charge a late fee, but it’s not too bad for the first few months. Honestly I just say fuck it and wait as long as possible 🫠
edit I do believe you will need to pay it before registering a car, though
I always set aside money through the year to cover my taxes, makes the sting a little less. $3200 between insurance, property, real estate, and plates this year, glad I'm outside Greene or it would be more.
Could donate plasma at biolife, if you want to try and avoid the late fees?
Springfield has high taxes. I live in Bokivar. And enjoy much lower.... but I also stash money each month to be able to pay.
If you have to wait, it's just a small fine, the amounts should be on your bill. But the fine increases every month
The late fees are cheap, five dollars a month, I believe.
Also, the assessor's, and especially the collector's offices are very easy to deal with if you ever need to talk to them on the phone or in person.
Edit: It's 10% the first month and 2% each month thereafter. So it could actually be a lot of you owe a lot, my bad.
Definitely not $5 a month. The first month you’re late, it is a significant percentage of the original total and it just increases thereafter by a smaller amount.
Yeah, I was wrong, I fixed it.
I ended up forgetting to pay my car property tax for 3 years in a row because I moved and didn't get the reminder notice in the mail. I think the late fee maxes out, but the first month is like 10% (or something similar) of the total. I believe they have to be paid in order to register your car. If your tags are expired, there may be a 30 day grace period before they charge a late fee ($30 I think) . Hope this helps, (source had to deal with this over the summer)
Moved to Missouri about four years ago. Those first couple years were tough. The state I moved from did not tax you on vehicles you already owned. No Personal Property Taxes. Imagine my surprise when I tried to renew my license plates after a two year tag. Didn’t know about it. No one ever said anything about it. I agree the timing sucks. Back in my former state our property taxes were higher with no personal property taxes. Here in Missouri we have both property taxes and personal property taxes. In comparison between the two states the amount paid either way is about the same.
You do have to pay personal property taxes before registering a car. That is why people drive around with expired tags or no plates on their vehicles. They don’t have the money.
Been there…
I would imagine if there was a strong enough presence of people showing up to City Council meetings asking them to modify the dates they would reconsider. It would take some work on the backend but the payment deadline is by far the worse time of the year for majority of families.
I just think it's super cool how because of the nonsense in the world last year my car, that im not going to sell, literally appreciated in value therefore costing more this year than it did last year in taxes... horseshit.
Homeowners wait till next year when RE gets assessed and you see your escrow payment increase by like 15%...
You have to pay SALES tax when you buy the car
My escrow went up 35% with tax and insurance increases.
Your personal property also has to be up to date to get tags.
Ah. Yes.
Right cause they overvalued by travel trailer by a good 9,000 and my truck by another 10,000 so is there no way to fix that? If not I'm willing to sell these vehicles to the county at their quoted price.
Very well could be state mandated timing, I've never heard of anyone around here doing anything different. But I could be wrong.
Oh boy, escrow payments went up crazy 2 years ago I think when the sps bond issue passed.
It is what it is, inflation means while you pay more in actual dollars, the value should be the same unless increased tax percentage.
Sales tax and personal property taxes… sucks. I add 10% to the cost of the vehicle when purchasing to cover those costs.
tdawg-1551 t1_iyfnq1e wrote
You are fine to pay the taxes late. You would just need to pay prior to the month your plates are due. So if they are due in June, you could wait until then to pay the property tax. There are late fees for each month you are late however.