The Vermont Department of Taxes was not able to process all of the property tax adjustment claims in time to meet a July 1 deadline. As a result, towns that sent out their tax bills on that date may have sent the wrong information to property owners.About 70 municipalities send out their tax bills on July 1, and Tax Commissioner Kaj Samsom said municipal officials have been hearing from property owners who are noticing the problems on their tax bills.
“The towns that billed in July are probably not enjoying multiple calls for people thinking that the towns messed up their tax bills,” Samsom said. “We’re definitely regretful and apologize to the town officials that are having to deal with this. In the long term, we have more work to do to encourage more e-filing and get more accurate information on the intake and simplify the system for applying for, and qualifying for, property tax adjustments.”
See the list below of municipalities where people's tax bills could be affected by the delay.
Samsom says most of the problems have been within the homestead declarations, which is where property owners say whether they are full-time Vermont residents.
The department’s new $25 million computer program is flagging many more tax forms that have errors — both small and significant — and Samsom said the department did not anticipate the number of adjustments that would need attention.
“The system is much more able to pick up anomalies and incorrect data,” Samsom said. “So we’re having to learn on the go how to properly allocate staff. The system flagged a lot of returns, and we underestimated the amount of attention we would need to shift to that in June. We think by next year we’ll have this figured out.”
Of the more than 175,000 filings, Samsom said about 14,000 needed further review as of July 1.
The Tax Department sent out a letter recently detailing the issues that have been holding up the property tax adjustments.
Samsom acknowledged that Vermont has a complex tax filing system that requires property owners to declare their homestead status every year. He said the late legislative session also compounded the issue, as important data that is usually available in May was delayed by a month.
The department says all of the correct information will be sent out to towns before the end of July.
Could your tax bill be affected? (And what to do next)
Anyone who notices a mistake on their tax bill is encouraged to contact the Department of Taxes:
- Email: tax.individualincome@vermont.gov
- Phone: (802) 828-2865
And the Tax Department says anyone in the following list of municipalities should check their tax bills for errors:
- Barnard
- Barre City
- Barre Town
- Berlin
- Bethel
- Brandon
- Brattleboro
- Brighton
- Brookline
- Burlington
- Cavendish
- Colchester
- Dover
- Dummerston
- Fair Haven
- Fayston
- Fletcher
- Goshen
- Grafton
- Granby
- Granville
- Hardwick
- Hartford
- Huntington
- Isle La Motte
- Killington
- Ludlow
- Marshfield
- Middlebury
- Montgomery
- Montpelier
- Newbury
- Newfane
- Northfield
- North Hero
- Norwich
- Orange
- Pittsfield
- Plainfield
- Pomfret
- Proctor
- Putney
- Richford
- Richmond
- Rochester
- Rockingham
- Roxbury
- Searsburg
- Shelburne
- South Burlington
- Springfield
- St. Albans City
- St. Albans Town
- Stockbridge
- Stowe
- Tinmouth
- Townshend
- Underhill
- Vergennes
- Victory
- Warren
- Washington
- Waterbury
- Westford
- West Rutland
- Williston
- Wilmington
- Winooski
- Weathersfield
- Worcester
