Warrant In Debt For Owed Personal Property Taxes

[mikedwhitty]

Virginia
I am technically being sued by the state of Virginia represented by a taxing consulting company for owed personal property taxes. My court date is coming up tomorrow (I just received the notice they left on an apartment door that I haven't lived at in over a year) and I am looking for advice on how to handle the situation. I no longer live in Virginia so going to court is impossible (also not required, however judgement will be passed against me in my absence). I would like to pay it off but the amount has gone from $440 in taxes to $728 with added fees and interest. I plan on contacting the tax consulting office today but I need to know what my options are with them. If possible, I would like to settle for a lower amount and pay this off immediately but I have no experience in dealing with a company like this. Will they likely resolve to allow me to pay a lower amount and offer some sort of payment plan? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[LdiJ]

Virginia
I am technically being sued by the state of Virginia represented by a taxing consulting company for owed personal property taxes. My court date is coming up tomorrow (I just received the notice they left on an apartment door that I haven't lived at in over a year) and I am looking for advice on how to handle the situation. I no longer live in Virginia so going to court is impossible (also not required, however judgement will be passed against me in my absence). I would like to pay it off but the amount has gone from $440 in taxes to $728 with added fees and interest. I plan on contacting the tax consulting office today but I need to know what my options are with them. If possible, I would like to settle for a lower amount and pay this off immediately but I have no experience in dealing with a company like this. Will they likely resolve to allow me to pay a lower amount and offer some sort of payment plan? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

In my experience, once a collection agency (my translation of "tax consulting company") gets involved in collecting any kind of state tax, there is no compromising that will happen. In fact, in my state, when I, as a tax professional proved that my client did not in fact owe the taxes that had been sent to collections, my client still had to pay the collections agency to get the judgement removed, and then wait for a refund from the state.

 

[FlyingRon]

The Commonwealth isn't involved in property tax. It's levied by the county or independent city that the property is in. So it would help to know what county/independent city this is.

I assume you're not in the military or a student.

Most counties will allow you to set up a payment plan at 10% so interest. There's also a fee for the collection action and you have already likely realized there's a 10% delinquency fee for even being one day late. You should call both the company and the county/city and discuss the issue. I'm not as pessimistic as LdiJ.

They'd have more leverage over you if you still resided in the Commonwealth, as they would block your DMV renewals.