Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to the Tax Collector’s most commonly asked questions.
ITOP stands for Income Tax Refund Offset Program, under R.I.G.L. § 42-142-7 this program allows for the Division of Taxation to intercept state income tax refunds and apply them to outstanding liabilities owed to governmental entities. This program doesn’t affect your Federal Income Tax Refund. You are noted as having an outstanding Motor Vehicle Tax balance(s) due within the tax years of 2011 to 2019, which means that there is a balance(s) due for one, multiple, or all of these years.
You should continue to make your normally schedule payments to the City Collection Attorney. Your Income Tax Refund Offset received by the City will be reported to our Collection Attorney. In some cases, your outstanding tax debt may not be adequately covered by the offset. Failure to keep your payment schedule could cause a default with our Collection Attorney.
The ITOP program is utilized by multiple agencies besides the City of Pawtucket. The State of Rhode Island will send you a letter indicating why your Refund was Offset, and the respective agency that was in receipt of that Offset. The receiving agencies contact information will be included in that letter from the State. If your reported delinquent Motor Vehicle taxes were recently paid by you, and there was an offset that results in a credit balance with the City of Pawtucket, the City of Pawtucket will refund the credit balance due to you.
A: City of Pawtucket
Per City Charter, 363-52, Interest shall be charged at a rate of 13% annum on the outstanding balance due on delinquent real estate, tangible, and excise taxes. Interest shall begin to accrue following the due date (July 15). Interest accruing on delinquent real estate, tangible, and excise taxes shall commence following the original due date of the bill (July 15). Thereafter, any delinquencies through, and no later than, the end of the month following the due date of an annual or quarterly payment shall be calculated from the due date of that specific quarter up to and including the date of payment. However, any delinquencies on or beyond the first of the month following the due date of a quarterly payment shall be calculated from the original date of the bill (July 15) up to and including the date of payment.
No. You may pay all your accounts with one check. Please reference each tax account number on the memo line of the check in case coupons get misplaced.
A: The Motor Vehicle taxes are assessed for vehicles registered during the prior year. For example, your 2020 Excise Tax Bill is for the vehicles you had registered in calendar year 2019. This information is sent to us from the Registry of Motor Vehicles. If you do not turn your plates in on any vehicle sold, junked, or traded, you will be assessed taxes on that vehicle until the registration expires. If a vehicle is stolen, you must also report this to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Call the Tax Assessor for any questions or concerns about your registrations: 728-0500 ext.218.
Per the City of Pawtucket’s City Charter, all prior year taxes must be paid before payments can be accepted on current year taxes.
This processing system is a service that is done directly with the city’s banking institute to accept payment directly through a post office box located in Providence, RI. This service allows a direct method of depositing your payments into our bank.
Any tax with an annual amount of $ 99.99 or less is paid once, in full in July. If the quarterly amounts have zeros on the stubs, then there are no further payments due. The first quarterly amount would also be the entire balance of the bill. If there were other payments needed, the quarterly amounts of each stub would have a figure.
If your bank is holding an escrow account on your mortgage to pay your real estate taxes, they are requesting your bill directly from us and it has been forwarded to them. If you receive your bill directly, please forward it on to your mortgage company, listing your loan number on the bill.
All delinquent and current motor vehicle taxes must be paid IN FULL by cash, money order, or certified bank check only. Once this is done, we can provide you with a clearance to bring to the Registry, or we can e-mail a release to remove the block for renewal purposes only.
Note:
If you decide to pay by personal check, we will NOT be able to give you a release
until 15 business days or if you can provide proof from the bank that the check has cleared.
All delinquent tangible taxes must be paid in FULL before we can release a block on your business license.