Town of Bellingham Extends Tax Deadline to June 1

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR FY2020 TAX BILLS

Under “An Act to Address Challenges Faced by Municipalities and State Authorities Resulting From COVID-19,” Chapter 53 of the Acts of 2020, the Town of Bellingham has adopted local options to extend due dates for real and personal property tax payments and applications for exemptions and a waiver of interest on certain municipal tax and other bills paid by June 30, 2020. More information follows.

1. The due date of FY2020 4th QUARTER REAL ESTATE and PERSONAL PROPERTY tax bills has been extended to June 1, 2020.
2. The due dates of FY2020 MOTOR EXCISE, WATER, SEWER, and TRASH bills has been extended to June 1, 2020 for bills previously due between March 10 and May 1, 2020.
3. The due date for applications for property tax exemptions and tax deferrals has been extended to June 1, 2020. This extension applies to applications for the exemptions listed in the third paragraph of G.L. c. 59, § 59, including exemptions under clauses 17, 17C, 17C1/2 and 17D (seniors, surviving spouses, minor children of deceased parent); 18 (financial hardship – activated military, age and infirmity); 22, 22A, 22B, 22C, 22D, 22E, 22F and 22H (veterans, surviving spouses and surviving parents); 37 and 37A (blind persons); 41, 41B, 41C and 41C1/2 (seniors); 42 and 43 (surviving spouse and minor children of firefighter/police officer killed in line of duty); 52 (certain eligible seniors); 53 (certain eligible properties with septic systems); 56 (National Guard and reservists on active duty in foreign countries); and 57 (local option tax rebates). This extension also automatically applies to applications for small commercial exemptions under G.L. c. 59, § 5I and for deferrals under G.L. c. 59, § 5, clauses 41A (seniors) and 18A (poverty or financial hardship due to change to active military).
4. The town has also elected to waive interest and other penalty for late payment of FY2020 excise, tax, betterment assessment or apportionment thereof, water, sewer, trash or other charge added to a tax, and current user charges for water, sewer, and trash, for any payments with a due date on or after March 10, 2020 where payment is made late but received on or before June 30, 2020. This section applies to late payments of bills that have a due date of March 10, 2020 or after, when such bills are paid late but payment is received by the Collector/Treasurer on or before June 30, 2020. This waiver of interest and penalty does not apply to bills with due dates before March 10, 2020 or if payment is not received by June 30, 2020.

NOTE: If the municipal offices are closed on the June 1, 2020 extended due date for tax payments or filing of exemption applications as a result of the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus or the declaration of a state of emergency issued by the governor on March 10, 2020, the due dates for tax payments and applications for exemptions are not extended – they will be due on June 1, 2020 even if the municipal offices are closed. (See section 10(b) of the Act.)

TO MAKE PAYMENTS
To make payment(s) online, please visit https://www.bellinghamma.org/collector-treasurer
To mail payment(s), please send payment and remittance stub to: Bellingham Collector/Treasurer, PO Box 204, Bellingham, MA 02019
To drop off payment(s), please place it/them in the drive-up dropoff box located in front of the Municipal Center. Please do not put cash in the drop box.

For more information, please email us at [email protected] or call 508-657-2848

TO APPLY FOR EXEMPTIONS
Questions regarding Residential, Veterans, Seniors, Blind, and Small Business Exemption applications can be directed to the Town Assessor’s office via telephone at 508.657.2862 or via email to [email protected]

SUMMARY OF PAYMENT DUE DATES
One way or another, real estate, personal property, motor excise and water-sewer-trash bills must all be paid by June 1, 2020.