Received notice for delinquent township income tax from 2021 - who do I contact about paying 2022 taxes before getting penalties?

The good news is you can absolutely get ahead of this situation! You'll want to contact the tax department for your township directly. Most townships have their own tax office or department that handles local income taxes. First, call the township administration office and ask for the tax department contact information. Explain your situation clearly - that you moved there in 2021, just discovered the withholding issue, and want to proactively pay your 2022 and 2023 taxes before incurring penalties. Many local tax offices are actually quite helpful when you're being proactive. You'll likely need to file the local tax returns for those years and pay any amount due. Bring documentation showing when you moved to the township in 2021 to support your dispute of the full year amount. They might also have a form for requesting penalty abatement for the 2021 taxes since this was your first year in the township and you weren't properly informed of the tax requirement.

After dealing with a similar nightmare with my township taxes, I found an online service called taxr.ai that saved me so much stress. I was also hit with unexpected local tax bills because my employer wasn't withholding correctly when I moved. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my situation, and they helped me figure out exactly what I owed for each partial year based on my move dates. They even generated the right documentation to dispute the incorrect assessment amounts. The service walks you through uploading your notices and pay stubs, then explains exactly what you need to do step by step. For your situation, they could help calculate your actual 2022 liability so you know exactly what to pay when you contact the township, plus help with any forms you need to submit.

Just wanted to update that I actually tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and it was incredibly helpful! I was in the exact same situation with township taxes not being withheld after moving mid-year. The service calculated my actual liability for each township I lived in during 2022 (I moved twice that year). They generated letters for me to send to both townships explaining the situation and showing my corrected tax amounts with my residency dates. They even had the exact forms I needed for my specific townships in Pennsylvania! What I really appreciated was how they explained everything in plain English instead of tax jargon. Definitely worth checking out if you're trying to sort out local tax issues before they go to collections.

If you're getting the runaround from your township tax office, I strongly recommend using Claimyr to connect with them. I spent WEEKS trying to reach our township tax department - constant busy signals, voicemails never returned, emails ignored. Super frustrating when you're trying to fix a problem proactively like you are. I found https://claimyr.com and they got me connected to an actual human at the tax office within 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they use technology to navigate phone trees and wait on hold so you don't have to, then call you when they get a real person. For local tax issues, actually talking to someone who can look up your account and explain exactly what you need to do makes all the difference. I was able to get my situation resolved in one phone call once I actually reached someone.

I have to admit I was totally wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate to talk to someone at my township tax office about my delinquent tax situation. It took about 45 minutes (which they warned me about because my township is notorious), but they actually got me connected to a real live human in the tax department! I explained my situation about moving mid-year and not having proper withholding, and the tax officer helped me calculate exactly what I owed for the partial year and set up a payment plan with reduced penalties. The best part was I didn't have to sit on hold for hours - I just went about my day and they called me when they got someone on the line. If you're trying to be proactive about township taxes, being able to actually speak with someone makes all the difference. Totally worth it.

Something to consider - check if your township has a "first-time penalty abatement" policy. Many local tax authorities will waive penalties (but not the tax itself or interest) for first-time issues if you have a clean compliance history. When I had a similar issue with missed township tax in 2021, I wrote a letter explaining that I was unaware of the requirement since I had moved from a township with no local income tax. They waived about $175 in penalties as a one-time courtesy, though I still had to pay the tax and interest. Definitely be proactive about 2022 and 2023 though! The township will appreciate you coming forward voluntarily rather than them having to track you down.

One thing nobody mentioned - you should check if your township has a reciprocal agreement with the township you lived in before. Some townships will give you credit for taxes paid to another local jurisdiction to avoid double taxation. For example, I moved from Philadelphia to a suburb mid-year, and I got credit for the Philly wage tax I had already paid against what I owed to the new township. Saved me a few hundred dollars!