Just got a tax bill for personal property. what's up with that? anyone else get one?

Frequent Responses

Q. Oh, you mean excise tax on your car.
A. No, I mean a tax on personal property.

Q. Oh, you mean an excise tax on your boat.
A. No, I mean a personal property tax.

Q. Oh, you mean a property tax for your house and land.
A. No, I mean a personal property tax.

Q. Oh, you must mean income tax, inheritance tax, sales tax, gas tax, room tax...
A. No, I mean a personal property tax.

The town sent a tax bill for personal property, seperate from the tax bill for the house. Any of you ever get one of these? This was the first I ever heard of it.

 

Did they itemize the "property" they were taxing?

 

LOL!!! You own stuff of value.......I must tax you for owning it! SERIOUSLY?

Anything of substantial value is taxed(on a yearly basis) except maybe jewelry.

 

same thing happened to my brother when he purchased his beach front house in plymouth while mainatining his home in carver pretty much the same set up as you have

i know they dinged him pretty good on all of his furnishings

i'm sure you read this

6. What are the reporting requirements for personal property in Massachusetts?
Generally, the owner of taxable personal property situated in any community must file a return, known as the Form of List or State Tax Form 2 PDF, with the local board of assessors of that community on or before March 1 prior to the fiscal year to which the tax relates, listing the taxable property. For example, for Fiscal Year 2010, beginning July 1, 2009 and concluding June 30, 2010, the return is due March 1, 2009. An owner of furnishings and effects at a residence in Massachusetts that is not the domicile of the owner, such as at a summer residence or weekend getaway, must file Form 2HF PDF listing those furnishings and effects.

but then again you've had two homes for a long time

 

Another reason I'm glad I live in NH

 

so if it is for stuff in the other house, here is the kicker,

here's the tax rate on your personal property by community.
It would appear the it is almost entirely vacation based communities except for maybe stoughton or Cambridge.

just be glad you don't have a pied-à-terre in Cambridge where the tax rate on your personal property is 18.3% or stoughton ( god knows why) at 19.7%.

 

They don't call it taxachusetts fer nuttin! Time to migrate north to Nh Maine or even canuckistan

 

Thanks guys. Good info on the Mass.gov site, Steve. Thanks for that quote.

 

Wonder if you could just say the Cape home is the primary address? Excise cheaper there than Canton?

 

So you have to pay an additional tax on items that you already own--even though you had already paid a sales tax on that item when you purchased it?