Description

Paying taxes is never fun, but the City of New Haven makes paying taxes online even more complicated with directions that are out of date or in error.

Early in the process, you read this:

"An online payment processing system for the use of New Haven taxpayers is currently under construction.In the interim, we are using a third-party vendor, www.officialpayments.com. When you select PAY NOW, you will link to their site. Before you do so, make a note of the amount that is due and that you wish to pay. Please note that www.official payments.com imposes a service fee."

This statement is not true. You are now connected to an different payment site. You need to register or enter your payment information. You are not told that you need to check your email to "activate" your account. But you do.

Then you read this:

"The following is a list of additional charges, both required and optional, that are assessed and accounted for seperately from the tax bill. Please review the items below.

No additional charges:

Note the misspelling of "separately." After being told that there are "No additonal charges," you are advised that there ARE additional charges -

"Welcome to the City of New Haven Online Tax Payments. Please note that a convenience fee will be applied to your payment. If you are paying by ACH/Bank Account there is a fee of $0.75 per transaction. If you are paying with a card, there is a fee of $3.25 if using a debit card and a fee of 2.50% of the total payment amount if using a credit card. Please confirm that the fee for your transaction is what you anticipated on the Verification page."

In all, it took me over an hour to pay my taxes. With hundreds of people paying their taxes online in the next few weeks, couldn't somebody make the process just a little bit more user friendly?