January 27, 2015 is a day that Ronald Lund won’t soon forget. His Scituate neighborhood got slammed by a severe winter storm, and while his home made it through, his truck wasn’t so lucky.
“I lost my Ford Ranger, and started looking for another one,” Ronald said.
Ronald eventually bought another truck for $1,700 then called his insurance agent, Andrew Boyle, to get the vehicle registered and pay the sales tax.
“He gave us a check and he made the check out to the Mass DOT with the amount left blank which is standard procedure,” Andrew said.
Andrew filled out the necessary documents and had them delivered to the RMV in November of last year along with Ronald’s blank check to cover the taxes.
“So on a vehicle like that you’d be looking at no more than say $120-$125,” Andrew said.
But when the paperwork came back a few days later, they noticed a big mistake. Ronald’s tax bill was more than a thousand dollars.
“After I picked up my jaw up off the ground, I told the insurance guys that that’s wrong. That can’t be right,” Ronald said.
It wasn’t right. Andrew says the RMV accidentally taxed Ronald based on a $17,000 vehicle, not $1,700. So they filled out a rebate form and sent it to the RMV.
“When I spoke to somebody at the RMV they indicated, ‘Well yes we collected this fee, but because it’s sales tax, this goes through the Department of Revenue,'” Andrew said.
Andrew and Ronald sent in another form – this one to the Department of Revenue. But after more than a month, and no word on Ronald’s refund, Andrew made a phonecall.
“I was just looking for a heads up in saying okay is this something you’re working on?” Andrew said.
Andrew says he couldn’t get anything confirmed so he called Solve it 7.
We reached out to the Department of Revenue, and the person we talked to told us they’d look into the case, which they did. Ronald found out his paperwork was being processed, and a week and half later Ronald received his refund for more than $877.
“It’s you people that got it done,” Ronald said.
The Department of Revenue wouldn’t discuss Ronald’s case specifically because of taxpayer confidentiality laws, but did give us this statement: “The Department of Revenue strives to provide the taxpayers of Massachusetts top-notch customer service every day.”
“Thank you very much for helping me out. I am just a little guy, but it’s the little guys that hammered all the time,” Ronald said.
If you need help, give us a call at (617) 367-7777 or send an email to Solveit7@whdh.com.
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(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)