Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes
Section 57c - Preliminary Tax for Real Estate and Personal Property; Notice; Installment Payments; Date of Delivery of Payments

[Section impacted by 2020, 53, Secs. 10 and 11, as amended by 2020, 92, Sec. 6, 16 and 17, effective April 3, 2020 relating to the extension of the due date for taxes and the waiver of the payment of interest and other penalty in the event of late payment in order to address disruptions caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.]
Section 57C. This section shall be applicable in any city or town which accepts this section for the purpose of establishing quarterly tax payments or semi-annual tax payments, notwithstanding section 57. Except as otherwise provided, a notice of preliminary tax for real estate and personal property shall be sent out no later than July 1 of each year. In the case of cities and towns with quarterly tax payments, the preliminary tax shall be due and payable in 2 installments, the first installment due on August 1, the second installment on November 1, after which dates if unpaid, they shall become delinquent and subject to interest as provided herein, and in the case of cities and towns with semi-annual tax payments, the preliminary tax shall be due and payable on October 1, after which date if unpaid, it shall become delinquent and subject to interest as provided herein. The preliminary tax shall in no event exceed 50 per cent of 102.5 per cent of the tax payable during the preceding fiscal year and of the amount by which such tax would have increased if any referendum question submitted to the voters under paragraph (g), (i.5), (j) or (k) of section 21C and approved for the fiscal year had been approved for the preceding fiscal year.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the first paragraph, a notice of preliminary tax may be sent out after July first by cities and towns with quarterly tax payments; provided, however, that no such notice of preliminary tax shall be sent unless first approved by the commissioner of revenue; provided, further, that as a condition of such approval, the commissioner may establish such requirements as he deems appropriate, which may include, but not be limited to, the submission by the board of assessors of all information required to set the tax rate under the provisions of section twenty-three, except the assessed valuation of all real and personal property subject to taxation for the current fiscal year. Any notice of preliminary tax mailed after July first shall be due and payable in two installments, the first installment due thirty days after the mailing of the notice, the second November first, after which dates if unpaid, they shall become delinquent and subject to interest as provided herein; provided, however, that in the event that such notice is mailed after August first, the entire notice shall be due and payable November first, or thirty days after the date of mailing, whichever is later. Any notice of preliminary tax mailed after July 1 by cities and towns with semi-annual tax payments shall be due and payable October 1 after which date if unpaid, it shall become delinquent and subject to interest as provided herein; provided, however, that in the event that such notice is mailed after August 1, the notice shall be due and payable November 1, or 30 days after the date of mailing, whichever is later.
All provisions of law regarding the procedures for issuing, mailing and collecting tax assessments upon real and personal property and betterment assessments shall be applicable to the notice of preliminary tax provided hereunder, including the payment of interest. To the extent that any rights or remedies under law accrue from the date that the tax bill is issued, only the tax bill issued upon the establishment of the tax rate for the current fiscal year shall govern such rights and remedies. The provisions of section twenty-one C shall apply to the tax rate established by the city or town for the current fiscal year.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the first paragraph, a city or town that seeks to issue a notice of preliminary tax for any fiscal year may require the payment of a preliminary tax in excess of fifty percent of one hundred and two and one-half percent of the tax payable during the preceding fiscal year and of the amount by which such tax would have increased if any referendum question submitted to the voters under the provisions of paragraph (g), (i.5), (j) or (k) of section twenty-one C and approved for the fiscal year had been approved for the preceding fiscal year, to the extent that such excess represents one-half of the amount of tax accruing as a result of the loss of exemption from tax that had been granted in the preceding fiscal year, improvements to the parcel, or the parcel being taxed as a separate parcel for the first time. A city or town is further authorized under this paragraph to issue a notice of preliminary tax for any property which becomes subject to taxation for the first time in a current fiscal year.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the assessors of any city or town that issues a notice of preliminary tax may add any betterment assessment or apportionment thereof, water rate, annual sewer use charge and any other charge placed on the annual tax bill to the preliminary tax on the property to which it relates and such amount shall become part of the preliminary tax.
The assessors may, on application or on their own motion, abate so much of the preliminary tax as remains unpaid that is in excess of the property owner's proportional share.
The actual tax bill issued upon the establishment of the tax rate for the fiscal year, after credit is given for the preliminary tax payments previously made, and in the case of cities and towns with quarterly payments, shall be due and payable in 2 installments, on February 1 and on May 1 respectively, after which dates, if unpaid, they shall become delinquent and, in the case of cities and towns with semi-annual payments, shall be due and payable on April 1, after which date, if unpaid, they shall become delinquent. A first actual real estate tax bill sent out for fiscal year 2008 or any subsequent year pursuant to this section shall contain a statement that there exists a delinquency if any tax, betterment assessment or apportionment thereof, water rate, annual sewer use, or other charge which may constitute a lien is overdue for more than 90 days. Such delinquencies shall not include amounts due relating to fire service, electric, water or sewer use in any city or town served by more than 1 independent municipal or district fire, electric, water, sewer, or joint water and sewer district or in any city or town served by an independent municipal or district fire, electric, water, sewer, or joint water and sewer district that is not principally domiciled in that city or town.
In the event that actual tax bills are not mailed by December 31, then the full balance of the actual tax bill issued upon establishment of the tax rate for the fiscal year, after credit is given for the preliminary tax payments previously made, shall be due and payable on May 1, or 30 days after the date of mailing, whichever is later.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, whenever such actual tax bills cannot be mailed by December 31 by cities and towns with quarterly tax payments, an additional notice of preliminary tax may be issued and payment of a third quarter preliminary installment may be required; provided, however, that no such additional notice of preliminary tax may issue unless first approved by the commissioner of revenue; and provided, further, that as a condition of such approval, the commissioner may establish such requirements as he deems appropriate, which may include, but not be limited to, the submission by the board of assessors of all information required to set the tax rate under the provisions of section 23, except the assessed valuation of all real and personal property subject to taxation for the current fiscal year. The assessors shall establish the tax rate for the fiscal year no later than April 1. In no event shall the net amount of revenue to be raised by taxation, as submitted to the commissioner pursuant to any such requirements for approval under this section, be exceeded, except to the extent that additional new growth, as certified by the commissioner pursuant to paragraph (f) of section 21C, exceeds the prior approved amount and a referendum question submitted to the voters under the provisions of paragraph (g), (i.5), (j) or (k) of said section 21C has been approved.
In the event an additional notice of preliminary tax requiring a third quarter preliminary installment payment is issued by a city or town, such notice shall be mailed on or before December 31, or such later date as may be authorized by the commissioner, and such entire notice shall be due and payable on February 1, or 30 days after the date of mailing such notice, whichever is later, after which date if unpaid, it shall become delinquent. The amount of any third quarter preliminary installment payment shall not exceed the amount of the first quarter installment payment for the fiscal year as provided in this section. The actual tax bill issued upon the establishment of the tax rate for the fiscal year, after credit is given for the preliminary tax payments previously made, shall be due and payable on May 1, or 30 days after the date of mailing such bill, whichever is later, after which date if unpaid, it shall become delinquent. Such bill shall represent the full balance owed after credit is given for the preliminary tax payments previously made. All provisions of this section regarding procedures for issuing, mailing and collecting the notice of preliminary tax requiring first and second quarter preliminary installment payments shall be applicable to any additional notice of preliminary tax, including payment of interest.
Bills for taxes assessed under section seventy-five or section seventy-six shall be sent out seasonably upon commitment, and shall be due and payable on May first or thirty days after the date on which the said bills are mailed, whichever is later.
If any such installment, tax, betterment assessment or apportionment thereof, water rate or annual sewer use or other charge added to such tax, as reduced by any abatement is not timely paid, it shall be delinquent, and interest at the rate of fourteen percent per annum computed from the due date shall be paid. The commissioner of revenue may issue guidelines as appropriate for the implementation of this section.
Notwithstanding the preceding paragraphs, if the last day for making a tax payment without incurring interest on a bill for real estate or personal property taxes occurs on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, or on a day on which a municipal office is closed as authorized by charter, by-law, ordinance or otherwise for a weather-related or public safety emergency, the payment may be made on the next day on which a municipal office is open, without penalty or interest.
To determine jurisdictional interest requirements on appeals brought pursuant to chapter 59, the date of delivery of a payment for taxes pursuant to this section is, after the period or date prescribed by this section, delivered by United States mail or by an alternative private delivery service permitted by the collector to the collector shall be deemed to be the date of the United States postmark, the date of a certificate of mailing stamped and postmarked by the United States Postal Service, the date of a certified mail receipt provided by the United States Postal Service or other substantiating date mark permitted by the rules of practice and procedure of the appellate tax board that is affixed on the envelope or other appropriate wrapper in which the payment is mailed or delivered if the payment was mailed in the United States in an envelope or such appropriate wrapper, first class postage prepaid, or delivered to an alternative private delivery service, properly addressed to the collector; provided, however, that a tax payer shall have the burden of providing the timely mailing of any payment of taxes to said collector pursuant to this section and the collector shall have no obligation to maintain any record relative to the date of mailing of the tax; and provided further, that nothing in this section shall be construed to place the burden of proving any untimely mailing on the collector. As used in this section, ''United States postmark'' shall mean only a postmark made by the United States Postal Service. This paragraph shall not apply to the calculation of interest set forth in the preceding paragraphs of this section.

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