I lived in Kansas City, Missouri, for 10 years. For all but one of those years, I also worked in Kansas City, Missouri. For one year only, in 2014, I worked on the Kansas side of the border, but still lived in Kansas City.
I moved to Seattle four years ago. Last month, I received a letter from the City of Kansas City saying I owe more than $1,000 in local taxes, plus late fees, and five years of interest for not paying them in 2014.
I did not even know there was a local tax. It turns out that my Kansas City, Missouri-based employers always withheld that automatically and I just didn't notice. Apparently, my Kansas state employer did not withhold the money. I wasn't aware the tax existed because I'd never had to file it before, so didn't file a form separately for 2014.
I was not aware of the interest and fees adding up because as recently as this May, they were sending all these bills and reminder notices to a house I hadn't lived in since 2012. I don't know why they would have that address on record - I had several other city accounts in my name with the updated address, I changed my address with the post office, I filed state and federal taxes with the newer addresses. If I'd received the bills and letters at my actual address, I would have paid immediately. Now, I'm paying almost twice as much as the original taxes in fees and interest.
Is this worth fighting? How? I have no problem paying the original tax amount owed, but interest and fees due to them sending bills to an address I hadn't even lived at for two years before the taxes were owed really hurts.
