Check your mail for something new and make sure your car is road ready. The first combined tag and tax notices will soon arrive in North Carolina mailboxes for bills that are due in July.
The new bills will reflect both vehicle property tax information from counties and other taxing jurisdictions, as well as vehicle registration and inspection information. Drivers used to pay for tags and taxes separately. The new program, “Tag & Tax Together,” will require one payment for both bills. Both tag renewals and tax payments must be paid in full to renew vehicle registration.
An easy-to-read map of the combined notice posted on the DMV website, http://www.ncdot.gov/download/dmv/Tag_Tax_Together_Bubbles.pdf shows where property tax information is listed and how to find vehicle registration facts. After receiving your entire payment, NCDMV will renew your vehicle registration and forward the property tax portion of your payment directly to your county revenue office.
Vehicle owners can tell if they will be among the first to receive the new bills by checking to see if they have a “7” (for the month of July) sticker on their license tag. With each month that passes, additional vehicle owners will receive the new notice when their renewal is due. By mid-2014, the program should include all North Carolina vehicle owners.
The DMV website http://ncdot.gov/dmv/ features frequently-asked questions about the combined billing program and contact information for county revenue offices across the state. A Spanish version of the questions has also been posted. (Vea una version en Español de las preguntas más frecuentes.) DMV has produced a video to help explain the new program.
The result of a law first passed by the General Assembly in 2005, the combination goes into effect this summer following the incorporation of county tax rates into the vehicle registration system. It is designed to provide easy one-time payment of vehicle tags and property taxes across the state.
In addition to the “Tag & Tax Together” information on the website, NCDMV, the N.C. Department of Revenue and North Carolina’s 100 counties are working together to get the word out about the new combined program.
Key facts about the program:

• The new Tag and Tax Together program is for your vehicle property tax only and does not affect your mortgage or home property tax.
• Your vehicle tax will be due at the same time your vehicle registration is due. The due date will be printed on the new renewal notice that you receive in the mail.
• Your vehicle’s annual registration renewal fees will remain the same. The increase in your bill is from the addition of the vehicle property tax.
• No owner will have to pay taxes twice in the same tax year for the same vehicle. It is important to look at the vehicle property tax year rather than the calendar year. By law, the tax year for your vehicle begins the first month after your previous registration expires. While it is possible to pay twice in a calendar year, no vehicle owner will pay twice in the same tax year or for the same 12-month period.