Many people wonder, will unpaid traffic tickets be deducted from tax refund checks, and the answer is it depends on the state in which an individual lives in. The state has the right to withdraw the money owed to them from the money an individual owes them. That is the short answer.

Many of the state and local governments are allowed to deduct unpaid parking tickets from an individuals state tax refund but the federal government is not in the habit of doing this. The federal tax refund could be held for federal student loans, unpaid social security and other federally granted commissions. Parking tickets fall under the jurisdiction of local government and then state when it comes to garnishing a tax refund.

If an individual is a student or planning on visiting the University of Virginia, they better park legally or pay the fine if they don’t. This University is one of the few that has special permission for taking traffic or parking ticket fines, which go unpaid for a certain length of time, out of people’s tax returns. Even if the person is using a rental car and think, they can never find me, think again.

In California, Los Angels and San Francisco in particular, they will withhold the entire tax refund for unpaid parking violations and traffic tickets until the matter is resolved. This may mean hiring an attorney or going to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) or the DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles) to sign paperwork giving the state the money that is owed to them so that the individual will be able to receive the rest of their refund. Whatever the method, it seems as if it is a hassle and the best way to avoid it is to park in designated areas and put enough money in the meters.

Since the new technology of red light cameras, people are not as likely to escape the ‘long arm of the law’ and claim a light was yellow when it was actually red. The intent of the red light cameras is to deter people from running the red lights and saving people’s lives from accidents. Many people feel the red light cameras are simply another way for their city to make money. A lot of protests have been held in regards to the red light cameras because they are typically placed near the poorer sections of town. This is where people are more likely to pay the fine then fight it with an attorney due to lack of funding.

There are many states in which parking and traffic fees are increasing with each passing week of non-payment. Some cities will offer a discount if the ticket is paid within five days or add on a percentage if the ticket is not paid within a certain amount of time. If an individual waits too long to pay their traffic tickets, they could risk having their car impounded and additional fees added to the original traffic ticket price. It is always a good idea to take care of a traffic violation as soon as it occurs rather then wait.

Besides a tax refund, some cities are getting special permission to add the parking and traffic ticket fines on to a persons personal property tax. These taxes must be paid before the end of the year in order to be able to renew a vehicles license plate. If an individual has waited a long time, then their fines may double or triple over a long period of time, making their personal property tax bill a very expensive debit at the end of the year.

Red-light runners, lead-footed drivers, free-parkers and others all need to pay the price for their crime, no matter how trivial they think it may be. If they do not pay, then the taxpayers of their community foot the bill. This is one reason why the government has given more access to these municipalities and small communities to the state income tax refunds. So the next time you might be thinking of parking illegally, ask yourself this question: will unpaid traffic tickets be deducted from tax refund checks, and think about the major hassle it will be to retrieve your tax refund once they have taken care of something that could have been handled simply by parking legally or paying the ticket right away.

About the author, New York traffic ticket can have a very bad impact on your driving record, never pay them, always fight them. Supported by suggest link

Author Bio: New York traffic ticket can have a very bad impact on your driving record, never pay them, always fight them. Supported by suggest link

Category: Legal
Keywords: New York, traffic, tickets, record, demerit point