Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration to waive car registration late fees

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — Drivers across Arkansas whose vehicle registration expired this week will get a break on late fees after icy conditions forced State Revenue offices to close.

All Arkansas revenue offices shut down because of icy temperatures, leaving many drivers without a way to renew their vehicle registration in person.

“That’s a lot of business and thousands and thousands of daily transactions that aren’t taking place at these offices,” said Scott Hardin, Communications Director for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

With offices closed, Hardin says DFA received a flood of questions from Arkansans worried about being charged late fees for something they could not control.

“They’ve been very vocal and let us know that one they were concerned about any late fees applying and saying ‘hey look I’ve been trying to get to the office’. It was only fair to Arkansans to say hey we’re going to waive fees for the next week,” Hardin said.

The waiver only applies to vehicle registrations that expired during the office closures this week. Registrations that expired earlier, including those from previous years, are still subject to normal penalties.

If your registration expired recently because you just bought a car, Hardin says this waiver could save you a significant amount of money.

“Because in that scenario you have a 10 percent penalty that applies to sales tax, so if you owe two thousand dollars in sales tax then it just like that becomes twenty-two hundred,” Hardin said.

While online renewal is still an option, Hardin says processing those transactions has been delayed because there has been no staff available in offices to handle them.

“We’re going to take care of them and make sure that one, they don’t pay any extra money and two, make sure that they’ve got time to take care of their business,” Hardin said.

DFA says drivers whose registration expired this week will have until Friday, February 6 to renew without paying any late fees. Several revenue offices are expected to work overtime this weekend to clear the backlog of delayed transactions.

State revenue offices are set to reopen Monday. The following offices will remain open until 6 p.m. each day: Van Buren, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Springdale, Fort Smith East, Jonesboro, Paragould,

Batesville, Mountain Home, Cabot, White Hall, Pine Bluff, West Memphis, Monticello, Texarkana, Benton, Hot Springs Albert Pike, El Dorado, West Little Rock, Conway, Sherwood, Searcy, and Russellville (open 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Friday).