(Update) Malware attack delays January payment deadlines for property, tag taxes
Published 2:14 pm Wednesday, December 27, 2023
- The Cullman County Revenue Commissioner’s Office website Wednesday afternoon.
Update — Online property tax payment and tag renewal functionality has been restored to the Cullman County Revenue Commissioner website. All tag renewal payments due have been granted a grace period through January 8, 2024. The county’s investigation into the outage remains ongoing.
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Information technology specialists are attempting to resolve a computer malware attack that has compelled the Cullman County Revenue Commissioner’s Office to delay its collection of property and tag taxes while extending the public a one-week payment grace period.
In a statement Wednesday, the county commission indicated the Revenue Commissioner’s Office had been targeted in a Dec. 24 malware attack affecting a “limited portion of its website” that resulted in a service outage. “The outage,” the statement explained, “has affected the ability to make property tax payments and renew tags online through the [Revenue] department’s website.”
County officials are consulting with third-party IT experts “to determine the extent of the malware incident and to restore the affected services as soon as possible,” the statement added. Currently, the attack continues to affect the office’s ability to process payments.
As a result of the outage, all property and tag payments due will be granted a one-week grace period, once payment processing services have been restored. Revenue Commissioner Barry Willingham said Wednesday, that residents may continue to pay their property and tag taxes in person at the Revenue Office counter on the first floor of the Cullman County Courthouse, but will receive only hand-written paper receipts until the incident has been fully resolved.
January marks the start of the annual renewal cycle for auto tags, while the annual property tax payment calendar runs from Oct. 1-Sept. 30 each year. The county commission will continue to update the public on when the outage has ended via its social media channels, as well as through official statements offered to area media.
