Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MONTGOMERY — Vernon Barnett, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Revenue, has issued an order extending the period people can have their tags renewed and to pay property taxes on their motor vehicle registrations without having to pay a fine. The current order goes through June 30.

Those who normally renew their tags in January will have the entire month of February to renew without having to pay a fine. Those who normally renew their tags in February have the entire month of March to do so without a fine. Those who renew in March can renew throughout April, those who renew in April have the month of May to renew, those with birthdays in May can renew through June.

It goes back to normal starting in June, meaning anyone who renews in June has until June 30 to renew.

Barnett said that many state residents were being placed under extreme hardships in getting their tags renewed. Because of this, the registration deadline has been extended to the last business day of the subsequent month. Chambers County residents who renew their tags in January were particularly hard hit with the closure of the Chambers County Courthouse and the Lanett Annex. Both government buildings closed at the end of the workday on Friday, Jan. 15 and won’t reopen until Monday, Feb. 1. This took away the final two weeks to go to the courthouse or annex to get their tags. The extended grace period will allow those county residents to have their tags renewed without a penalty.