A delivery truck carrying mail addressed to the New Jersey Division of Taxation was involved in an accident on the New Jersey Turnpike and caught fire on September 11, according to the State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury and most of the truck’s contents burned.

A “small number” of certified mail pieces, some of which was mail en route to the NJDT and other New Jersey state agencies, were identified.

U.S. Postal Service officials reported that the destroyed mail originated in North Jersey and had been picked up from street collection boxes located in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren counties. The N.J. Division of Taxation could not determine which returns, payments, correspondence or other mail were destroyed.

The division said taxpayers who mailed a return, payment or other correspondence to the Division of Taxation from North Jersey in early September and who think their mailing may have been affected by the fire should allow more time to see if the original submission is processed or re-submit a duplicate immediately. (The division advises taxpayers to allow two bank statement cycles for payments to be processed.)

Taxpayers may also submit a duplicate payment, and the division says it will waive late filing and late payment penalties on filings and payments received on or before October 15. 

Many returns and payments, including estimated payments, can be e-filed, including for estimated payments for gross income tax, estimated corporation business tax and other filings and payments.

Taxpayers who receive a billing notice from the N.J. Division of Taxation for late filing and/or payment because of mail destroyed in the fire must respond in writing to request an abatement of the penalties and write “September 11 Mail Truck Fire” in the subject line, explain the circumstances, indicate when and where the original package was mailed and provide any other pertinent details, including a copy of any original checks mailed or a copy of a checkbook or register.

The division’s customer services center is at (609) 292-6400.