You may make a credit card payment in person by visiting our office. We will no longer accept credit card payments via a phone call to our office. You may make a credit card payment or an electronic fund transfer from your checking or savings account through our business partner's WEB site or toll free phone number. You will be charged a convenience fee for transacting this payment. The fee is a flat $2.25 per payment for an electronic fund trasfer and there is a sliding fee scale for credit card transactions. The amount of the fee will be calculated and provided to you prior to your approval of the credit card transaction.  The toll free number is 1-866-561-6015. Click on the Quick Link for the WEB site.

Although the judge ordered the defendant to pay you restitution, you will only receive your money if the defendant has the ability to pay.  The defendant's ability to pay is dependent upon whether he/she is working.

The Department of Revenue office bills the defendant each month.  If the defendant fails to pay on a regular basis, the collector assigned to the account will contact the defendant to determine why payment has not been received.  If the defendant is working, but refuses to pay, our office will obtain a court order to garnish his/her wages.

If the defendant is not working and has no assets, the account will be referred back to the Probation Officer or the court for issuance of a court order to have the defendant appear before the judge and explain why payment has not been made.

When the defendant is ordered to pay restitution, state law mandates that a judgment be entered against the defendant.  If the court or DOR cannot force the defendant to pay, you have the right to pursue the defendant in a civil law suit.  You can also file a lien against the defendant by obtaining a copy of the judgment from the court and filing an abstract with the County Recorder's Office.  You may also qualify for reimbursement from the California State Victim Restitution Fund.  For more information, please contact their website at www.boc.cahwnet.gov/.

The notice you received from the Franchise Tax Board should provide a telephone number to contact the Department of Revenue. Those numbers are (408) 282-3280 for the Tax Intercept Program (tax refunds) and (408) 282-3290 for the Court Ordered Debt Program (bank account or wage attachment).

Try your account representative one more time. If you do not make direct contact, call back, press zero to connect with an operator and ask to speak to a supervisor.

The Department of Revenue sends out billing statements twice a month. Over 25,000 bills are mailed at each time. Unfortunately, DOR staff cannot respond to all callers during these peak billing periods. When the telephones get busy, calls are routed to the department's voice mail system. It is department policy that all calls be returned within 48 hours.

The Department of Revenue has an agreement with the State of California Franchise Tax Board to recover any past due amounts owed to Santa Clara County. If you received a notice from the state that they intercepted your state tax refund or attached your bank account, that means that we have submitted your name to the state because you have not paid a debt that was owed to DOR.

The monthly bills were probably being printed and your payment had not posted yet. You can always call your account representative and ask them to check for you.

There could be a number of reasons why this occurs. Court appearances can be a very stressful experience and things happen pretty fast. Often, a defendant will only hear that he/she owes a fine. State law requires that for every fine imposed for criminal, vehicle or local ordinance offenses, that a penalty assessment of up to 265% be added. This means that if you are fined $500, a penalty assessment of $1,325 is added for a total amount owed of $1,825. In addition, the court may order program fees if you are placed on formal probation. There may also be fees imposed for such programs as Work Furlough, Weekend Work, Public Defender, State Restitution, Victim Restitution, drug program fees, diversion program fees and an accounts receivable fee. If this all sounds confusing, contact your account representative who will explain all the charges.

I received a traffic ticket. Do I pay it at the Department of Revenue?

If the ticket has not become delinquent you will need to pay at the Traffic Courts in Santa Clara County. You will need to contact the Court that has jurisdiction over the city where you received the ticket.

If you have failed to respond to the Court’s notices for payment or have been advised your case has been transferred to the Department of Revenue, you may contact our office for account verification and payment information.

Please refer to the DOR homepage for more information regarding Payment of Traffic and Criminal Civil Assessment Court Cases.

No, parking tickets are paid to various private businesses that contract with each issuing agency. Generally, the ticketing agency will provide a payment envelope and contact information is on the ticket. If you lost the ticket, the parking vendor is required by law to provide a notice to you with payment and contact information as well as the procedure to appeal the ticket. If you do not have any of this information, you need to contact the agency that issued the ticket. If you received a ticket from any of the following Santa Clara County agencies: General Services Agency, Valley Medical Center, Parks and Recreation, Sheriff or Stanford University, the telephone number to call is 1-800-281-7275.