How to Pay Massachusetts Taxes Online via MassTaxConnect

You can pay Massachusetts taxes online through MassTaxConnect, the Department of Revenue’s payment portal at mass.gov. Bank transfers are free, card payments carry a convenience fee, and you can pay as a guest without creating an account. The portal handles personal income tax, estimated payments, bills, and business tax obligations, and it’s available at any hour.

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Gather these before you open the portal. Missing anything mid-transaction usually means starting over.

Your Social Security number or ITIN for personal taxes, or your Federal Employer Identification Number for business taxes.
For a bank transfer, your bank’s routing number and your checking or savings account number.
The tax type and the period the payment applies to. Selecting the wrong year is one of the most common errors and can trigger a delinquency notice for the year you actually owed.
The payment type: bill payment, estimated payment, or return payment. Business taxpayers must log in for estimated and return payments.¹

Paying as a Guest

You don’t need an account for a one-time payment. From the MassTaxConnect homepage, click “Make a Payment” under Quick Links. Choose individual or business, enter your name, ID type, ID number, and phone number, then select “Next.”¹

On the next screen, pick your payment type, select the tax year from the drop-down, choose your payment method, enter the amount, and review the summary. Click “Submit” to authorize the transaction. Save the confirmation number the system generates. If you need to look up a guest payment later, use the “Find a Submission” link on the homepage.²

Paying From a Registered Account

Registering takes about five minutes and gives you payment history, submission tracking, and access to payment plans. To create an individual account you need your SSN or ITIN plus one of the following: the “Income tax after credits” figure from one of your last three Massachusetts returns, a refund amount from one of your last three returns, or the Letter ID from a DOR letter inviting you to register. Go to MassTaxConnect, click “Create my Logon,” and follow the prompts.³

Once logged in, select the account you’re paying on, click “Returns” to find the period, and click “Make a Payment” in the upper right of that period’s screen. The system pre-fills your tax type and period, which cuts the risk of a misapplied payment. From there, choosing a method and submitting works the same as the guest flow.¹

Payment Methods and Fees

Three methods are available, and the cost difference matters.

EFT debit (bank transfer) is free. You authorize DOR to pull the payment from your account. This is what most people should use.
Credit and debit cards are accepted through a third-party vendor: Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. The convenience fee is 2.39% for credit cards and 2.09% for debit cards. On a $5,000 bill, that adds roughly $120 by credit card.
ACH credit reverses the direction: you tell your bank to push funds to the Commonwealth’s account. It requires a registration form with DOR before your first payment, so it’s mainly used by businesses making recurring high-value payments.¹

Confirmation and Processing Time

After you submit, the portal issues a confirmation number. Screenshot or print the page. Bank transfers don’t pull funds instantly; the withdrawal typically takes several days, so keep enough money in the account during that window. A returned payment leaves you with the original unpaid balance plus possible penalties and forces you to resubmit.²

To verify a payment cleared, log in, open “Submissions” under the “More…” tab, and look at the status. “Processed” means DOR has received and applied the funds.²

Canceling a Payment You Already Submitted

You can cancel a payment while its status is still “Submitted.” Once it moves to “In Process” or “Completed,” the portal can’t cancel it. Log in, go to “Search Submissions” under “More…”, select the “Pending” tab, click the payment, and choose “Cancel” in the upper right of the Payment Summary screen. You can resubmit a corrected payment immediately.¹

If a payment has already processed and you believe it was applied to the wrong period, call DOR at (617) 887-6367.

Estimated Quarterly Payments

If you’re self-employed, earn significant investment income, or have income that isn’t subject to withholding, Massachusetts requires estimated quarterly payments when your expected tax exceeds $400. Each installment covers 25% of the required annual amount, though you can pay the full estimate by April 15 if you’d rather be done with it.⁴

The 2026 deadlines for calendar-year filers:

First installment: April 15, 2026
Second installment: June 16, 2026
Third installment: September 15, 2026
Fourth installment: January 15, 2027

On the payment screens, select “Estimated Payment” as the payment type. If you’re logged in, the system links it to the correct period automatically.

What Happens if You Pay Late

Missing a deadline triggers a penalty and interest, and they stack.

The late-payment penalty is 1% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the balance is outstanding, capped at 25%. A separate 1% monthly penalty (same 25% cap) applies if you also filed your return late, so both can compound.⁵

Interest accrues on top of the penalty from the original due date, not from the date DOR sends a notice. The rate is set quarterly; for the first quarter of 2026, the underpayment interest rate is 8%.⁶ A balance left unpaid for a year can grow by roughly 20% between penalty and interest, so a partial payment is worth more than none.

Payment Plans if You Can’t Pay in Full

DOR offers formal payment agreements, but you’re not eligible until you’ve received a Notice of Assessment (first bill) or a Statement of Account (second bill). You can’t set one up based on a return you just filed.⁷

For balances of $10,000 or less, set the plan up online: log in, select “More,” then “Request a Payment Plan” in the Collection Notices section. Plans run up to 36 months with a minimum monthly payment of $25, and you can pay weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

For balances over $10,000, call the DOR Collections Contact Center at (617) 887-6400. DOR may require a financial disclosure form, and the minimum payment is $50 per month.⁷

Two limits to know. DOR does not accept credit or debit card payments for payment agreements, so you’ll pay by bank transfer or by mailed check or money order. And individual and business liabilities can’t share one agreement; each needs its own. Penalties and interest keep accruing during the plan, so paying down faster than the minimum saves real money.

Filing a Return Is Not the Same as Paying

MassTaxConnect handles both, but they’re separate actions. You can file a Massachusetts personal income tax return through the portal if you were a full-year resident who has filed a Massachusetts return before, or if you’re a part-year resident or nonresident filing for tax year 2023 or later with a prior Massachusetts return on file. If you don’t meet those criteria, you’ll file using approved tax software or on paper.⁸ Either way, you can still use MassTaxConnect to make the payment, even if your return was filed somewhere else.

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Mass.gov. Making Payments in MassTaxConnect
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Mass.gov. General Information About Using MassTaxConnect
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Mass.gov. Create Your MassTaxConnect Individual Account
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Mass.gov. Massachusetts DOR Estimated Tax Payments
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General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 62C Section 33 – Late Returns; Penalty; Abatement
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Mass.gov. TIR 25-8: Interest Rate on Overpayments and Underpayments
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Mass.gov. MA DOR Payment Agreement Frequently Asked Questions
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Mass.gov. E-file and Pay Your MA Personal Income Taxes