council tax and self employment

a1974red

hi, we are after advice on charges of paying council tax late as my husband is self employed and, unfortunately, we only get money when he gets paid, rather than the 1st of each month.

we paid 1st aprils payment in late april, and mays at around the 20th, but have now got a court summons as we hadnt paid on time.

he phoned the council after this to explain, but they have added a cost of £15 each month to our bill and we have to pay junes bill by tomorrow or else face the court summons again (which possibly will have to go on my already brimming credit card?)

we know we could claim part council tax benefit as we are on max CTC , plus some WTC, but the last time we did that briefly in 2006 we were threatened with eviction as they took about 3 months to nit pick every item of our self empoyed records (we have 2 small work from home businesses, and my husband is on contract for 2 days pw), desite the tax credit people accepting them AND us getting a tax rebate for business loss. it was SO damn stressful and took several hours of our time each week - i dont know if i could cope with that again for possibly (hopefully) only a few months until work picks up again.

we also have 4 kids so at the moment (very little work coming in) we are struggling with the basics, ...not talking sky tv bills or luxury items- just food and school meals etc (although i am going to try and ask for discretionary help with school meals as we get WTC, but still are under the £16K limit- even though this limit is for 1 child or 6)

• are we expected to pay on the 1st of the month each month even if it means we have no money for food?

• can they legally charge us extra for late payments?

• if we get the CAB (or anyone else) involved do the council take our issues any more seriously?

• is there a way of claiming easier with self employed work from home busnesses? we have an accountant - but they wouldnt accept his books?

• would we 'possibly' be better going to court? we hardly have anything they could get the bailiffs in for as either the items are for our work (laptops etc) or are the kids items (games consoles) and we live in a housing association property.

we also still have a big debt from several years back. i seriously wonder if going bankrupt and going on benefit for a while would just be easier... they just cannot get blood from a stone:( but on benefit it all seems to just be accepted :rolleyes:

my health is also not the best atm (been diagnosed with chronic fatigue) so me doing extra work is a no go... and i dont think i can get any sickness benefits as i havent been paying my self employed stamps as under income threashold

any thoughts???

Debt_Free_Chick

Unfortunately "when" you get paid doesn't make any difference at all. Even if you were employed, your CT is due on the first day of the month, but you don't get paid until the end of the month.

The only way out of this is to save up enough to be in a position so that you have a month's CT "in advance". I'd go further than that and aim to have savings that enable you to pay your bills for 3, 4 or more months - this is generally advisable, whether you're employed or self-employed. It may take a while and you may need to cut back on expenditure for a while, but it really will give you peace of mind.

Don't take the Council on - if you go to Court, they may well sympathise, but at the end of the day, your CT is due on the first of the month and the Courts can't change that.

Are you sure you're not entitled to any benefits at all? Even if you think not, do please check it out

lincroft1710

Are you sure the £15 per month is actually "extra" and not just clearing existing debt over several months? CAB are well meaning but not always all knowing, mentioning their name won't "frighten" council.

DFC's advice is good - don't take council on, in this case law is on their side, having no money is oddly enough not a reasonable excuse for not paying Council Tax.

CIS

You wont be charged an extra amount each month , court costs are restricted to a maximum of 2 charges (issuing of summons and issuing of liability order).

Usually when we issue bills with increased payments it because the balance is being recovered over less instalments then the instalments shown on the previous bill.

eg:

1st bill for £100 over 10 payments = £10 per instalment
2nd bill for £100 over 9 payments = £11 per instalment.

The other issue is that you may have had another balance included on this new bill - compare the new bill with your previous one and it should show you why there's a difference.

DFC is correct there is no defence you have against the issuing of the liability order - its been tried many times and failed.

In general terms unless you are not the person liable, the debt has been paid or there has been a procedural error the magistrate has no option other than to issue the Liability Order.

I deal with CAB cases regularly (I work n council tax recovery) and TBH they dont frighten anyone, in many cases the CAB are more of a hinderance as the a large number of their advisors haven't a clue where to start with council tax recovery issues.