Council Tax for 3 months

tintysteph

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but I need advice about council tax... sorry if it gets long, here goes!

Right, my bf and i are moving into our first rented place together on the 1st October, I have found out our council tax is £1264.46 per year. The year runs from April-January and I have been told that my payments for Nov, Dec and Jan are to be around £211. :eek: It should be more like £127, why am I paying £211 for the 3 months??

Can anyone give me an idiots guide to why this is? I am really confused! I have tried calling the council but they arent much help, they are the ones who told me it was going to be £211 per month till Jan!!! I really dont know what to do!

Sorry if this is in the wrong place!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Altarf

Because council tax is charged in 10 payments for 12 months. You are moving in on the 1st October and the council's calculation is based on you being there until March, the end of the council tax year.

So you will need to pay for 6 months council tax, but in three payments (November, December and January). The 6 months tax is £632.23, so divided by 3 is £210.74 per month.

From April onwards you will be paying £126.45, but if you leave before the end of the council tax year, remember to claim a refund as in the £126.45 you are paying for the two "free" months at the end of the year.

CIS

If the charge is £1264.46 then you are due to pay £632.23 for the period from October to March.

Although the Council Tax year runs from April to March Council Tax instalments are paid over 10 months from April to January with the number of instalments decreasing as you get further through the year(Appendix 1 of the council tax (administration and enforcement) regulations 1992 , if you want to check the statutory instalment scheme). Assuming you are billed in October then you are entitled to 3 instalments (November, December, January).

tintysteph

Thanks for your replies!

So, say I were to move out next October, I can technically claim Feb and March back??

Sorry if im sounding a bit stupid... never done this before!

Thankfully Mum has offered to give me a little bit of money to top up the 126 amount to the 211 on the condition i pay her back 126 in Feb and March! :T Think this will be the only option, I had no idea about how much they would sting me for the last few months of the 'council tax' year!

After all this, my bins had better be collected on time and pot holes down the road repaired lol! :rotfl:

Thanks again, I am slowly getting my head around this! The things we do for love eh!

CIS

If you move at the end of October next year then you'll have paid approx 8 months worth of council tax but only have been resident for 7 months so you can claim back approx 1 months worth (depending on exactly when you move) . You'll have paid around £840 but your actual council tax due would be around £700.