Council tax!!

spyonz

Hi everyone just wondering if anyone knows if the council can do this??

I recieved a letter in January informing me that i owed the council £275 in unpaid council tax from 06-07!!

In the letter it states that it was an error on their part but we still had to pay it.

I contacted them & asked to see proof of everything we have paid since we moved into the property in 2002, they sent it to me & by my calculations i had overpaid in 06-07!

Now they are taking me to court because i havent paid it, surely if it was their fault i shouldnt have to & surely they should have realised before now!

Anybody been in a similar situation??
Thanks spyonz

Chinkle

If you think you have overpaid show them your calculations and proof of payment. You can't both be right.

However, if you have underpaid then that money is due, even if it's there fault. If its a struggle to find the money then they should allow you to go on a payment plan.

RAS

Get hold of your local councillor and ask them to talk to the Revenue people. s/he will have a local surgery most weeks.

free_korps

you probably wouldn't want to...
tell the council that you forgot to tell them you moved out for at least 6 weeks, moved your residence to a property where full council tax is already paid ie parents/friends, had your house gutted (no furniture/fixtures/fittings) & would like to apply for a full tax exemption for this period (or 50% for furnished property), just say you made a mistake by not telling them previously! i'm sure this would cover the £275?! alternatively apply for a single person discount for some period(again minimum six weeks)?

anyway... usually i'd think they'd give you some time, offer payment plan, put it to debt collectors & get them to take you to court.

mrcol1000

free_korps wrote: »

you probably wouldn't want to...
tell the council that you forgot to tell them you moved out for at least 6 weeks, moved your residence to a property where full council tax is already paid ie parents/friends, had your house gutted (no furniture/fixtures/fittings) & would like to apply for a full tax exemption for this period (or 50% for furnished property), just say you made a mistake by not telling them previously! i'm sure this would cover the £275?! alternatively apply for a single person discount for some period(again minimum six weeks)?

anyway... usually i'd think they'd give you some time, offer payment plan, put it to debt collectors & get them to take you to court.

That a great idea with just one major drawback. Your have to provide proof and if you were caught out your be in more serious trouble than owing a bit of money.
Just contact them and try and work out a payment plan with them. Council's don't like taking ratepayers to court and will do everything they can to avoid it.

tbs624

Don't waste time posting on here about it. Get in touch with the Council pronto and provide the evidence of your "overpayment". If you go in in person, get the name of whoever you are dealing with and follow the visit up with a letter confirming what was discussed and your understanding of what happens next.

spyonz

Thanks everyone i did ring them & went through all the figures i had but the advisor was having none of it & saying that by the end of the financial year i owed £275.

She did say i could pay it off monthly on top of my usual bill at an extra £39 a month that i really couldnt afford, looks like ill be going to court to try & explain!

Thanks guys

sunshinetours

Not sure how it can be difficult? If you have an annual bill and you have paid £x against that bill - whatever is under/over is the payment to from/to you

Write it all down and get evidence of wehat was paid (old banks statements/cash receipts if paid by cash etc) and if you can prove you have overpaid it wuill get thrown out of court if they insist on it going that far

daveyjp

Calling people won't help much. They have figures, you have figures. The only way is to meet face to face with a senior officer and compare them so you can identify who is right.

Courts expect both parties do as much to resolve a situation before going in front of a Judge so you need to be inviting them to solve it face to face to show you are being reasonable about it - Judges don't like cases where one party is being unreasonable.

mazinmouse

Also, you may well have a list of payments made and dates but you need to check with the council which billing period the payments were applied to. You might have had, but not realised, an amount outstanding /underpaid for a previous billing period and although making payments for current year the system might have allocated them to an earlier bill.

free_korps

mazinmouse wrote: »

Also, you may well have a list of payments made and dates but you need to check with the council which billing period the payments were applied to. You might have had, but not realised, an amount outstanding /underpaid for a previous billing period and although making payments for current year the system might have allocated them to an earlier bill.

that's a very good point.

remember council tax payments run with the financial year & that are set-up by default to take the money over 10 months. So for 1st April 06 to 31st March 07 they would tend to have money monthly from April to January with Feb & March not allocated. if the previous financial year 05/06 had any arrears what you paid during this 06/07 period could've been allocated to pay that off first..

btw - for my dishonest suggestion, you don't have to prove anything to council, they have so many customers once they receive a form asking for exemption they usually just process it, if it's in the past they can't go back in time and check. if it's a future date they can send round an inspector but they have so many properties to check would they prioritise a six week exemption over someone they suspect of larger tax fraud? what proof could you show for my suggestion? would something like a photo of your property unfurnished prove? nothing.

anyway good luck.