forgot to notify council about council tax changes - advice!

Lady_Inversneckie

Hello Single Bloke,

I am feeling the vibes how worried you are about your council tax discount.

But you have made me chuckle and I can only assume you watch too many horror movies lol

If you want to say what town you are from, I can see if there is an online form for you.

Cheers

single_bloke

Hi Lady...

Thanks for the offer, really impressed with how professional people are on here,

if possible i can do a google search myself for the form if you tell me the key words to look for (a bit edgey at naming the authority, can in another email if 100% necessary) is it because you have an internal system that can help better? do you know which authorities are zero tolerance?

as suggested earlier do i fill in the date as of today or eons ago. would it be wrong to just phone them up and say can i add a name to my policy?

today's date seems the obvious but eons ago the accurate (should it be when girlfriend got back to UK).

it's not about the money saved, more about the believability of any changes to my form i am about to confess to.

i am worried and think i will take all the info on here and visit citizens advice this week. they are then in the loop if it all hits the fan.

Lady_Inversneckie

Hi Single Bloke,

On google put the name of your local council in and beside it put Council Tax 25% Discount cancellation.
Some council have a form, some dont.But within the Council you will be able to look at the Council Tax help section/forms.

I do urge you to be honest and state the cancellation date to be date the discount had actually first started. As in effect, your girlfriend did not leave you, she just went on a long holiday.

I thank CIS, as I forgot we are only into month 2 of the current financial year for Council Tax. You will receive two bills, one requesting payment almost immediately for the total amount of last years Council Tax from the date your girlfriend left to 31.3.12 and the second bill will be from 1.4.12 with no discount. Your payments to date will be deducted from the bill and showing. The balance for this year will be calculated over the remaining months.
I really think you will be fine. Council Tax will not breathe fire. :-)

Cheers

LurkerTurnedPoster

If he comes back and asks if you are sure he wont be prosecuted and thrown in jail, I am going to start giggling.

Single Bloke, it is cool, you are allowed to make mistakes - now you know, and you are putting things right, they will just be happy to have the mony and your account stand as it should.

Trust them - they know what they are doing.

Now if you were claiming housing benefit for someone and their ten children long after they had emigrated to Americky or died or something, and had no intention of telling the truth, they may raise more than an eyebrow. xx

single_bloke

Thanks for replies, spoke about plans with my girlfriend and we will phone them up on Friday (away tomorrow), and maybe friday they will be a bit more cheery!

One concern was that by saying the 25% was started incorrectly we are admitting guilt and the council will then tape interviews and notify magistrates knowing they have a guilty party? overreaction?

Can the council request property visits / interview us at their offices / travel tickets (my girlfriend was out of the country for two months (originally planned as 6, but family reasons brought a change of plan - surely that is allowed as an allowance, i am happy to scrap it if you advise so, but it was the not even on the same continent being the reason the 25% was cancelled in the first place)

What do i say if they say; why did you wait this long to tell us, you've paid two installments this year at the civic building ?

Finally, i looked a the date it changed and it was 01 november 2011 when it changed to singel person, so quite a while.

LurkerTurnedPoster

Yes. You are going to prison. The minute you step into the council offices to say that you realise you have underpaid and should not have taken your girlfriend off the council tax, and that you wish to pay and bring it up to date - a huge alarm is going to go off.

The SAS will abseil down the building, the local newspapers will be called and you will be taken to a police car as the flash bulbs go off. You will then be held in a cell for 48 hours without food and interogated. You will then be walked from the cell to the courts with a blanket on your head and artists impressions of you in the dock will be shown on the tea time news.

This is the crime of the century!

Your best course of action is to get your passport and get it quick. Leave the country, shave your head and get plastic surgery. Say goodbye to your family and beware, all your phone calls home from a non-hague convention country will be recorded as they reach your mothers house.

The council are not interested in getting non-compliant deliberate fraudsters still claiming who have no intention of paying to cough up. All their budget will be spent on you, you, you!

Have you read the rest of this thread?
I cannot work out how you could still be worried about anything with what has already been posted.

If you do not have the money to pay, and that is what is worrying you, or if you have no intention of paying from November until today, that would be the only reason I can think of that would pose a problem.

single_bloke

you don't know my council!

seriously, that made me laugh, but everyone has come across oficious people who revel in making you squirm as if they get a kick out of it.

i will let you know what happens after the call to the council ... friday

mynameistallulah

Why not ring them this morning? The offices have already been open for an hour ...

LurkerTurnedPoster

single_bloke wrote: »

you don't know my council!

seriously, that made me laugh, but everyone has come across oficious people who revel in making you squirm as if they get a kick out of it.

i will let you know what happens after the call to the council ... friday

I am glad I made you laugh, as it was my intention to make you smile. Do come back and tell us what happened as it would help anyone in your situation in the future to know it is safe to do so.

Wishing you well. xxxx

single_bloke

seems as though i am to be a guinea pig, will let you know, i still fell nervy and think they'll not be best pleased.