H/benefit over payment & council tax opmnt

jayne60

Hi can anyone offer any knowledge, My hubby was declared B/R in nov last year, I went B/R on the 18th may this year, due to me having to change banks I informed the council of new bank details, only to be asked for wage slips for last 18 mnths which has left me with a whopping debt, Im still in receipt of said benefits, but they are taking money back over god knows how many years out of it, can this debt not be included in my B/R or is it because im still getting the benefit they can take it anyway? thought i was going to be debt free but now owe around £2.500 any info gratly received:D

debtinfo

If you were not notified of the overpayment until after your bankruptcy date then it wont be included in the bankruptcy.

jayne60

I went b/r 18th may, letter is dated 17th, the overpmnts relate from 4.10.2010 to 29.4.2012 for my h/benefit and 4/10/10 to 7/5/12 for council tax ?

debtinfo

Does the letter on the 17th state the full amount of how much you owe and the method of how they are going to claim it back

real1314

jayne60 wrote: »

Hi can anyone offer any knowledge, My hubby was declared B/R in nov last year, I went B/R on the 18th may this year, due to me having to change banks I informed the council of new bank details, only to be asked for wage slips for last 18 mnths which has left me with a whopping debt, Im still in receipt of said benefits, but they are taking money back over god knows how many years out of it, can this debt not be included in my B/R or is it because im still getting the benefit they can take it anyway? thought i was going to be debt free but now owe around £2.500 any info gratly received:D

It seems clear that you failed to tell the council that your income had increased. As a result of this, your HB and CTB have been overpaid. Failing to tell the council of such a change could be treated as fraud and could lead to prosecution.
I don't believe that this is a "debt" as such, and don't think you should have been able to de-fraud taxpayers and then evade paying it back.

You should ensure that you tell any benefit paying bodies of changes to your income / capital / circumstances, as per the original claim / letters regarding awards / other notifications. :cool:

CIS

In any case for it to have been included in the bankruptcy the council tax would have had to become due in full prior to the date the order was granted.

debtinfo

not so as can be seen from this technical advice from the Insolvency service website. In any evet i think the OP is talking about council tax benefit

40.101 Council Tax
(Amended January 2012)
Each District Borough Council levies and collects a tax, called a council tax which is payable in respect of dwellings in its area. The occupiers of the dwellings have joint and several liability for council tax. The rules for the collection of council tax are found in the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 URL="http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/TechnicalManual/Ch37-48/chapter40/part6/Notes/Notes.htm#3"][COLOR=#0066cc]Note 3[/COLOR][/URL.
At the beginning of the year the local authority issue a ‘demand notice’ in respect of the property URL="http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/TechnicalManual/Ch37-48/chapter40/part6/Notes/Notes.htm#4"][COLOR=#0066cc]Note 4[/COLOR][/URL. This notice is an estimate of the council tax due based on the assumption that the tax payer will be in residence for the entire billing period and that the property will remain in the same council tax band. The ‘demand notice’ sets out how much an occupier should pay and when the payments should be made. This is usually by 10 instalment payments.
If an occupier fails to make a payment set out in the ‘demand notice’ the council will issue a reminder letter. The tax payer will then have 7 days from the date the reminder was issued to pay the instalment amount. If the payment is made within the 7 days further payments will fall due as per the demand notice. Failure to pay the instalment within the 7 days will render the entire years remaining council tax liability due and payable 7 days after the date of the failure (i.e. it all becomes due and payable14 days after the date the reminder was issued) URL="http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/TechnicalManual/Ch37-48/chapter40/part6/Notes/Notes.htm#5"][COLOR=#0066cc]Note 5[/COLOR][/URL.
If a further instalment is missed a second reminder will be issued giving the tax payer 7 days to make the payment. The consequences of the second reminder are the same as for the first.
Upon the issue of a third reminder the entire years remaining council tax liability will become due and payable immediately, a 7 day period is not allowed to make the outstanding payment URL="http://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/TechnicalManual/Ch37-48/chapter40/part6/Notes/Notes.htm#6"][COLOR=#0066cc]Note 6[/COLOR][/URL.

Legal advice received provides that the following amounts of council tax are provable debts in bankruptcy:

1. All arrears outstanding at the date of the bankruptcy order.
2. The monthly instalment for the month in which the bankruptcy order is made if the date for payment has passed and the payment has not been made.

Further, where the bankrupt has failed to comply with a reminder notice and as a consequence, the whole amount of the council tax for the year is due and payable the whole amount is a provable debt in the bankruptcy.

mynameistallulah

Of course, given the amount owed, the LA does still have the option to prosecute ...

debtinfo

mynameistallulah wrote: »

Of course, given the amount owed, the LA does still have the option to prosecute ...

Really, surely any option to prosecute would depend on the facts of the case and not just on the amount owed, and since you dont know those facts you dont know what options the LA does or does not have in this case

mynameistallulah

debtinfo wrote: »

Really, surely any option to prosecute would depend on the facts of the case and not just on the amount owed, and since you dont know those facts you dont know what options the LA does or does not have in this case

A prosecution is an option where the overpayment is more than £2,000. Of course it would depend on the facts of the case, hence my stating it was an option not a certainty, yes?

debtinfo

mynameistallulah wrote: »

A prosecution is an option where the overpayment is more than £2,000. Of course it would depend on the facts of the case, hence my stating it was an option not a certainty, yes?

An option by definition is a choice between different possibilities that an entity could take. If it was the case that the facts did not support a prosecution then it would not be an option that they could take, ie regardless of the amount owed there could never be a prosecution and the LA would not have the choice of taking that action.

Therefore since you dont know the facts you could not possibly reasonably know whether it was an option or it was not an option therefore your statement that they do have the option is entirely wrong.

now if you had said that there could be an option dependant on the circumstances then you would have made a correct statement, but you did not.