Council Tax Problem
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KurtStudent
Posts: 5 Forumite
Hi All,
I hope you can help. I cant seem to find the information and wondered if anyone can help. - my apologies in advance for the poor typing, but im on my laptop and it has dodgy keys.
To cut a very long story short, back in early 2012 I lost my job. I applied for JSA and shortly after recieved assistance with the mortgage.
However, the council stated that the recalculated tax would be zero. which is understandable.
However, I have recenly got a job again, same industry, but with a 8k pay cut from my last position. therefore things are quite tight, and we have already cut back to the bare minimum. i.e. there are no further reductions possible! trust me I have tried.
However, we recently recieved a council tax letter saying they want £400 per month now until end of Dec.
This is totally unaffordable! we simply dont have any money spare!, i might be able to push to an extra £20 a month ontop, but no more. We have tried calling them and their answer was "tough". .... this means, if we have to pay, we literally wont be able to feed our family for now until after december.
My question is this, the last time I lost my job, the council wrote the sum off because I wasnt working. surely if someone is in financial difficulty they need to make allowances and negotiate a fair settlement for all parties?
There is no way I can pay this money. unless the cost is spread out. I have no family I can ask to help.
What are my options?
Kind regards
P
I hope you can help. I cant seem to find the information and wondered if anyone can help. - my apologies in advance for the poor typing, but im on my laptop and it has dodgy keys.
To cut a very long story short, back in early 2012 I lost my job. I applied for JSA and shortly after recieved assistance with the mortgage.
However, the council stated that the recalculated tax would be zero. which is understandable.
However, I have recenly got a job again, same industry, but with a 8k pay cut from my last position. therefore things are quite tight, and we have already cut back to the bare minimum. i.e. there are no further reductions possible! trust me I have tried.
However, we recently recieved a council tax letter saying they want £400 per month now until end of Dec.
This is totally unaffordable! we simply dont have any money spare!, i might be able to push to an extra £20 a month ontop, but no more. We have tried calling them and their answer was "tough". .... this means, if we have to pay, we literally wont be able to feed our family for now until after december.
My question is this, the last time I lost my job, the council wrote the sum off because I wasnt working. surely if someone is in financial difficulty they need to make allowances and negotiate a fair settlement for all parties?
There is no way I can pay this money. unless the cost is spread out. I have no family I can ask to help.
What are my options?
Kind regards
P
0
Comments
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you could ask for your council tax payments to be spread over the full tax year. The norm appears be be final payment Jan 1st then Feb and March are payment-free with payments restarting 1st April, so this would give you an extra 2 months to spread the payments over0
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KurtStudent wrote: »...However, I have recenly got a job again, same industry, but with a 8k pay cut from my last position. therefore things are quite tight, and we have already cut back to the bare minimum. i.e. there are no further reductions possible! trust me I have tried...
Try posting your detailed SoA over on the Debt Free Wannabe board. I'm sure they will be able to offer further assisance.
You won't believe the number of people they have helped over there who originally thought there was nothing else possible to cut down on and/or benefits to be had.0 -
My question is this, the last time I lost my job, the council wrote the sum off because I wasnt working. surely if someone is in financial difficulty they need to make allowances and negotiate a fair settlement for all parties?
There is no requirement for the council to write off any monies or collect it other than via the statutory installment plan - if you weren't working i suspect you were covered by council tax benefit for the period - as this money is what they run on - if they write it off then then money has to be made up from someone else.
You need to speak with the council again and see if they will spread the monies out for you.However, we recently recieved a council tax letter saying they want £400 per month now until end of Dec.
What band property are you in ?I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0 -
hi, thanks for the thoughts. whats SoA? also, trust me we really are on the minimum., but im sure it cant hurt...
also, they have spread the payments out. its £400 a month. my normal payment is £186 a month. I can only afford £20 ontop of this amount.
I will write to them. but they surely cant force people to pay who genuinely dont have the money?
I though tthe council tax benefit helped people, not asked them to pay it back??0 -
KurtStudent wrote: »hi, thanks for the thoughts. whats SoA? ...
Statement of Affairs. All explained in a sticky thread at the top of that board, together with a link to a template for you to fill in and post
Look forward to seeing your posting over there ...0 -
ah ha!
excellent.
thanks. i will post there in the morning.
thanks0 -
What may help is.....
What is your council tax bill for the year?
What was the period from the beginning of April that you were receiving JSA?
Does your partner work?
Did you make a claim for Council Tax Benefit during this period? Did you close the claim when you went back to work?
The council tax benefit should cover the period you were out of work
eg council tax bill £1800, Although this looks like it should be £150 per month for 12 months, because it is paid over 10 months it is £180 per month
Out of work 3 months receiving full council tax benefit
The CTC will have covered £450 (£150x3) leaving £1350 to pay over the remaining 7 payment months = £193 per month
If you are on a low income you may still qualify for some help
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_100189230 -
KurtStudent wrote: »ah ha!
excellent.
thanks. i will post there in the morning.
thanks
Please don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today.
The sooner you get to it, the sooner others can try to help you
Edit: Oops. That appears to have scared him off . The OP has since decided to exit the forum. :cool:0 -
The council tax benefit should cover the period you were out of work
Only in full if the partner had no income (or was on a relevant benefit) otherwise he'd have a reduction in the amount paid.I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0 -
It's probably due to what Caz posted a couple of posts ago. Double check they have the correct info as a fist step.
Secondly ask if you can spread the payments into February and March to help you as you can't afford the current payments.
Thirdly depending on if you are paying other debts you may need to pay them token amounts in order to get on top of your council tax as council tax is a priority debt and should take priority over unsecured debts.
Fourthly you should pay what you can each month even if you can't pay the full amount.
Best of Luck
df
Edit: to go from 186 a month to 400 a month seems quite a lot. It seems like as well as you owing the council tax over the remaining installments you may have missed one month? perhaps due to the fact that they have to give you a certain amount of notice of the bill. If this is true you can see if you are able to make an extra months payments to try and spread things out. For example if they have just written to you and said the next payment will be the begining of November see if you can make a payment in October (ie from this months money).
I'm sure if you post up more details someone can check for you.
Assuming you owe Nov, Dec and Jan at 400 that's 1200, if you can spread this over 5 months (to include Feb and Mar that's 240 a month and if you can make a payment for Oct as well then that would be 200 a month which is pretty much what you said you can afford. Hopefully I've got all the sums right on this.Making my money go further with MSE :j
How much can I save in 2012 challenge
75/1200 :eek:0
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