Council Tax Free Months

milt0n

are my Council tax free months March and April? because last year it was February and March.

and should i cancel the Direct Debit or they do it automatically?

see picture below

i.imgur.com/sK56qLJ.jpg

momofmonster

Hi - It's always February and March that are the council tax free months.

Don't worry about canceling your DD, i Have mine on DD and they simply don't take the money out for those months and pick up the payments again in April.
Hope that helps

InsideInsurance

Dont cancel the DD as they wont take for March and Feb but will start again in April. By cancelling it the April payment may be blocked and you could incure late payment penalties etc

notbritishgas

Don't forget for the new Council tax year you will be able to have it taken out in 12 payments instead of ten, that is if it suits you.

I have asked my council how to arrange that and was told to wait for the bill to arrive in March and then let them know and they will issue a new bill, what a waste.

agrinnall

I'm not sure that the non-payment months are always February and March (although mine have been wherever I've lived) as I think I've seen posts on here suggesting otherwise. The simple thing for the OP to do is look on their CT statement, which will detail the DD payment schedule for the year.

JimmyTheWig

milt0n wrote: »

are my Council tax free months March and April? because last year it was February and March.

and should i cancel the Direct Debit or they do it automatically?

see picture below

i.imgur.com/sK56qLJ.jpg

I believe that they sometimes use the two "free" months for people to catch up if they have missed a payment through the year.
Your image (http://i.imgur.com/sK56qLJ.jpg) shows a line saying "Your payment method has changed". I'm wondering if you set up your direct debit too late for them to take the first payment on 8th April 2012, so they're taking a payment in February instead.
In effect, this tax year your two "free" months are April 2012 and March 2013. As long as you keep your DD in place then I would guess they'll take the first of next year's payments in April and then in 2014 you will get February and March "free".

CIS

Don't forget for the new Council tax year you will be able to have it taken out in 12 payments instead of ten, that is if it suits you.

I have asked my council how to arrange that and was told to wait for the bill to arrive in March and then let them know and they will issue a new bill, what a waste.

That will be because the council only have to give them once they are requested. The default set-up is still 10 months although if you make the written request and the demand notice is issued before 16th April 2013 they have to give 12 instalments to you (bearing in mind they have to allow 14 days notice before the 1st payment is due).

I'm not sure that the non-payment months are always February and March (although mine have been wherever I've lived) as I think I've seen posts on here suggesting otherwise

The statutory default scheme is for for 10 payments with Feb and March free of payments however local authorities can vary this.

milt0n

thanks for the replies. will leave the DD alone.