Problems getting a receipt

tomangler

Hello everyone

A friend of mine pays his council tax by cheque and up until now the council has always posted a receipt to him.

This month the council has said they it no longer post a receipt to him unless he includes a SAE with his cheque.

I have always believed that a company or organisation has to provide a receipt if asked for one and if the original payment is made by post then the organisation is obliged to send the receipt by post at their expense.

Am I correct?

Many thanks,

Tom

InsideInsurance

You're not correct.

There are certain circumstances that do legally require a receipt to be produced, namely if the merchant is VAT registered/ charging VAT, but if those conditions dont apply then there is no legal requirement.

You would need to explicitly look at council tax legislation to see if there is any mention of them being required to as council tax is not subject to VAT

unholyangel

Is there a specific reason he requires an actual receipt from them? Or could he use the cheque stub along with bank statement showing it has been cashed?

Failing that perhaps he could set up a direct debit or pay by card on the councils website (not sure if all councils offer this).

tomangler

Thank you for your replies.

There's no specific reason for requiring a receipt other than wanting proof that he paid them and when.

I'll pass your message on to him.

tom.

vuvuzela

If your friend can pay online monthly, then he/she'd get a transaction code that can be traced back to the payment.

CIS

You would need to explicitly look at council tax legislation to see if there is any mention of them being required to as council tax is not subject to VAT

Nothing is mentioned in council tax legislation.