Council Tax Headache , Can anyone help, Please

Tempest501

My wife and I bought our first house (moved on the 26/05/15) and everything was ticking along nicely until we tried to sort our council tax out. My wife informed them we were moving and they sent us out 2 bills.

We pay by direct debit normally.

One for the new house starting from when we took ownership even though it was empty...... this read as the following:

Council Tax for Band B 08.05.2015 to 01.06.15 £72.69
(this said nothing about direct debit so wife called and they took payment over the phone.

We then also got second bill for our old house which read:

Council Tax for Band B 01.04.2015 to 01.06.15 £180.28
Payments -£85.23

Amount you have to pay £95.05

This said the due date is 30.06.15 and would be taken via direct debit.

What I dont understand is the 85.23 was paid on the 30/04/15. I thought Council Tax was paid in Advance and not arrears? and if this is the case would that not mean it should read from the 1st of May and they have charged us for an extra month? because the payment on the 30th Apr should cover the month of May?

Not sure if this means on our new property we are not up to date.

I hope this makes sense to someone as I really need help so I can call them and get it all sorted out.

ellie27

Did you pay £95ish on the 30/3/15?

ellie27

Your new place, you only moved in on 26/5 so surely £72 is a bit much for just 1 weeks council tax?

If it was unnocupied from 08/5 - 25/5 your council may allow you to be exempt?

CIS

If you're in a property for a whole year with no changes during the year then you are correct in that it's geneally paid in advance but if changes occur during the year or there's been any variation from the normal monthly payments then you can end up paying in arrears.

Paying on the 30th month would mean you're paying in arrears for the year from 01 April 15 - the standard council tax instalments plan is the 1st of each month so you pay in advance at the start of the month.

What I would expect has happened is that your 30th April payment was taken and before they could take May's payment you told them you had moved, Because they have to give 14 days notice of the revised payment (due to the closed council tax account) plan they couldn't take a payment on 30th May therefore the payment has been scheduled for 30th June.

Tempest501

ellie27 wrote: »

Your new place, you only moved in on 26/5 so surely £72 is a bit much for just 1 weeks council tax?

If it was unnocupied from 08/5 - 25/5 your council may allow you to be exempt?

They said because of a change in law you have to pay council tax from when you take ownership

Paul_the_Painter

You have a bit of a misunderstanding of how council tax works, it is accrued daily on the property. Council tax year runs from the beginning of April to the beginning of April. The council then generally divides this up into 10 (sometimes 12) payments and collects by direct debit. You pay monthly but it is not a monthly tax. Your bill from the council (for the old house) breaks down simply how much you owe (61 days) for the current year which is £180, then takes off what payments you've made so far, and shows the balance left.

If you look at your council tax band for the house you'll find that the amount for a full year is about £1000. The councils math looks right to me

Tempest501

CIS wrote: »

If you're in a property for a whole year with no changes during the year then you are correct in that it's geneally paid in advance but if changes occur during the year or there's been any variation from the normal monthly payments then you can end up paying in arrears.

Paying on the 30th month would mean you're paying in arrears for the year from 01 April 15 - the standard council tax instalments plan is the 1st of each month so you pay in advance at the start of the month.

What I would expect has happened is that your 30th April payment was taken and before they could take May's payment you told them you had moved, Because they have to give 14 days notice of the revised payment (due to the closed council tax account) plan they couldn't take a payment on 30th May therefore the payment has been scheduled for 30th June.

Our Direct debits have alway gone out on 30th or 31st. They didnt take a payment in May though.

So am i right in saying we need to pay the 95, the 72 (paid already) and tell them they have not charged us for our new place this month. 3 payments in one month is kind of ouchy...

Tempest501

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

You have a bit of a misunderstanding of how council tax works, it is accrued daily on the property. Council tax year runs from the beginning of April to the beginning of April. The council then generally divides this up into 10 (sometimes 12) payments and collects by direct debit. You pay monthly but it is not a monthly tax. Your bill from the council (for the old house) breaks down simply how much you owe (61 days) for the current year which is £180, then takes off what payments you've made so far, and shows the balance left.

If you look at your council tax band for the house you'll find that the amount for a full year is about £1000. The councils math looks right to me

So it is paid in arrears then?

Just confused as they told the wife we are paid up but maybe its because they said the direct debit will go out on 30.06.15. Just confused as to why nothing is setup for the new gaff now though when she called to sort it unless the direct debit will still be used but for the new house?

CIS

So it is paid in arrears then?

Council tax is paid in advance as standard but it may be paid in arrears if circumstances prevent it having been paid in advance.

CIS

They said because of a change in law you have to pay council tax from when you take ownership

For the last few years councils have had discretion to set their own discounts for unoccupied properties and many now offer a reduced level of discount (in some cases they offer no reduction).