Council Tax Final Notice

AlexOG

Hi
Ive received a final notice for my council tax this morning saying I have to pay the full amount of £1200. I did receive a letter last month saying I was late & I need to pay within 7 days - I called the office & they said not to worry & that they give you a bit longer than the 7 days. Needless to say I paid it within the 7 days. Ive now received this letter today. Ive always paid my council tax manually on or around - give or take 2/3 days the 27th of the month so for this year Ive paid 24th Feb / 31 March / 27th April & obviously Ive paid today the 13th May. There is no payment in Jan 17 but I think this was because no payment was due then - I never received a letter saying it was due.This non payment has never been flagged up as I always thought I was paying it before the due date of the 1st of the month.
Im very worried now as I dont have £1200 to pay the full balance - I can however afford the £139 it is per month.
Please can someone put my mind at rest as Im going a little mad. As its a Saturday I cannot phone anyone at the council either....
Many thanks
A

molerat

Council tax payments are financial year based and not calendar, this year started in April. The 2 "free" months when paying in 10 instalments are normally February and March so why did you make a payment in February but not January. You need to make an appointment to see them to sort it out as a demand for full payment means you have not paid this year's instalments. Paying by direct debit is normally the best way to go as you have a trail through your bank account and it is up to them to sort it out.

CIS

A statutory final notice is issued under 3 circumstances only.

1) A final demand has been issued for a previous year asking for 1 payment and that hasn't been made.
2) As above but an account has been closed during this tax year (e.g. a house move since April)
3) 2 reminders have been issued but payment has been made within 7 days. The final notice would be issued on a 3rd late payment.

In some cases a local authority may issue a final notice after a reminder to give one final chance but that's unusual.

The only way to know exactly what has happened is to speak to the council. This problem can only be answered by someone looking at the actual council tax account.

Craig

fatbelly

Is the £1200 owed for this financial year? Or the previous one?

AlexOG

Thanks for the replies. The £1200 is for the year starting April 2017 so Im not sure whats going on as there are no areears on the account.
My main worry is that I don't have the full £1200 to pay! Im worried & now I have to wait till Monday to speak to someone - awful they send these type of letter put on a Friday...

fatbelly

They should be OK to set up a new arrangement to clear the council tax by the end of the financial year, and there are ten months remaining.

It is possible they will want a liability order but that seems extreme given your payment history.

CIS

What date was the instalment due as shown on the original demand notice have you double checked ?

The most common issues, if payments of the right amount are being made, is that either it's being paid to an old reference number (many local authorities use a new number each year) or it's going against arrears from a previous year.

Did you have any any arrears outstanding at the end of the last year ?

Craig