Council Tax Refund :- entitlement confirmed and used without authorization

amayeta

I am livid.
I applied for a council tax refund and was told I was entitled.

The thing is when I sent in my bank details for the refund I have just received a letter telling me that the council would not be refunding any money as they decided to reduce this year's liability.

I had promised the money to my kid towards some equipment and now I can't. Am I entitled to tell the council that they had no right and should have just recalculate my monthly payments and send me my refund.

I pay on a monthly bases which I am more than happy with.

It's taken then ages to reply.

unforeseen

They have the right to offset a debt with any credit

amayeta

Why when I asked for the refund before this year's council tax was well due. They should have sent me my refund last year but kept it
So the council have had interest on my refund despite numerous request. Not one reply until now. So there was no debt when my refund was awarded except the council's debt to me.

CIS

amayeta wrote: »

Why when I asked for the refund before this year's council tax was well due. They should have sent me my refund last year but kept it
So the council have had interest on my refund despite numerous request. Not one reply until now. So there was no debt when my refund was awarded except the council's debt to me.

So the amount is for last years council tax ? Is it for the same property ?

CIS

Reg 24 of the admin & enforcement regs allows the tax payer to have the refund back at their choice in most cases (unless the refund becomes due just because a person has moved directly between properties, in which case the council can just transfer it).

Sometimes it's just a case of being able to construct the argument against the council with respect to legislation and asking the council why they don't agree.

Mersey_2

amayeta wrote: »

I am livid.
I applied for a council tax refund and was told I was entitled.

The thing is when I sent in my bank details for the refund I have just received a letter telling me that the council would not be refunding any money as they decided to reduce this year's liability.

I pay on a monthly bases which I am more than happy with.

It's taken then ages to reply.

You can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman re maladministration (this includes delay and being provided incorrect information).


If you pay monthly (10 or 12), the Council certainly shouldn't deduct all of the 2016/17 liability before it even falls due.

lincroft1710

Council Tax is actually due on the 1 April. However legislation permits paying over either 10 or 12 months. Failure to make these payments can lead to this facility being withdrawn and the outstanding balance being immediately due.

CIS

I would also add that the LGO will not get involved (except in exceptional cases) until the complaints process with the council has been exhausted.

badmemory

Have you had the amended schedule of payments yet?

Mersey_2

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Council Tax is actually due on the 1 April.

It certainly is not.


That's simply the date from which Councils can ask for payment. It's also why many councils give a discount for paying in advance.


Indeed one council which mistakenly took the whole year's council tax in error - including from a deceased former resident's account - was sued by a group of residents, who of course obtained not only CCJs for the sums wrongly debited, but also recouped consequential losses for the resultant bank charges plus Costs and interest!


[From memory, at the time an MP described the way some council departments behaved as, "A law unto themselves, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they are in fact meant to be public servants, not our masters." ]

CIS

Mersey wrote: »

It certainly is not.


That's simply the date from which Councils can ask for payment. It's also why many councils give a discount for paying in advance.


Indeed one council which mistakenly took the whole year's council tax in error - including from a deceased former resident's account - was sued by a group of residents, who of course obtained not only CCJs for the sums wrongly debited, but also recouped consequential losses for the resultant bank charges plus Costs and interest!


[From memory, at the time an MP described the way some council departments behaved as, "A law unto themselves, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they are in fact meant to be public servants, not our masters." ]

Council Tax as a liability becomes due in full on day one of the account however the council have to give your statutory right to whatever instalments are required. Very few councils will offer any discount for paying in advance, there may be the odd one but I've never come across them.

The fact it's due in full on the first day of the account (accepting that statutory instalments are allowed) is the reason that the years debt can generally be considered in full for bankruptcy. This is via kaye v south-oxfordshire district council which, although a business rates case, was found to equally apply to council tax in the same manner as the payment system is pretty much the same.

The reason legal action would have been taken in the case you mentioned is that the council had taken the payment with recourse to the statutory payments. This then left the council open to legal action.