CTAX issue

Oh_Daesu

Hi Guy's,

Not sure best place to put this, However moved in to a new build property and only started to pay council tax six months after moving in. Because we had not set up a Direct debit council went to take us to court but I stopped that and set up a DD, However due to the new council tax year I am now having to pay £392.00 a month in council tax for the next five months which I cannot afford.

I was told by the council if I cancel this DD for the old tax year they will take me to court for the full sum in one go and nothing I can do about it.

I am currently trying to get the house rebanded and can only think of one other way that would be to cancel the new year's DD and re set it up for a month later just to help me out for at least this month.

Any ideas welcome?

Karonher

Council tax is a priority debt and needs to be paid. If you agree a payment plan and then break it, why should the council trust you and let you pay when you want?

If you don't pay this years at the right time they can apply for the whole amount at once.

There is more information here.

https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-arrears

Is there a reason why you did not pay for 6 months? If it was through mistakes the council made you may have a chance but otherwise I would look at ways to get the money.

Oh_Daesu

Well even though we should have rang up and generally made payment, The house was never banded till December six months after we moved in. We paid £250 to start with as soon as it was banded didn't set up a DD till end of January when they decided to start court proceedings which I thought was quick after just banding the property.

Karonher

There is more information here

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/council-tax/council-tax/

Having glanced through it it looks like you start paying when you receive the bill. When was that?

Karonher

No one is under an obligation to make a payment until they are issued with a bill in their name or, if they are jointly and severally liable, with a joint taxpayers' notice.

This is the quote from it.

Oh_Daesu

That would have been about December we made an initial £250 at start of December on-line but didn't make another payment for about seven weeks at end of Jan when they started court proceedings.

Thats when I set up a direct debit.

WhenIam64

The CT department are simply following the statutory processes in seeking to recover CT debt.

You could contact your local CAB who will have / should have a good relationship with the Council and get help to complete an Income/Expenditure form that council's usually have for this sort of issue. The CT debt will not disappear but may be carried over and spread over the next tax year.

If you income is very low, there may be a discretionary waiving of part of the tax but don't count on it. Tax collecting has been refined over the millenia.

CIS

Oh_Daesu wrote: »

Well even though we should have rang up and generally made payment, The house was never banded till December six months after we moved in. We paid £250 to start with as soon as it was banded didn't set up a DD till end of January when they decided to start court proceedings which I thought was quick after just banding the property.

The fact there was a delay in banding is not particularly relevant.


As the demand notice was issued in January then they only had to offer 1 instalment - where there is only 1 instalment then , if this has not been made as required, the council only need to send a final notice prior to going for a summons. The final notice will give 7 days to pay the whole balance. As soon as those 7 days are finished then they can issue a summons.


It sounds like they've agreed not to proceed with the summons providing you kept to an arrangement. If you stop the DD and try to play this then they can simply cancel your arrangement and proceed with recovery action.

In respect of the current year, assuming it is in England, then you can have it spread to March 2020, rather than the standard Jan 2020. The request should be in writing but, as long as you haven't lost the right to instalments for this year, then they cannot refuse.

phillw

I know someone who phoned and paid every month on their debit card, after the first month they received a late notice, when they phoned to make a payment the next month they were told not to worry about it, then they received another late notice and were told they had to pay the rest of the year in one go.

This was because my friend hadn't considered that it took a couple of days for the payment to clear and they were phoning on the date the money had to be received by the council.

Councils don't mess around.

Some councils let you go online and request a different payment day and choose between 10 & 12 month repayments, you may be able to request a change so that it pushes the next payment date back when it recalculates the monthly payments. The web site for my council gave the impression your request can be denied.

CIS

The web site for my council gave the impression your request can be denied.

Some can, some can't. It depends on what the request is and at what stage it's made.

Oh_Daesu

Hi, thanks for you all for your advice, the next morning I rang them up the next morning and we arranged and brought it down £160 a month.