Council Tax - Court Summons - I have paid.

anonymous112433

Council Tax - Court Summons

Today I received a court summons letter for not paying enough council tax. But it doesn't make sense. I am on a Direct Debit and I can see all payments for this year going through on my bank statement even the one for this month. I haven't had any reminder/warning letters and I always make sure I have enough in the account for the payment.

Is this an admin error on their side or is there something I'm missing? I notice in the letter how they say I owe £24/£21 per month from August 2023 to April 2024 but this nowhere near my usual monthly DD of £125.

I have submitted the form for a telephone interview, but I'm quite worried still.

Screenshot of the letter is below.

https://imgur.com/a/hN6Unq7

elsien

There would normally be letters requesting payment before any application to court. Is this the first indication that you’ve heard? Because if so I would be contacting the council to find out what on earth is going on.

fatbelly

I wonder if your dd payments have been allocated to the wrong account

I've looked at your letter and it does look like a !!!!!!-up on their part

WYSPECIAL

Are you entitled to single person discounts? If the amounts they believe you have underpaid is about 25% then perhaps they have missed this somehow.

p00hsticks

WYSPECIAL said:

Are you entitled to single person discounts? If the amounts they believe you have underpaid is about 25% then perhaps they have missed this somehow.

Or, if you've been claiming it for a few years, they sometimes write to you asking you to confirm that you are still eligible for it and will remove it if you don't reply in the affirmative.
 
But your council tax bill sent at the beginning of the year will have shown how much you need to pay, what your monthly direct debit installments are and when they'll be taken. 

Another possibility for the possible discrepancy that I've just thought is is that you have elected to pay over 12 months but the council have you as paying over only ten months - that might account for the alleged shorrtfall. 

You need to get in touch with the council to understand why they think you are underpaying.

fatbelly

If this is a direct debit (and not a standing order) then they should have just amended the wmount and you should not be liable for the court costs

anonymous112433

Update.

It turns out they messed up the Direct Debit when I requested the payment date to be changed. The person who updated the DD payment date didn't do it properly - one month's payment was skipped last year. The council said they sent emails and letters to inform me, but this is a lie and I caught them out because they couldn't give details on when these letters were issued and they don't have my email address - I have had issues with registering online.

Long story short - they have arranged to take the missing month in the next month's DD. The fine will be revoked and they are sending a letter to confirm this.