Council Tax is a local tax on residential properties, such as houses, flats and caravans, that is collected by local councils. The cost is set by your council and is used for funding local services. These include:
• police and fire services
• maintaining parks and sports centres
• rubbish collection and disposal.
• street lighting, cleaning and road maintenance
• libraries and education services
• environmental health and trading standards
• admin and record keeping for things like births, marriages, deaths and local elections.
• adult social care children's centres and youth services
• council housing, homelessness, housing benefit and council tax support
The amount you pay is determined by the value of the property and the 'Tax band' that it falls into and any discounts or exemptions that apply.
There are 8 valuation bands that relate to the value of the property on 1st April 1991. Any new build properties are assessed back to this date.
A full Council Tax bill is based on at least 2 adults living in a home. Some people are not counted (disregarded) when it comes to working out how many people live in a property. If you live on your own with no other adults, you should be entitled to a 25% reduction in your council Tax bill.
You may also get a reduction if you:
• are on a low income
• are a student or you live with students
• are getting certain benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit and Universal Credit
• are a member of the armed forces
• are in prison-unless you are serving a sentence for not paying Council Tax
• are living with someone who has a disability and need to live in a larger home
• have a severe mental illness or living with someone who has.
You are not expected to pay your council Tax in one lump sum, the council will take it directly from your bank account by Direct Debit in 12 equal amounts spread across the year.
Your annual bill here is called 'Council Tax demand notice! It may be called Council Tax bill, different councils appear to use different names.
This is your 'Account Reference number 'that you will need to use when speaking to the council about your bill whether that's online or over the 'phone’.
This is the Valuation 'Council Tax Band' your property has been given. The tax bands range from A to H with A being the cheapest band and H the highest.
This is the total amount of council tax you need to pay each year. This is broken down to show how much of the money you pay goes to the different organisations and services and any percentage increase above last years payments.
This shows the total amount you need to pay annually for the tax band followed by any discounts, exemptions or premiums that you may be entitled to. The Total Amount Payable is the actual amount you will need to pay over the financial year which runs from April to March. The total amount you pay can vary throughout the year due to changes in qualification for discounts and the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (previously known as Council Tax Benefit).
You can choose to pay your Council Tax in one lump sum but, due to the amount, most people set up a direct debit and pay it monthly. This tells you how much you will be paying and the date it will be taken out of your bank account. This will also show how much will need to be paid for the rest of the year. As the annual amount can't always be divided up equally the first payment of the year may be higher than the rest to take that difference into account. You may find that some councils split the annual amount over 10 months with you not having to pay anything for 2 months. this is not very common. If it is broken down into just 10 payments you can ask for this to be changed to 12 to make your monthly charge smaller and more manageable
