Please does anyone work for council tax who can help me?

[CouncilTaxMonsters]

I've got the council tax chasing me for over £1000 and I haven't got over £1000. I've had two notices for the money and the next time they write to me they're going to take me to court. It says that in the letter.

I don't owe the money, I've always paid my tax.

I applied for council tax support two months ago and that's when my problems started. I don't earn very much money so I thought I might qualify. They asked me for details of my universal credit statements so I sent them across. Then I got this bill for over £1000, it's for this year, last year and the last two years previous before. I did pay my council tax as it was billed for all those years but now they're saying I have to pay more. Like, loads more.

I don't have the money.

Please, what can I do?

Payment arrangement only advice, on uc now it's not automatically discount it depends what u get amount of money coming in

I haven't had any money coming in until last October since when I've earny around £100 a month.

This amount they are wanting is outlandish.

I was on 25% discount as I am single, I paid the rest, the 75%. Now I've applied for council tax support and it is worked out that I owe over £1000 total for all these years.

is there a helpline number on the letter?

Can you try to contact them and speak to them to explain the situation?

If you can’t afford to pay, they may allow you to set up a payment plan. If you feel you don’t owe this money, then it might be easier to speak to someone and explain your situation.

Please don’t ignore the letter as if they get the courts involved, you may end up owing more in costs etc

I have until 18 June to pay it. I asked : what is happening about council tax support claim? And they said it takes six weeks to calculate. Well it has already been more than six weeks. But they have not calculated. And in the meantime they are writing letters with a deadline of 18 June. I asked can you at least extend the deadline to your own deadline for calculating and they said no they can not.

I mean obviously this is nonsense, they can do what they like, but they're choosing to have one deadline for themselves and another one for me to pay up by.

If your on uc get different elements or have lots of kids etc they use total income amount plus any wages if lots coming in u don't get much discount unfortunately, what elements do u get? Lcwra? Carers kids?

Have they sent you a detailed breakdown of why they think you’ve underpaid?

Do you have bank statements showing you’ve paid the council tax over that period of time?

If you think you’ve paid but they’re saying you haven’t, that’s what needs to get sorted, I think the council tax support issue may just be confusing things.

If goes to court u say awaiting council tax assistance dicision they will postpone it

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-urgent-debts/dealing-with-council-tax-arrears/

@lovemyboyz247 I have rung the number. I got conflicting information. One person said I'm in arrears because I didn't pay enough two months running ie over two payment dates. So now the full council tax for the year is due.

The other said it's because of past arrears.

I have had five bills since I applied for council tax support each one with another past atrears added on. . Because now they are billing me for 100% for this year and all the other years and I only paid the 75% this year and all the other years because that was what was on the bill I got back at the start of the year and that's what every bill has been in years previous. As it should be because I am single. But now I've applied for council tax support they are billing me as a couple. But not applying any council tax support.

I did go into the council office on Friday to try and sort it out in person but they just gave me a form to declare I am single and said they would pass it to the council tax department but in the meantime I need to keep up to date with my bill. I have never previously been out of date with my bill. But I don't have over £1000 in hand. They said again it would be six weeks to calculate and in the meantime I need to pay over £1000.
SURELY THIS CANNOT BE RIGHT???!

OK, so it sounds like they’ve messed up and think you haven’t been single.

See if you can get through to someone more senior on Monday (or at least someone in the right department) - I’ve found the phone line for our local council more helpful than going into the office; don’t know if that would be the same for your area.

If you’ve missed payments then they can ask for the whole amount for the year to be paid, but if you can’t afford it they should work out a payment plan. But they need to get the bill right - that’s the most important thing to sort out.

If you’re still not getting anywhere, might be worth seeing if you can get an appointment with Citizens Advice.

You say you have had 5 bills recently. Are they all for the same year? The bills will show what count tax was due for each year they are billing you any discounts you got, how much you paid.

I work in council tax support and we get notifications come through from the dwp when people claim UC and it automatically triggers a council tax support claim. I wonder if you have been getting council tax support and your recent claim has flagged that the council were not aware that you were working.

It a happens sometimes times that the UC notices don’t come through when situations change.

the other possibility is that you have children/other people in household who have turned 18 (this is shown up on your council tax support claim) so they have gone back and removed your single person discount.

I haven't missed payments. I paid what was on the original bill for this year every month but because now they have decided to recalculate the bill they're saying that what I paid was short twice so I owe the full amount. I can't phone again on Monday or Tuesday. I'm working both those days now (thanks to God). On the days when I've phoned it's been forty minutes on hold, I have literally walked around with my phone in my pocket while going about my business, on hold, but I can't do that at work (can't have phone on me).

Google your local council name and ‘council tax’ for each year you have been billed arrears for. See how much it was/is for your band, and then deduct 25% - see if that matches what you were paying.

Then you should be able to determine whether you’ve been getting some other discount, or if it’s the single person discount that they’re saying are the arrears.

Does the paperwork you sent them indicate that any other adult is living with you, e.g. anything related to a joint claim, or end of child benefit?