Council Tax

[harryandmarv]

Just need to clarify something in my head & our new council tax bill
So usually we paid by visa debit card every month over 10 mths & get Feb & March ‘off’.

Last year because of covid, bit of a struggle so asked for an extension & got April & May off, saying we’d pay it back in Feb & March 2021.

Done that. New bill. No break, going to be paying for next twelve months, so will be paying Council tax from June 2020 to March 2022, then will we get the two month break?! Is this right? I can’t think straight!

If you've changed from paying over 10 months to paying over 12 months then you won't get a break at all from now on as next year's bill will continue straight on from this year's.

You can ask them to change it back to pay over 10 months but it will go back to being a bit more for the 10?

If you are paying over 12 months only because you are effectively 'paying back' the 2 months from last year, then those months will be charging you when you would've usually had your break. If you're moving to a 12 month model anyway instead of 10 months for lower monthly payments then you never get a break month.

I used to work in Council Tax. They will have changed your bill to 12 months last year to avoid automated recovery notices. But that means the system now has you as paying over 12 months. You can contact them to change it back.

It reads that the OP was still 10 months last year, just deferred by 2 months. Not spread over 12.

It should be obvious from the bill OP, which should have a schedule of payments - what periods does the bill say, is it the total decided by 10 or 12?

Do you want the two months off as it will mean your monthly payments are higher?
The annual amount will be the same no matter what