Council Tax

[RhinoGirl]

Hello.

Name changed for this, for obvious reasons.

A bit of back story is that when me & DH moved at the end of 2021, I foolishly got muddled with two different council tax bills & references, to the point where one ending up under a liability order.

I made a plan with the council & the payments for the liability order were adhered to, every single month. In July, I accidentally mixed up the references again & got a form through for an AOE. As I knew I had paid, i rang the council immediately & asked where the money had gone as I had evidence of it leaving my bank. Turns out it had gone to my current years, they moved it over and I was told I had £127 to pay then the order would be finished. The £127 was paid when I got paid on the 25th of August, current years bill has left my account on the 28th, all was well.

Or so I though, as through the post this morning came a reminder for this year, saying last months payment was too little & an attachment of earnings letter that has been sent to DH previous employer, to deduct £200 from his wage. No letter for me singularly.

but wjat on earth for? The liability order was paid at the end of August. The AOE was for more than the remainimg payment.

Surely this is an error on their part? Recieved no other letters for any court summons at all, so it’s not another liability order. Plus the letter sent to DH previous employer references ‘order placed in Nov 22’

and of course its dropped through the door on a Saturday and can’t ring anyone until Monday, so I have to be worried sick about it all weekend.

Surely this is an error?

I know it was my fuck up originally but I assure you I was suitably mortified and made sure it was paid every month!

does anyone have any advice? (Sorry that was so long!)

How can anybody else possibly know? You need to speak to the council and set up a direct debit for future payments

Yes, set up a DD.

Citizens Advice Bureau or a debt advice charity
They deal with this type of stuff all the time.

Given you don’t mention not paying because of a lack of money, but because of being mixed up and muddled, why didn’t you just pay the debt and set up a DD?

Ours you can check online if you register for a council account. Could you try this? It shows payments made and anything left until April. (we pay over 12 months rather than 10 to make the monthly payments smaller)

One of them is paid by direct debit, one was paid manually via council website as they have different reference numbers.

i have spoken to the council & they said £200 hasnt been received, but I have evidence of it leaving my bank. Still no clearer on whats happened as its not been applied to the LO or this years bill.

The £200 that you paid, how did you pay it? Is there a reference number on the receipt or bank statement to show that you paid it?

Councils do make mistakes, but sometimes if someone has paid and there isn't a reference number the money goes into a black hole - as the council don't know where to allocate that money. Then if you show that you paid without a reference number - then that money can be allocated iyswim

Maybe that is the problem in your case?

Interesting its AOE and not bailiffs first, that seems to be the route other councils take