Confused About Council Tax

[counciltaxquestions]

Hiya all, have recently bought our first property and am a bit confused about the ins and outs of council tax 😳

DH and I moved into a house on Dec 1st, this is the first time we've owned and first time for either of us without roommates, so first time we're dealing with a separate council tax bill ourselves.

My understanding was that we'd be billed for December for 2023 and then in April 2024, we'd start ten monthly payments to cover 2024. But I've just got a bill for Feb and March for charges from December 2023, and it adds up to 45% of our yearly band amount? I'm not sure why we've been hit with such a high bill when we were only in the property for a month?

Is this normal? Are we paying some of 2024 upfront? Obviously will phone the council, but am in a busy office all day so won't have a change until tomorrow due to line opening hours. If anyone could give me a quick primer, it would be much appreciated 🙂

Hi you owe council tax for every day that you own the property. The tax year runs from April so for 23/24 you owe four months from December to March. Then in 24/25 you will pay for 12 months but most councils spread it over 10 months so there is nothing to pay in February and March. Hope this helps.

I assume you moved in the usual way taking ownership immediately upon completion. If you owned it before 01/12/23 then that might complicate matters.

If you moved in in December then I'd expect you to be liable for four months of 2023/4 - December, January, February and March. I'd expect that you'd get a bill for one third of the annual charge for your band. You'd probably be allowed to pay that monthly.

I don't think councils have yet set their charges for 2024/5 so not clear how/why that number would be in play.

Most councils allow for the year's charge to be paid in ten instalments from April to January with a payment holiday in February and March. Twelve instalments is also possible if it helps spread things better.

I suspect it’s because you need to pay council for the four months you’re living in the house after you moved in on 1 Dec - so Dec, Jan, Feb, and March? That would be 4 months out of the 12, so approx 33% of the total bill.

From April, you’d be paying for the full year (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025) in ten instalments, so basically paying in advance for Feb & March 2025. But as you only moved in to the house on Dec 2023, you haven’t made those payments in advance for Feb & March 2024.

Ah, I see! I didn't realise the first few months of 2024 would be included in the 2023 bill.

Thanks all for answering my daft question, we were previously in HMO flats so just paid the landlord who dealt with the ins and outs! That's put my mind at rest, thank you!🙈

Yep - it's works on financial years (April - March) rather than calendar years.