Hi All,
I am a newbie to the WHAT forums. Bare with me please!
I am a single parent and law abiding citizen who tries to manage income and outgoings as efficently as possible. I tend to pay my council tax within the year of billing in 4 chunks, this suits me. However, today I recieved a Council Tax Summary Warrant notice with a 10% surcharge attached to it. I called the enquires line and was told I had to pay this regardless of the fact that I was intending to pay my account in full by the end of the period - Jan 09.
Apparently, you can only pay Council Tax in full or monthly arrangement and each month you are perceived to be in arrears. Is this fair or legal to inforce this payment method on people. Surely, we should be able to decide what, when and how we pay this taxation and not have conditions forced upon us.
I am annoyed at myself for allowing this to have happened in the first instance, but have been plagued with health issues over the past year and offering this as a reason to get the surcharge dropped, was not an option.
I have paid my account in full today minus their charges, but have a feeling they will still persue, is there anything I can do in order to not pay this surcharge?
Thanks in advance
Kay
ps - It is also their decision to spread payments over a 10 month period even though the taxation covers a 12 month period. should this be the case? Why should local authorities or the government dictate this method of payment?
I am a newbie to the WHAT forums. Bare with me please!
I am a single parent and law abiding citizen who tries to manage income and outgoings as efficently as possible. I tend to pay my council tax within the year of billing in 4 chunks, this suits me. However, today I recieved a Council Tax Summary Warrant notice with a 10% surcharge attached to it. I called the enquires line and was told I had to pay this regardless of the fact that I was intending to pay my account in full by the end of the period - Jan 09.
Apparently, you can only pay Council Tax in full or monthly arrangement and each month you are perceived to be in arrears. Is this fair or legal to inforce this payment method on people. Surely, we should be able to decide what, when and how we pay this taxation and not have conditions forced upon us.
I am annoyed at myself for allowing this to have happened in the first instance, but have been plagued with health issues over the past year and offering this as a reason to get the surcharge dropped, was not an option.
I have paid my account in full today minus their charges, but have a feeling they will still persue, is there anything I can do in order to not pay this surcharge?
Thanks in advance
Kay
ps - It is also their decision to spread payments over a 10 month period even though the taxation covers a 12 month period. should this be the case? Why should local authorities or the government dictate this method of payment?
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