The easiest way to pay your Council Tax is by direct debit online through your Council Tax account.
Login to your Council Tax account
Register for a Council Tax account
There are several ways to pay your Council Tax:
You can pay online 24 hours a day, seven days a week using a highly secure link. Payment can be made by debit or credit card. Make sure you have your Council Tax account reference to hand.
You can contact your bank with our bank details to set this up:
HSBC Bank Basingstoke & Deane General Account
Sort code 40 09 18
Account Number 51521691
You must quote your account reference , shown on the front of your bill, as your payment reference. Without this your payment cannot be allocated to your account and it will show as unpaid.
The automated payment line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 01256 845757. Payment can be made by debit or credit card. Make sure you have your account reference to hand.
Using the bar code shown on your bill you can pay at any Post Office. Please be aware this method takes the longest time, around five days, to reach your account.
Council Tax payments are due on the instalment date as shown on your Council Tax bill.
You can change your payment date to 5, 13, 20, or 28 of the month.
Instalments are normally calculated over 10 months from April to January in each financial year. You can opt to pay over 12 months, from April to March, instead.
Login to your Council Tax account to change your payment date or number of instalments.
If you are struggling to make payment on time you may want to consider if any of the options below will help:
If you don’t make a payment when it is due recovery action can be taken. Click on each stage to find out what the stage means to you and how you can prevent recovery from escalating.
A first reminder is issued if you have not paid an instalment by the due date. This could mean that you have not paid any of the instalment or have not paid the whole instalment.
You have seven days to pay the reminder amount. Alternatively, the full years balance can be paid within a further seven days.
A second reminder is issued if you do not pay a subsequent instalment, by the due date, within the same financial year. In some cases, you may receive a second reminder for the same instalment.
What can I do?
Firstly, you must pay the missed instalment within the timescales on the reminder and then continue to pay instalments as they become due.
A final notice is issued if you miss a third instalment within the same financial year or arrears are owed in respect of a previous year.
Under Council Tax legislation the right to pay by instalments is lost and the balance is due in full within seven days.
If the amount owed is for the current year debt and you are unable to pay the balance in full you should pay as much as you can to reduce the balance. This will not stop recovery action from continuing and a summons for non-payment will be issued. At this point, you will be given instalments to pay the balance owed, including costs, by the end of the financial year.
If the amount owed is for a previous year you may be able to request a repayment arrangement to clear the balance by the end of the financial year. Any arrangement agreed will be in addition to the instalments required for the current year – request a repayment arrangement
A special arrangement can be set up at most recovery stages. Complete and return an income and expenditure form and make an offer of repayment.
Alternatively, you can request a payment arrangement via your Council Tax account
Once an arrangement has been agreed instalments must be paid, on or before, the date they are due to avoid further recovery. No further arrangement will be considered for the same debt. If the arrangement is not paid further recovery action will be taken.
If you do not pay an instalment or only pay part of an instalment by the due date you will receive a reminder letter.
What can I do?
Firstly, you must pay the missed instalment within the timescales on the reminder and then continue to pay instalments as they become due. If you are not able to do so:
However, if the instalment is not paid the arrangement will be cancelled and the full years balance will become due.
If the arrangement is cancelled your account will progress to the next stage of recovery.
A summons is issued when previous recovery action has failed. You will be given a further opportunity to pay the balance due, including costs, over the months remaining in the financial year. For example, if the hearing is in April you will be given instalments from April to March. However if the hearing is in January, you will be given instalments from January to March.
Providing you pay in accordance with the new instalment plan no further recovery action will be taken. If you do not pay as requested the arrangement will be cancelled and this will result in further recovery being taken.
Once the Liability Order has been granted you will receive confirmation of this in the post. If you are paying in accordance with the instalment plan given to you, you do not need to take any further action.
If you are not able to pay you can request a repayment arrangement via your Council Tax account. For the arrangement to be accepted you would need to ensure the offer will clear the amount due within the financial year. There are exceptions to this, a member of the Revenues team will contact you if your offer is not accepted to discuss the options available.
Should you default on an instalment plan or repayment arrangement recovery action will continue. Once the debt has been secured with a Liability Order the council is able to pursue other forms of recovery including:
A pre-enforcement notice is issued if we have not been able to agree a repayment arrangement with you or if a repayment arrangement has not been maintained. It means that your debt is due to be passed to our enforcement agent for collection.
To avoid this action, you can request a repayment arrangement via your Council Tax account. To be accepted you would need to ensure the offer will clear the amount due within the financial year. There are exceptions to this, a member of the revenues team will contact you if your offer is not accepted to discuss the options available.
If your account has been passed to an enforcement agent you must contact them to discuss your account, set up a repayment arrangement, or make a payment. We will not be able to intervene.
As soon as your debt has been sent to an enforcement agent you will incur additional fees. The first fee of £75 is added as soon as the debt is passed over. To avoid further, more considerable, fees you must contact the company to discuss your repayment options.
Excel
Telephone: 0330 363 9988
Email: info@excelenforcement.co.uk
Rundles
Telephone: 0845 658 5030
Email: info@rundles.org.uk
Bristow and Sutor
Telephone: 0330 390 2010
Visit Bristow and Sutor website for contact details.
This is a remedy available once a Liability Order has been obtained. If you default on a repayment arrangement we may decide to ask your employer to deduct payments from your salary to clear the debt owed.
An attachment is normally calculated as a percentage of your earnings. To find out how much could be recovered by this method please view Schedule 4 document.
There is no right of appeal against an attachment of earnings and if one is set up it will remain in place until the debt is paid in full or you leave the employment if this is sooner.
This is a remedy available once a Liability Order has been obtained and only if you are in receipt of certain benefits. If you default on a repayment plan we may decide to ask the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to deduct payments from your benefit to clear the debt owed.
The DWP will notify you of how much money will be deducted.
There is no right of appeal against an attachment of benefit and if one is set up it will remain in place until the debt is paid in full or your entitlement to benefit ends.
If council tax remains unpaid and all other previous remedies have been exhausted a summons to the Magistrates court may be issued for you to attend with a view to having you committed to prison. If you fail to attend, at the specified date and time, a warrant can be issued for your arrest.
If council tax remains unpaid and we have identified that you own your home, or have other assets, we will instruct a solicitor to instigate bankruptcy proceedings against you. Your home may be sold as a result of the bankruptcy.
If council tax remains unpaid and we have identified that you own the property a charging order will be requested and a force of sale may be granted by the courts.
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