Penalties
In accordance with legislation, if you fail to notify us of a change in your circumstances affecting a Council Tax reduction, discount or exemption within 21 days of the date of that change may result in a penalty being issued which will be added to your bill of £70.
What is a Council Tax penalty notice for?
Regulation 3 of the Council Tax (administration and enforcement) Regulations 1992 allows the Local Authority to request information. This is required for them to ensure that Council Tax is being correctly calculated. If notice is served under these regulations it must be provided within 21 days. This regulation includes landlords and managing agents (a managing agent is anyone who is authorised to arrange lettings of the property).
Regulation 11 of the Council Tax (administration and enforcement) Regulations 1992 requires a liable person to advise a Local Authority if an exemption is incorrect. Notice should be provided within 21 days of becoming aware of this belief.
Regulation 12 of the Council Tax (administration and enforcement) Regulations 1992 allows the Local Authority to request information. This is required for them to ensure that an exemption is being correctly calculated. If notice is served under these regulations it must be provided within 21 days.
Regulation 16 of the Council Tax (administration and enforcement) Regulations 1992 requires a liable person to advise a Local Authority if a discount is incorrect. Notice should be provided within 21 days of becoming aware of this belief.
Examples
- you don’t qualify for a single person discount
- you don’t qualify for an exemption on a home
- you don’t qualify for a discount
- about a change of address within 21 days or as soon as possible
- about a change as to who’s liable
- what we need to know so we can check who’s liable
- what we ask for after we get a liability order
After we’ve applied a penalty we can ask for the same information. If you don’t give us the details we can add extra penalties of £280 every time you fail to give us that information.
How is the Council Tax penalty collected?
A penalty can be collected by adding it to an existing Council Tax charge or by issuing a separate notice. The amount can be recovered in the same way as Council Tax but recovery must cease if an appeal is lodged (Regulation 29 of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992.
Appeal
You may appeal a penalty by writing to the Revenues Office detailing why you dispute the penalty. Should the appeal not be successful you will need to appeal further to the Valuation Tribunal service (VTS), please follow the link below: