Paying your Council Tax

Extending to 12 monthly instalments

We can now offer the facility to pay by 12 monthly instalments instead of the usual 10. This facility is available for Council Tax accounts where we have issued you with an annual bill during the month of March 2013. The payment plan where we can offer 12 monthly instalments is payment by direct debit and it commences on 28th April. To take up this facility you will need to submit an application to Birmingham City Council Revenue Department to be received no later than 15 April 2013. Payment schemes for other methods can be extended to March 2014 also, although they may not be 12 instalments.

For applications after 15 April we can still offer extended monthly instalments to the end of the financial year (March 2014) however the number of payments will reduce as the year goes by.

How to apply

If you want to apply for the extended payment facility, then you need to e-mail us at council.tax@birmingham.gov.uk heading your e-mail in the subject field Extended Payments to enable us to identify these as a priority request. You must provide your name, address and reference number within the e-mail. If you wish to pay by Direct Debit you need to print the attached form at the bottom of this page, complete it and sign it, and either attach the form to your e-mail or post it to Birmingham City Council, Revenues and Benefits, P.O.Box 5, Birmingham, B4 7AB. If you currently pay by Direct Debit and want to extend your payment plan you do not have to complete another form, just e-mail us with your request.

Methods of payment

You can pay by the following monthly methods of payment:

Direct debit is the easiest way to pay. Payments are made automatically by your bank or building society and you’re fully protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee.

You can choose to make your payments on either the 8th, 15th, 21st or 28th of each month. You can also pay by direct debit if you pay yearly or half yearly. Payments will be requested on 1st April and the balance by 1st October .

To encourage you to pay your bill by direct debit the Council is offering all customers, who switch to this method of payment, a chance of winning an Ipad. If you wish to have a chance of winning this prize you will need to have an instruction set up and in place by 31 May 2013. Full competition details can be found in the attachment at the bottom of this page.

If you would like to pay your council tax by direct debit you can complete and return the Direct Debit Form located at the bottom of this page to Revenues and Benefits, PO Box 5, Birmingham, B4 7AB

Alternatively, call us on 0121 303 1113 (Lines are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday except Bank Holidays). You will need to have your bank details to hand and advise us of your chosen payment date and we will do the rest.

To pay online now click the Pay Council Tax Online button above. Please have your debit or credit card details and your ten-digit account number to hand. The minimum payment amount is £5.00. You’ll need to give us your contact details in case we need to get in touch (we will keep a record of this information).

You can pay your council tax online by debit or credit card. We accept Mastercard, Debit Mastercard, Visa, Visa Debit, Maestro and Solo.

When you’ve completed the payment form, you’ll then need to enter your debit or credit card details on WorldPay. Your card details will be encrypted and stored on a secure server at RBS WorldPay.

RBS WorldPay will then approve the payment and tell us that your payment has been authorised. We will then process your payment within one working day or the next available working day after weekends or bank holidays.

To pay your Council Tax online via personal internet banking, your bank needs the council's bank sort code, bank account number and a billing reference number.

Our Bank Sort Code is 08-90-01.

Our Bank Account number is 61314007.

Your Billing Reference number is a 10-digit number, which starts with 5 and is shown on your bill and/or payment card.

Please note

The billing reference number allocates your payment to your own Council Tax account. This number can change when you receive new payment documents. Please make sure that you tell your bank if your billing reference number changes.

Please call 0121 464 2001. This is an automated telephone answering service. You’ll need your debit or credit card details and your ten-digit council tax account number.

Please make cheques and postal orders payable to Birmingham City Council. You must write your ten-digit account number on the back and send them to:

Birmingham City Council
Resources Department (Revenues & Benefits)
PO Box 5
Birmingham
B4 7AB.

• Do not staple, pin or fold cheques.
• Please do not send your payment card, if you have been issued with one.
• Do not send cash by post.
• If you want a receipt, please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope. We’re unable to issue receipts without this.

Payment cards are not automatically issued with new bills. If the front of your bill says that you will be paying by payment card please allow seven working days for this to arrive.

Unlike your annual bill a payment card is not issued each year. If you lose your card or it is damaged please call us on 0121 303 1113 (lines are open 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday except Bank Holidays) so that we can issue a replacement.

If you move house you will need a new payment card as your account number will change.

You can use your payment card at any Post Office. If you pay by cheque at the Post Office you must make the cheque payable to "Post Office Ltd". You can also pay at any shop displaying the Paypoint or PayZone logo. Only cash is accepted at these outlets and there may be a limit to the amount you can pay.

A receipt will only be issued upon request

If you miss a payment we will send you either a reminder notice or final notice.

If you receive a final notice you will lose your right to pay by instalments and the full year's Council Tax will become due in 14 days. However if you agree to pay by direct debit then we may be able to assist you. You will have a choice of dates to make your payment that best suits you. A printable direct debit form is available for you at the bottom of this page.

In either situations please call 0121 303 1113 (Lines are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday except Bank Holidays)

If you do not pay the amounts specified in the notices we will send you a summons to appear in Court. On the issue of this summons, costs will be added to your account.

Summons

If you don’t pay your bill or fail to make suitable payment arrangements after receiving a final reminder, a summons is issued requesting you to attend a hearing at the Magistrates Court. The summons will include court costs that are added to the amount that you owe.

At the court hearing we will ask the Magistrate to grant a liability order. The Court only considers whether you’re liable for council tax and not your ability to pay.

You do not have to appear at court if:

• You pay the full amount that you owe, including costs, before the court hearing date. Please call our 24 hour payment line 0121 464 2001. You will need your debit or credit card details and your ten digit council tax account number. We won’t apply for a liability order and your case won’t come before a magistrate;

• You call us immediately on 0121 303 1113 - lines are open Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm (except bank holidays) before the court hearing date, and agree an acceptable arrangement to pay what you owe, including court costs. An arrangement will only be agreed if you tell us your employer and income details. We may also ask you to make an immediate payment to help reduce the amount you owe, so please have your credit or debit card details to hand.

We will still apply for a liability order, but there is no need for you to attend court. As long as you keep to the agreed arrangement, we will not take any further action.

Liability Order

Where the court grants a liability order, you have seven days to either pay the full outstanding balance (including court costs) or come to an acceptable arrangement to pay it. An Income and Expenditure form will be enclosed with your liability order to help you with this.

A liability order gives the City Council certain powers in order to collect the outstanding debt. These are:

• Power to seek information about someone’s income
• Power to deduct money from benefits
• Power to deduct money direct from earnings through an attachment of earnings order
• Power to refer the debt to appointed bailiffs
• Power to declare someone bankrupt
• Power to apply a charging order against property

We cannot apply to the magistrates court to commit a person to prison at this stage.

Once we have a Liability Order we will send you an income details form asking you to supply details about your income and expenditure. You have two weeks to complete and return this to us.

This letter also contains details of what happens if your account is issued to our bailiffs for them to collect the outstanding debt from you.

If you do not complete and return the income details form within two weeks, we can take further action against you.

If you’re working we can ask your employer to make deductions from your wages or salary to pay the amount you owe. The deductions are set by law and are taken as a percentage of your net earnings. These may vary from week to week or month to month - for instance if overtime is worked. The percentages are set out in law and neither the Council nor your employer can change these levels.

The table below shows the amount to be deducted from weekly earnings.

The table below shows the amount to be deducted from monthly earnings

For each deduction, your employer can take an extra £1 towards their administration costs. Deductions can be taken for two liability orders; a separate deduction is made for each. You must tell us in writing of any change in your employment within 14 days of it happening.

We may be able to apply for deductions to be made against your benefit in order to recover the debt if you are receiving:

• Jobseekers Allowance
• Income Support
• Pension Credit

We only send cases to the bailiff where:

- no contact has been made to raise disputes, and/or

- no arrangement has been made: and/or

- alternative ways of collecting the amounts owed, such as deduction from benefit or attachment of earnings is not appropriate.

On receipt of the account, the bailiff will issue a letter asking you to contact them to make or discuss payment. They will be prepared to enter into a payment arrangement at this stage. However costs will be added to the amount you owe.

If you make an arrangement but then don’t make the agreed payments, the bailiff will ask to enter your home to make a list of any of your belongings that come to the value of the unpaid council tax and costs. They can then return to your home and take your belongings. They will sell them to repay the full amount you owe.

Equita Ltd can be contacted on 08705 566665

Ross & Roberts can be contacted on 01458 271888

If your total debt exceeds £750, we can apply to make you bankrupt. This means that any assets owned by the person(s) subject to the application - such as property, shares or savings - may be used to clear their debts.

Costs involved in this action can be substantial, but can be recovered from the person subject to the order. Because of the serious consequences of being declared bankrupt, such action is only taken where the bailiff has been unsuccessful in collecting the amounts owed.

We can apply to the court for a charging order if your debt is £1,000 or more and you own your home. If you sell your home, you will have to repay the debt first, before you are given any of the sale proceeds. A charging order is a way of securing the debt against your property.

Payments can still be made to reduce the debt. If the debt is paid in full, including costs, the charge will be removed.

If the bailiff has been unable to collect the debt, we can apply for a separate application to the Magistrates’ Court for your committal to prison. If you don’t attend court, a warrant will be issued for your arrest.

The magistrates will assess your circumstances and ask why you haven’t paid. If they believe you should have paid, they may issue a committal warrant and you could go to prison for up to 90 days.

If you think your council tax bill is wrong please tell us as soon as possible so that we can issue an amended bill.

You can email us at counciltax@birmingham.gov.uk or write to us at Birmingham City Council, Resources Department (Revenues and Benefits), PO Box 5, Birmingham, B4 7AB.

Please give details of the decisions you do not agree with. We may ask you for more information so we can review our initial decision.

Remember, you must still keep your payments up to date until your appeal is decided.

When to appeal

You can appeal if you think:

• We have sent the bill to the wrong person
• Your home should be exempt from council tax or
• The amount of the bill is incorrect, for example if you think you're entitled to a discount or we haven't reduced the bill for a disability.

If we agree your bill is wrong, we’ll send you a new one. If we decide it’s correct, we will contact you giving a full explanation.

We have to make a decision within two months, although you should receive a response sooner than this. If you disagree with our decision, or we have taken longer than two months, you can appeal to a Valuation Tribunal. If you do this, you will need to do it within two months of our decision, or four months from when you first wrote to us if you haven’t had a response.

Refund Policy

Yearly Council Tax bills are issued during March and are payable over 10 monthly instalments unless a different payment scheme has been requested. Instalment payment plans commence in April. As Council Tax payments are mostly paid in advance, where there is a change in your circumstances a credit may occur on your account. These credits can be refunded to you by cheque after the credit has been verified.

A refund will only be completed if your account is in credit and you do not owe any other amounts of Council Tax. If you move house within the city, any credit on your previous address will be transferred to your new address. If you have moved outside the city and have overpaid then a refund will be made.

Reasons for Overpayment

A Council Tax account can fall in to credit for the following reasons:

• A discount has been awarded
• An exemption has been awarded
• Customer vacates or their liability end
• Council Tax benefit has been awarded
• A banding alteration
• Customer overpaying

Refunds will not be issued in respect of uncleared funds (i.e. cheque payments) or until banks/building societies have issued direct debit payments. In these cases there will be a slight delay in issuing the refund. We aim to send out refund cheques within 10 working days.

To request this you can send an email to counciltax@birmingham.gov.uk.

If a Council Tax account is in joint names and payment is to be made to only one of the Council Taxpayers then authorisation is required from the individual not receiving the cheque. An email request in this instance is not acceptable. The letter must be posted to us at Birmingham City Council, Revenues Service, PO Box 5, Birmingham, B4 7AB.