Council tax bills are issued once a year at the end of March and show the dates your payments are due. If you are unable to make a payment by the date shown, your must contact your local Wiltshire Council office to discuss your options with our council tax team. We may be able to make a different payment agreement with you or advise you on other help that may be available.
Under no circumstances would we advise you to simply ignore your bill or skip a payment without speaking to us first.
The council has a duty to collect council tax from every resident, so we follow a very rigid process to collect unpaid money. Any missed instalment will result in the council taking action to recover the unpaid council tax. The process is as follows:
| First Reminder | The first time you miss a payment in the current tax year you will be sent a reminder. You must pay the missed instalment within 7 days to bring your account up to date. If you do not make this payment, we will issue you with a summons to appear in court. You will only receive one reminder for a missed instalment before it goes to court. |
|---|---|
| Second Reminder | A second reminder is issued if you miss a second instalment in the current tax year, even if the first missed instalment has now been paid. You must pay the missed instalment within 7 days to bring your account up to date. If you do not make this payment, we will issue you with a summons to appear in court. You will only receive one reminder for a missed instalment before it goes to court. |
| Final Reminder |
A final reminder is issued if you miss a third instalment in the current tax year, even if the first two missed instalments have now been paid. If you have been issued with a final reminder, we will no longer allow you to pay your council tax in instalments, unless you set up a direct debit. The final reminder will be issued with a direct debit form, or the option to pay the entire year’s balance in full. If you do not pay the entire year’s balance or set up a direct debit within 7 days of receiving the final reminder, we will issue you with a summons to appear in court. You will receive only one reminder for a missed instalment before it goes to court. |
| Summons |
If any reminder notice is ignored and no payment is made, we will send you a summons to appear in court. When a summons is issued we will add the additional cost of this to the amount you owe. If you pay the entire year’s balance along with the additional costs, the matter will not go to court. If you make a partial payment or no payment, the matter will go to court on the date shown on your summons. |
| Court |
If you ignore a summons and do not pay your account in full, we will ask the court to demand payment from you. This is called a Liability Order. You do not need to attend court as the case will go ahead without your presence, however if you wish to dispute the case, you are welcome to attend on the date shown on your summons. Once a matter has gone to court, additional costs will be added to the amount you owe to cover the cost of taking you to court. |
| Liability Order |
Once a judge has issued a Liability Order against you in court, we are then free to take action against you to collect the unpaid council tax. Our options include:
|
| Bailiffs | If, after a Liability Order has been issued, you still fail to pay your council tax bill through one of the methods listed above, your account will be handed over to the bailiffs to collect the outstanding balance. The bailiffs operate independently of the council and will add their own costs to the amount you owe. |
Please be aware that this process will be followed for every missed instalment without exception, so it is very important that you speak to us as soon as possible when you become aware that you are unable to make a payment.
Contact Details (LiveLink)
Multiple Contacts:
Call Us:
0300 456 0109
Please
send your enquiries to:
Revenues Service
Wiltshire
Council
Monkton Park
Chippenham
SN15 1ER
Please
send all payments to:
Collections
PO Box 2310
Salisbury
SP2
2JT
Email:
counciltax@wiltshire.gov.uk
eMail:
Telephone:
Out of hours:
Fax:
Postal Address:
In Person:
DX:
Related documents
Deductions from earnings for council tax attachment to earnings orders Deductions from earnings for council tax attachments to earnings
orders 59kb- Code of practice for the recovery of local tax debt Code of practice for the recovery of local tax debt 161kb
Last updated: 23 January 2012
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