Council Tax Costs

[spirit2534]

A friend has received a summons notice after missing a council tax instalement.

It quotes a summons cost of £60, no justification given.

Any advice?:snowman3:

[ploddertom]

Re: Council Tax Costs

It can be charged as it appears they are going to Court, there could well be more costs to follow especially if it gets to the Enforcement Stage.

[spirit2534]

Re: Council Tax Costs

It can be charged as it appears they are going to Court, there could well be more costs to follow especially if it gets to the Enforcement Stage.

My point is justification for the £60 charge?
Does the council have prove that it costs £60?

[des8]

Re: Council Tax Costs

The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 state under Regulations R34(5)(b) , that the costs should be reasonably incurred by the authority.

Application for liability order

34.–(5) If, after a summons has been issued in accordance with paragraph (2) but before the application is heard, there is paid or tendered to the authority an amount equal to the aggregate of—

(a) the sum specified in the summons as the sum outstanding or so much of it as remains outstanding (as the case may be); and

(b) a sum of an amount equal to the costs reasonably incurred by the authority in connection with the application up to the time of the payment or tender,
the authority shall accept the amount and the application shall not be proceeded with.


(Thanks to @outlawlglo;

[ploddertom]

Re: Council Tax Costs

£60 is cheap compared with a lot of others, you'll have a job if you are following those that say you don't have to pay more than the £3 they pay the Court Service.

[des8]

Re: Council Tax Costs

You might find this link interesting: http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/i...ation-articles

[Adamna]

Re: Council Tax Costs

£60 is cheap compared with a lot of others, you'll have a job if you are following those that say you don't have to pay more than the £3 they pay the Court Service.

It's not a question of whether it's cheap or not, it's whether it's reasonably incurred, and there absolutely should be a justification for the amount available to consider. It's quite expensive for a computer generated bit of paper posted out. In fact the £3 court fee is for an application for a liability order, not a complaint leading to authorisation of a summons, for which there is no charge.