Understanding your Council Tax bill

We send out Council Tax bills once a year, in early March, or when you first move in to a property. Your bill shows who is responsible for paying and how much you need to pay.

We have taken a sample Council Tax bill and explained the main elements, to help you make sense of your bill. We have split the bill into three parts to make it easier for you to view.

Top part of Council Tax bill, showing account number, address and date of issue

1. This is your Council Tax account number. You need to provide this to us every time you want to speak to us about your account.

2. This is the date we produced the bill.

3. This lists who is responsible for the bill and their correspondence address.

4. If the bill relates to a different property, the address will show here.

Middle part of Council Tax bill, showing breakdown of charges

5. This is the band the Valuation Office Agency has assigned to your property. If you have any questions about your banding, you need to contact the Valuation Office Agency.

6. This section shows the individual elements that make up your bill, which adds up to the total annual charge for the property. It includes the Adult Social Care precept. The percentage figure is how much the bill has changed from the previous year.

7. This shows the total charge minus:

any discounts or premium charges that we have applied to your account (such as Single Person Discount or Long Term Empty Premium)
any Local Council Tax support that has been awarded to you
payments you have already made

Bottom part of Council Tax bill, showing amount payable, collection method and instalments

8. This shows the balance you need to pay for the period covered by the bill. This is the total charge, including any discounts or premiums and payments you have already made towards your bill

9. This shows how you pay your bill (such as by Direct Debit)

10. The instalments you need to pay and when you have to pay them by will show in this area at the bottom of your bill

We calculate Council Tax as a daily charge. This means that when you become liable for the tax part way through a financial year, we work out the number of days from your start date through to the end of the financial year. We charge you for each of those days.

We spread your balance, after we have applied any discounts or reductions, over the available instalments left in the year when we issue your bill to you.

A monthly instalment amount does not reflect the Council Tax payable for a whole calendar month. For example, an amount shown on your bill as being due by 1st September will not equal the charge due for the whole month of September.