Council Tax bill explained

We send your Council Tax bill in February or March each year. Besides telling you how much Council Tax you have to pay, your tax bills contain quite a lot of other information:

Your bill explained

Your Council Tax bill will show details such as your current method of payment, the amount of each instalment and the due date by which it must reach us.

View our full explanation of your Council Tax bill to help you to understand it better. You can also read the back of a Council Tax bill (PDF 92KB) for more information. 

Select or click on the various parts of the form to find out more information about your Council Tax bill.

your bill explained 1. The person(s) liable for payment of the bill 2. Contact Address - where the Council Tax bill will be issued 3. Date the Council Tax bill was issued 4. Your Council Tax Reference Number. To help us deal with your query quickly, always quote this number when you contact us 5. This is the financial year that your bill relates to 6. Band is the valuation band your property is in, the amount of Council Tax you pay is directly related to this 7. If disability banding reduction has been awarded to your account, you will see your new band here 8. Charges for your bill - will be broken down between Council Tax, Water and Sewerage (where applicable) 9. This is the period of liability this bill relates to 6. Band is the valuation band your property is in, the amount of Council Tax you pay is directly related to this 10. Any reductions that have been awarded to your account. For example - 25 % discount, Council Tax Reduction, Long Term Empty, Disability Banding Reduction 11. Payments that have been made to this account up to the date the bill was issued 12. Payments that have been transferred from other reference numbers or other financial years 13. This shows the balance payable for this bill 14. Telephone number to use for paying by debit or credit card over the phone 15. This is your method of payment 16. This is the current payment method of your bill 17. Payments should be made in accordance with the amounts and instalment dates shown here 18. Please note this is the annual charge for the property band valuation shown on your bill. This will include the Council Tax, Water and Sewerage Charge. To find out if you have been charged for water and/or sewerage, please look at the breakdown as shown above 19. This is the property that the Council Tax bill relates to 20. This is the property number that the Council Tax Bill relates to. (This will not change)

1. The person(s) liable for payment of the bill
2. Contact address - where the Council Tax bill will be issued
3. Date the Council Tax bill was issued
4. Your Council Tax reference number - to help us deal with your query quickly, always quote this number when you contact us
5. This is the financial year that your bill relates to
6. Band - this is the valuation band your property is in; the amount of Council Tax you pay is directly related to this
7. If disability banding reduction has been awarded to your account, you will see your new band here
8. Charges for your bill - will be broken down between Council Tax, Water and Sewerage (where applicable)
9. This is the period of liability this bill relates to
10. Any reductions that have been awarded to your account. For example - 25 % discount, Council Tax reduction, long term empty, disability banding reduction
11. Payments that have been made to this account up to the date the bill was issued
12. Payments that have been transferred from other reference numbers or other financial years
13. This shows the balance payable for this bill
14. Telephone number to use for paying by debit or credit card over the phone
15. This is your method of payment
16. This is the current payment method of your bill
17. Payments should be made in accordance with the amounts and instalment dates shown here
18. Please note this is the annual charge for the property band valuation shown on your bill. This will include the Council Tax, water and sewerage charge. To find out if you have been charged for water or sewerage, please look at the breakdown as shown above
19. This is the property that the Council Tax bill relates to
20. This is the property number that the Council Tax bill relates to (This will not change)

Who pays the bill

One or more persons can be responsible for paying the Council Tax bill. 

Person(s) named on the Council Tax bill

The person or people named on the front of the bill are responsible for paying the Council Tax for the property. This will be either:

  • the resident owner - someone who owns the property and lives in it
  • a resident tenant - someone who rents the property and lives in it
  • a sub-tenant - someone who rents the property and lives in it
  • a resident
  • the owner - if the property is not subject to a lease and no-one lives in the property

Two or more person(s) jointly liable

If there are two or more owners or tenants, they will be jointly responsible for paying the Council Tax, even if we only send the bill to one of them.

You are both, individually and together, responsible for making sure that your Council Tax is paid in full if:

  • you have a husband or wife, or you live with someone as if you were married
  • you and someone else are joint owners or tenants of a property

This includes same-sex couples who have entered into a civil partnership or those who live together as a couple but who have not entered into a civil partnership.

Request a revised copy of your bill

By requesting a copy of your Council Tax bill, we will send you a revised bill. This is not a copy of the original bill issued, your instalments will be recalculated over the remaining months for the current financial year, if you are not up-to-date when requesting a copy, your payments will increase. If you request the copy bill within 10 days of the next instalment date, it will automatically calculate from the next payment date.

Get a copy of your Council Tax bill