Council Tax

• How do I Pay my Council Tax
• What is Council Tax?
• Property Valuation for Council Tax Purposes
• Domestic Water and Domestic Waste Water Charges
• Your Council Tax Account and Payment Dates

How do I Pay my Council Tax?

You can pay your Council Tax online

If you would like to find out about other ways of paying Council Tax please use the link on the left called How do I Pay?

Back to top

What is Council Tax?

Council Tax is levied on all domestic properties. The Council Tax income collected by the Council contributes to the provision of front-line services to the community. The services include education, housing, police and fire services, roads and social work. The amount you pay depends on the valuation band in which your property has been placed.

Back to top

Property Valuation for Council Tax Purposes

The Assessor is responsible for putting each home into a valuation band. Your property is placed in a valuation band, which relates to its capital value at 1st April 1991.  Each home will receive one bill. The valuation band in which your property has been placed will be printed on your bill. You can, in some circumstances, appeal against your banding. Any appeal against a banding must be submitted to Grampian Assessor

Back to top

Domestic Water and Domestic Waste Water Charges

Council Tax bills also contain Water and Waste Water (or sewerage) Charges for domestic properties. These charges are set by  Scottish Water and Moray Council acts as a collection point for the water authority. If you are receiving benefit, and are not in receipt of discount, you may receive a pro-rata reduction award of up to a maximum of 25% in your Water and Waste Water Charges.

Back to top

Your Council Tax Account and Payment Dates

At the start of each financial year, a Council Tax bill will be issued. It states the amount to be paid and the dates on which payments should be made. If your circumstances change during the year, we will issue you with an amended bill, notifying you of the revised sum payable.

• Who Pays?
• What will happen if I do not keep my payments up to date?
• What action does the Council take to recover unpaid Council Tax?

Who Pays?

You will be responsible for the payment of Council Tax for the property in which you live. If you are the owner or the tenant of a unoccupied domestic property, or you own a Second Home, you may also be liable for the payment of Council Tax for it.

Back to top

What will happen if I do not keep my payments up to date?

Payment of your Council Tax instalment should on or by the payment date stated on your Council Tax bill. If we do not receive payment, we may issue you with a reminder-notice.  An individual reminder-notice will be issued to each person liable and will state:

• the overdue amount - the instalments which you have not paid
• the date by which the overdue amount must be paid in full - seven days after its issue date
• the account balance  - the amount which will become due if you do not pay the overdue amount on time
• the date by which the account balance must be paid in full - fourteen days after its issue date

We will issue two Reminder-Notices to you in any financial year. If you fall into arrears with payment of your instalments for a third time, we will send you a Final-Notice.

We understand that some people may have problems paying their Council Tax bill. We are committed to assisting you to manage payment of your account. If you encounter any difficulties paying your Council Tax bill, please contact your local Revenues Area Office as soon as possible. We will try to help you to resolve these problems and we promise that any conversation you have with us about your personal financial circumstances will be completely confidential.

Back to top

What action does the Council take to recover unpaid Council Tax?

We have a duty to all those Council Tax payers who pay their Council Tax on time to make sure that all possible action is taken to recover unpaid Council Tax from those who refuse to pay. These are monies which are legally due to the Council and contribute to financing the front-line services the Council provides to the Community. We are always willing to resolve payment difficulties at an early stage and are prepared to negotiate realistic payment arrangements where possible.  It is only a last resort that we employ enforcement measures.

If you fail to pay a Reminder Notice or a Final Notice issued to you and fail to contact us to discuss payment, we may apply to the Sheriff Court for a Summary Warrant.  We do not need to contact you when applying for it.  If the sheriff is satisfied with our application, and grants us a warrant, a surcharge of 10% of your outstanding balance will be added to your account.

If your account is passed to the Sheriff Officer, they will request you to either pay the amount due in full or may contact with regard to making an arrangement for payment.  If no contact is made the powers available to the Sheriff Officer are:

• Arrestment of your bank account
• Arrestment of your wages
• Sequestration
• Attachment ("Legal Seizure") of your moveable goods, with the option of selling these at public auction

If the Sheriff Officer takes any of these enforcement measures against your account, you will incur additional fees. 

Back to top