Business Rates - Payment and Recovery

Description

Payment

Non Domestic Rates are payable in one sum by 12th April each year unless the ratepayer has chosen to pay by the statutory instalment scheme or has made a payment arrangement with the Council.

The statutory instalment scheme allows payment to be made by 10 instalments payable consecutively from April to January of the following year. Instalments are normally due on the 12th of the month. Alternative payment dates are available for rate payers paying by Direct Debit. Direct Debit payments can be made over 10 months from April to January - on either the 12th, a8th or 25th of each month. Direct Debit payments can also be extended over 12 months from April to March when taken on the 5th of each month.

If you have any difficulty in paying an instalment by the due date you should contact the Rates Office as soon as possible to make an alternative arrangement to avoid recovery action and additional costs being incurred by you.

Procedure

Non Domestic Rates Recovery Procedures

If any instalment is not paid by the due date then after 14 days a reminder notice may be issued requiring you to make payment of the outstanding instalments within 7 days.

If you fail to bring the account up to date within this time then after a further 7 days you will lose the right to pay by instalments and the full balance outstanding on the account will become due.

The Council will then commence recovery proceedings by way of issuing a summons and making application to the Magistrates Court for a liability order to be granted against you. Additional costs are incurred for a summons and a liability order (currently £47 and £16 respectively) and these will be added to the amount due.

A liability order enables the Council to seize your goods to the value of the debt owed (including costs) and where necessary goods will be seized and sold at auction to discharge the debt. The seizure of goods is carried out by certificated bailiffs - Rossendales, who act on behalf of the Council. Additional costs will also be incurred.

Every opportunity is given to make a payment arrangement to clear an outstanding debt. Requests for a payment arrangement following the issue of a reminder or summons must be made to the Rates Office.

If no arrangement is made, or an arrangement is made and payments are not maintained, the account will be referred to the bailiffs for collection. Any request for a payment arrangement made after an account has been released to the bailiffs for collection must be made directly to Rossendales.

Where the bailiff is unable to obtain settlement of a debt, the account will be returned to the Council and alternative action may be taken to enforce payment including:

• Making an application for individual ratepayers to be sentenced to prison
• Commencing bankruptcy proceedings in the case of an individual ratepayer
• Enforcing winding-up proceedings in the case of limited liability companies.
   

Help

 
For more information including:-

Contact details- for general enquiries and to request application forms
Helplines
Opening hours
Viewing your account online
Methods of payment 
Click on the link for  Business Rates - Enquiries

Please quote your account number when making an enquiry

Other useful Websites 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why have you sent me a Reminder/Summons?
A. By law, the Council must send a Reminder if your instalments are not up-to-date. If you do not bring them up-to-date within 7 days and then keep them up to date, you lose the right to pay by instalments. If you do not comply with the Reminder, you will be sent a Summons and will have to pay court costs as well as your Business Rates.
If you receive a Summons and do not pay in full before the hearing, the Council will apply for a 'liability order'. A liability order gives the Council the right to use bailiffs to obtain payment, to start Bankruptcy/Liquidation proceedings in certain circumstances, or to ask the Magistrates Court to commit a person to prison.

Q. What if I can't pay the amount on the Reminder/Summons?
A. If you are having difficulty paying, please contact us at the Rates office and we will try to come to an arrangement for payment with you.

Q. You have sent me a Summons and I want to make an arrangement to pay it off. Why do I still have to pay the costs?
A. By law, costs are payable when a liability order is obtained. Once a Summons has been issued, the only way to stop the Council from asking for a liability order is to pay the full amount before the hearing. Even when an arrangement is made, the Council still has to obtain a liability order, but we will not take any of the actions which it allows us to take as long as you keep to the arrangement we have made with you.

 

 

Last modified on 1/9/2008