 |
|
See also |
|
|
Local organisations
Benefit services Benefits advice 
|
|
Other websites |
|
|
|
|
Contacts and Maps |
|
Maps and Travel | Contact |
Home:
Community:
Money:
Council taxInformation for employersHelen Rodger - March 2011council.recovery@kirklees.gov.uk
Why have you sent me an attachment of earnings order?
When a council tax bill is unpaid, we follow a process to allow us to recover the debt.
We will send a summons to the person to appear at the Magistrates Court. Provided we prove to the Magistrates the council tax bill is correct and outstanding, the court will issue a liability order against the account holder. Once we have a liability order, we have a number of options which we can use to recover the debt from the account holder. This includes deducing money directly from their wage using an attachment of earnings order. We don't take this action lightly and will only use it if we think there is very little chance of recovering the money in another way. We send a copy of the attachment of earnings order to you as the employer, and to your employee at their last known address. The order is a standard legal document which sets out the amount of council tax outstanding and your responsibility under the law to comply with it. What do I need to do with an attachment of earnings order?
If you receive an attachment of earnings order the law says you must:
You should also complete and return the information we ask for about how much deductions will be and when you will start to make them. What if I don't enforce the order?
The law says you must follow the instructions on a council tax attachment of earnings order and make deductions from your employee's wage.
If you willingly refuse to enforce the order, we can summons you as the employer to court and you could receive a fine. How many orders can you enforce at the same time?
We can enforce a maximum of two orders to be deducted from your employee's wage at the same time. Each order will be on a separate document.
If your employee has other council tax debts outstanding and we have a liability order for them, we can send you further orders to set up once an existing order has been paid. Can you help me to calculate the deductions I need to make?
Deductions are calculated using your employee's 'take home', net, wage.
For one order The deductions table enclosed with the order tells you the different wage brackets. Find the bracket your employee's take home wage falls under. Against each band you will find the percentage of your employee's wage to deduct. Deduct this percentage from their wage. Remember you can deduct an additional £1 for your administration costs if you choose to do so. For two orders Calculate the deduction for the first order as above and take this amount away from your employee's wage. Using their reduced take home wage, find the bracket your employee's take home wage now falls under, it may have reduced by a band. Deduct the appropriate percentage from their wage. You can deduct another £1 for your administration costs if you choose to do so. Please contact us if you need further help to calculate deductions. How do I send the deductions I make to the council?
You need to pay the deductions to us, by no later than the 18th of the following month from when you made the deductions.
You can give us your deductions by:
What if the named person's details are wrong?
If you receive an order, and you think some of the details are wrong, you should contact us immediately. We may be able to give you other information to make sure you deduct money from the right person's wage.
What if the person named on the order no longer works for me?
We're sorry if we've sent you an order for someone who no longer works for you.
Please tell us and give us their new employment information if you have it. You can contact us, or return the order with their new details written on it. Please do not ignore the attachment of earnings order. If we don't hear from you, we will assume the person works for you, and expect you to make deductions. If we haven't heard otherwise, and we don't receive payments, we will send you further letters causing you more inconvenience. What if I've never employed the person named on the order?
We're sorry if we've sent you an order for someone who has never worked for you. Please contact us to tell us.
It is possible someone has given us wrong information, or we may have sent the order to the wrong address. Sometimes people are also more commonly known under their middle name, rather than their first. By contacting us we can make sure this isn't the case.
Please do not ignore the attachment of earnings order. If we don't hear from you, we will assume the person works for you, and expect you to make deductions. If we haven't heard otherwise, and we don't receive payments, we will send you further letters causing you more inconvenience. For more information
Her Majesty's Court Service has prepared some more detailed notes to help employers with the administration of
Council Tax Attachment of Earnings Orders (CTAEOs) (PDF: 161kb).
|