How many months do you pay council tax for?

Council Tax has a statutory right to payment over 10 monthly instalments if the first payment is due in April (i.e April to January) * . If you start payment later in the year then the number of instalments will reduce accordingly so a demand notice issued for payment in February or March will give only 1 instalment.

A person also now has the statutory right to pay over 12 months instalments (from April) - the number of instalments again reducing as the number of months left in the year decreases.

A local authority may , at their discretion, offer payment options in addition to the statutory payment plans. For example, they can agree to weekly or fortnightly payments.

* It should be noted that in the 10 month plan that February and March are not ' free months', simply that the full 12 months charge is split in to 10 payments.