Rother District Council

For general information, contact details, relevant forms and information on how to Pay your Council Tax.

Council Tax is a tax based on property but with a personal element. Properties are placed in one of eight Valuation Bands which decides the level of tax payable, but this can be reduced depending on the number of occupiers in the property (see Discounts).

The amount of the tax is comprised of the Rother District Council charge, plus the amount required by East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police Authority and each individual Town or Parish Council.

Rother District Council's part of the tax is set each year by the Council. To do this, the Council determines the "tax base" by reference to the number of properties in the District in each of the eight Valuation Bands. Adjustments are made to this calculation, to take account of expected Discounts and Exemptions. The "tax base" information is then passed on to East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police Authority, East Sussex Fire Authority and the Town/Parish Councils for them to calculate their "precept", that is the amount they require Rother District Council to collect on their behalf from the residents of the District.

Using the "tax base" information, Rother District Council will calculate the level of its share of the tax at a Valuation Band "D" level, depending on the amount of income it needs to meet anticipated expenditure during the next financial year. To this figure is added the precepts of the County Council, Sussex Police Authority and East Sussex Fire Authority to give a total Band "D" level across the District.

There are thirty-three Town and Parish Councils in the District each of which individually sets it own level of precept; to meet their own expenditure. These amounts are added, to give the Valuation Band "D" level of Council Tax for each Town or Parish. The Council Tax for each property is then calculated using the ratio shown under "Valuation Bands".

Annual Council Tax bills are issued at the end of March each year, in respect of the amount due for the year commencing on 1 April. Where the liability for Council Tax does not cover a full financial year, for example, where a person moves into a property during the year, the amount of tax payable will be adjusted on a daily basis, by dividing the yearly amount by 365 (for 2011/12 this will be 366) and multiplying the result by the number of days of liability in the financial year.

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