HMRC and Council Tax Amex workarounds?

[runnerbean]

Just phoned, redirected to email.
I’ve said pretty please, will be like a dog with two tails if they say yes, but feels like a v long shot.

[icemankaka]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

Half?

Band H K&C Council tax is £ 3,018

1) Apologies for clicking on the report button instead of quote
2) South Ken is mostly Westminster not RBKC… so council tax is indeed lower there – £1,946.32. not quite half, must a big cut from

[Rob]

South Ken is K&C – at least anything to the west of the station (Onslow Gardens etc, which is my bit).

[icemankaka]

it used to all happen at home, virgin, then bend it appropriately. 3 moles a GBP.

now I have to learn something new…

[RTS]

Froggee wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

Same here, in fact I’ve just been wondering when the bill is going to land!

Beat this:

Council tax: £3,546.84
Water: £505.80
Sewerage : £586.98
Total: £4,639.62

Edinburgh council don’t (easily) take Amex but it gets me a good chunk of my required spending for the Virgin Atlantic card.

Sounds like the next HFP party can take place in your chateau 😀

[icemankaka]

Rob Burgess wrote:

South Ken is K&C – at least anything to the west of the station (Onslow Gardens etc, which is my bit).

Apologies my neighbour. how do you pay your council tax effectively?

[Lobeer]

Can someone please help me understand why one would want to pay a years council tax bill off in one hit when you can get 5% interest on your money? e.g. 3700 GBP bill gets 5550 avoid with BA Prep but the £91 or so interest at 5% (factoring that the principle reduces every month as you pay your council bill) buys me 9900 avios (3xboost price). Am I missing something?

[NorthernLass]

Yes, you’re missing that people often have a date to hit a sign up bonus or trigger a voucher so waiting for interest wouldn’t help with that!

[MF176]

I don’t pay mine upfront- I pay a 12th each month via PayPal (c/o Amex) in line with the payment plan the local authority expects, having previously been a 12m DD customer who cancelled their DD. Easy points for nothing.

[squawk]

OK, I have my PayPoint card from Edinburgh Council now. Does anyone know what the bar code number should be so I can add the card to Google Wallet? I dislike carrying random plastic cards!

[Alex G]

I’ve been paying my Council Tax with Amex at paypoints for several years without any problems. However, I made a payment two weeks ago and the Council is saying they haven’t received it. Luckily I kept the receipt, and I’ve emailed both Paypoint and Allpay who responded quickly and confirmed that my payment has been received and the local council has it.

I didn’t realise at the time, but the Co-op service station where I paid had changed hands and is now an Asda. I don’t know if that had anything to do with the problem. No doubt Crapita will sort it out eventually.

But the moral is, always keep your paypoint receipts!

[EwanG]

squawk wrote:

OK, I have my PayPoint card from Edinburgh Council now. Does anyone know what the bar code number should be so I can add the card to Google Wallet? I dislike carrying random plastic cards!

Short answer is you can’t, unless you know the format to create the barcode.
I see Brighton & Hove Council have a neat form allowing you to enter a 10 digit CT ref and create a 23 digit PP code, which includes the CT account and concludes with a checksum. The start digits could be the same or might be different for CEC..
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/bhcc_barcode_generator/barcode?account_number=<replace-angle-brackets-and-bit-between-with-10-digits-here>&type_options=CouncilTax
Edinburgh’s PP card number bears no relation to the CT account number.
The mag stripe on the card has the info and is swiped in the PayPoint terminal. I’ve experienced problems previously where the mag stripe wasn’t scanning properly and clearly the card number can be manually entered (x3), but isn’t quick and introduces the risk of going to the wrong account.
You could ask at the Scotmid when you first use it if their system shows a generated barcode you could use, otherwise you’ll have to remember the card when you want to pay!

[can2]

Take a pic of the card so that they can scan it from your phone, perhaps.
In my London boro, I have the pdf of the council bill in my phone that they scan at PayPoint.

squawk wrote:

OK, I have my PayPoint card from Edinburgh Council now. Does anyone know what the bar code number should be so I can add the card to Google Wallet? I dislike carrying random plastic cards!

[tontoro]

I’ve paid all my council tax (almost £10k as paying for other properties as well) via Avios Barclaycard. However, I see that on the bill it says that I can also pay at a post office. Will this allow me to use Amex, I’ve never tried before? If so, this may be the difference between keeping a BAPP card for my wife and not, now that the threshold is £15k.

[R]

Alex G wrote:

I’ve been paying my Council Tax with Amex at paypoints for several years without any problems. However, I made a payment two weeks ago and the Council is saying they haven’t received it. Luckily I kept the receipt, and I’ve emailed both Paypoint and Allpay who responded quickly and confirmed that my payment has been received and the local council has it.

Years ago I paid via PayPoint and got a letter from council saying it was unpaid. Called them up and told them I had paid via PayPoint at co-op.
They didn’t seem bothered and said ‘oh yea that’s been broken for a while and we don’t get the data, just send us a picture of the receipt and we’ll mark it as paid’.

It hasn’t happened since, but it does seem to happen and ever since then I take a picture of my receipt immediately!

[MattB]

tontoro wrote:

I’ve paid all my council tax (almost £10k as paying for other properties as well) via Avios Barclaycard. However, I see that on the bill it says that I can also pay at a post office. Will this allow me to use Amex, I’ve never tried before? If so, this may be the difference between keeping a BAPP card for my wife and not, now that the threshold is £15k.

I don’t think so, my local PO wouldn’t allow any credit card payments of any kind towards council tax.

I have a Co-op and Spar within a few mins of the house that take Amex via paypoint so use them now.

[tontoro]

MattB wrote:

I don’t think so, my local PO wouldn’t allow any credit card payments of any kind towards council tax.

I have a Co-op and Spar within a few mins of the house that take Amex via paypoint so use them now.

Thanks. I’ll ask next time I’m in there, but won’t be holding my breath

[squawk]

EwanG wrote:

squawk wrote:

OK, I have my PayPoint card from Edinburgh Council now. Does anyone know what the bar code number should be so I can add the card to Google Wallet? I dislike carrying random plastic cards!

Short answer is you can’t, unless you know the format to create the barcode.
I see Brighton & Hove Council have a neat form allowing you to enter a 10 digit CT ref and create a 23 digit PP code, which includes the CT account and concludes with a checksum. The start digits could be the same or might be different for CEC..
&type_options=CouncilTax” rel=”nofollow”>https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/bhcc_barcode_generator/barcode?account_number=<replace-angle-brackets-and-bit-between-with-10-digits-here>&type_options=CouncilTax
Edinburgh’s PP card number bears no relation to the CT account number.
The mag stripe on the card has the info and is swiped in the PayPoint terminal. I’ve experienced problems previously where the mag stripe wasn’t scanning properly and clearly the card number can be manually entered (x3), but isn’t quick and introduces the risk of going to the wrong account.
You could ask at the Scotmid when you first use it if their system shows a generated barcode you could use, otherwise you’ll have to remember the card when you want to pay!

Some progress. My card has 19 digits on the long number (last is 0). The PP receipt has the first 18 digits printed on it (0 is truncated). I’m tempted to roll a Code 128 barcode using the 19 digits and attempt to pay in £1 to see what the system makes of it!