Having to Pay Council Fee When I Won't Be in Business for Full Year

Exorcist on 30/07/2019 - 16:37
Last edited 30/07/2019 - 17:03 by 1 other user

I was asked to pay a licence fee for my business to trade in this financial year, but I won't stay in business the full year. On their website it says pro-rata, but the people in the council said it is not if I start trading at the beginning of the financial year, and it only works if I start half way through the financial year. Essentially this means if I trade for a day on 01/07 I pay the full fee but I pay 1/365th of the full fee if I trade for a day on 30/06.

I asked them why it is like this, they said it was up to their interpretation, there is no guidelines nor rules for them to follow. I am wondering if this is always the case, and can they just charge whatever they want?

• 

  HighAndDry on 30/07/2019 - 16:52

  +2

  I was asked to pay a license fee for my business to trade in this financial year

  I assume the registration is valid to the end of the current financial year. So you start on 29 June, you pay for 1 (or 2) days of registration. You start on 1 July, you pay for a year's worth. Even if you don't use it, your business is registered for the period.

  • 

    Exorcist on 30/07/2019 - 17:05

    Thanks for the reply, this wasn't made clear to me. I think they should've put this somewhere on their website.

    • 

      HighAndDry on 30/07/2019 - 17:07

      +1

      I'm not too surprised, governments tend to be byzantine at the best of times and local councils are…. kind of all over the place.

• 

  JimmyF on 30/07/2019 - 21:27

  On their website it says pro-rata

  Pro-rate to the NEXT renewal date, which is 1st of July of each year.