Pay your Council Tax

You will need

your account number
a credit or debit card

Pay Council Tax or Check your Council Tax balance

Payment made before 4.30pm Monday to Friday will be shown on your Council Tax account the next working day. Payment made after 4.30pm or at any time on a Saturday or Sunday will be shown on your Council Tax account after two working days.

Other payment options

By Direct Debit

Direct Debit is the easiest and most secure way to pay.

We can offer multiple options for Direct Debit including weekly, fortnightly, or monthly on the 1st, 10th, 20th, or 25th. Monthly payments can be collected over 10 or 12 months.

All Direct Debits are covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee. You may be charged by your bank if a council tax Direct Debit is declined, if this happens Gateshead Council will be unable to refund any bank charges.

If you already pay your Council Tax by Direct Debit and want to amend your bank details, please set up a new one. Setting up a new Direct Debit will automatically cancel the previous one. You will receive a new Council Tax bill when it has been set up.

Before you set up a Direct Debit

Note that when you set up a Direct Debit for your Council Tax account online:

any unpaid Council Tax from previous financial years will be collected immediately, unless you have an agreed payment arrangement in place with us.
as a result, if you do not have an agreed payment arrangement, your first payment will be higher than usual.

See the example below:

Important - Example of how a Direct Debit payment may be taken
You still owe £900.00 from previous years Your current monthly instalments are £180.00 The unpaid £900.00 will be added to your first Direct Debit. If your Direct Debit is set up to collect on the 10th, £1,080.00 (£900.00 + £180.00) will be taken on the 10th of the following month. After this, your payments will return to £180.00 per month.

Important - Example of how a Direct Debit payment may be taken

You still owe £900.00 from previous years
Your current monthly instalments are £180.00

The unpaid £900.00 will be added to your first Direct Debit. If your Direct Debit is set up to collect on the 10th, £1,080.00 (£900.00 + £180.00) will be taken on the 10th of the following month. After this, your payments will return to £180.00 per month.

If you are unsure of your current balance, or you have concerns about making payments, we strongly advise that you contact us prior to setting up your Direct Debit so that we can discuss the options available to you.

Set up a Direct Debit

By phone

Pay with your debit card by phone (or by touchtone) 24 hours a day by calling 0800 052 3455. Due to payment security our advisors are unable to take debit or credit card payments.