How the "Garden Charge" is calculated

The Garden Charge is calculated in the same way as the main Council Tax charge. This means that the higher the Council Tax band of your property, the higher the gross Garden Charge (that is: the Charge before any discounts and such like) will be.

Council Tax properties are valued in one of eight Council Tax bands from A - H.

These band values are assessed by the Valuation Office Agency of the Inland Revenue based on what your property might have fetched on the open market in April 1991.

The Council Tax and Garden Charges for each band are worked out as a proportion of the Charge set for band D, which is the standard band.

Table 1 below shows how this works, using an example Garden Charge:

Table 1
Band	Range of Values as at 1 April 1991	Ratio to Band D	Main Council Tax 2005/06	Example Garden Charge	Total Council Tax
A	up to and including £40,000	6/9	£677.26	£57.42	£734.68
B	£40,001 - £52,000	7/9	£790.12	£66.98	£857.10
C	£52,001 - £68,000	8/9	£903.00	£76.56	£979.56
D	£68,001 - £88,000	9/9	£1,015.88	£86.12	£1,102.00
E	£88,001 - £120,000	11/9	£1,241.64	£105.26	£1,346.90
F	£120,001 - £160,000	13/9	£1,467.38	£124.40	£1,591.78
G	£160,001 - £320,000	15/9	£1,693.14	£143.54	£1,836.68
H	over £320,000	18/9	£2,031.76	£172.24	£2,204.00

In order to calculate the band D Garden Charge, the Charge from which all the other Charges are derived, the Council must first calculate the number of band D equivalents for each garden.

In order to calculate the band D Garden Charge, the Charge from which all the other band Charges are derived, the Council must first calculate the number of band D equivalents for each garden.

The number of D band equivalents is calculated using a snapshot of data for the garden area on a given date. This calculation takes into account the total number of properties linked to the garden within each Council Tax band and then reduces this figure by the number of discounts, exemptions and disabled reliefs that apply, before adjusting the resulting figure for estimated losses on collection and changes to the number of D band equivalents during the year (for example bad debts and reductions and increases in Council Tax bands).

A simple example of how the band D equivalent would be calculated for single Band H property (excluding any allowance for losses on collection) is as follows:

1 x band H = 18/9 = 2 band D equivalents

However, if this property had a second home discount (a 10 per cent reduction), it would equal 1.8 Band D equivalents:

1 X Band H = 18/9 x 90 per cent = 1.8 band D equivalents

therefore, the more discounts, exemptions and disabled reliefs applied to properties within a garden, the more the band D equivalent figure will be reduced.

Once the levy amount is known and the total number of band D equivalent properties has been calculated, the band D Garden Charge and all other Garden Charge bands can be calculated. So if the levy for the example garden was £18000 and the number of band D equivalents was 209, the band D charge would be:

£18000/209 = £86.12 (as shown in Table 1 above)

Garden Levies - for current Council Tax year
Who is liable to pay Garden Charges?
How the Garden Charge is collected?
For general information about the administration of garden squares see Your garden square and you

Local Taxes