Paying your rates

The easiest way to pay your rates is by direct debit. You can also pay via internet banking (please select your former council as the payee), at council service centres, at PostShops, by mail or at any BNZ store.

Rates are due as instalments on four due dates in the year.

Key points about paying your rates:

• If you choose to pay your rates in full (plus any outstanding arrears from the previous rating year) by the first instalment date, you will qualify for a discount of 1.5 per cent.
• Payment must be received by 5pm on 30 August 2011 to qualify for the discount.
• All rate accounts with an outstanding balance as at 1 July 2011, will incur a 10 per cent penalty on 5 July 2011.
• A 10 per cent penalty will be applied to any part of the current instalment which remains unpaid by the close of business on the due date for that instalment.
• A 10 per cent penalty will also be charged on any part of the rates and penalties from the previous rating years that have not been paid by 5 July, and an additional 10 per cent again on 5 January, of any financial year.
• Any payments made will be credited towards the oldest amount due first.

GST

The rates assessment invoice is GST inclusive. The GST amount is itemised on the account.

Auckland Council's GST number is 104-736-998.

Payment options

There are a number of ways you can pay your land rates.

• Direct debit
• Automatic payment
• Internet/telephone banking
• Pay online by credit card
• Pay in person
• Post a cheque

Direct debit

A direct debit agreement gives Auckland Council authority to make deductions from your bank account at a selected frequency - weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly or annually. (Please note payment frequency options vary depending where your property is located, please contact us for more information)

With direct debit:

• you only have to set up the authority once and it rolls over each year
• we will send notification of the new deduction amounts and dates at the start of each rating year
• there's no chance of forgetting - so no penalties (provided payments are made as arranged and rates are cleared in full by 30th June each financial year).

Payment can be arranged at any time of the year and takes 2-3 weeks to set up.

If you have an existing direct debit arrangement set up with your former local council this will continue. You do not need to do anything unless you want to change your own details (e.g. your own bank account).

All direct debit arrangements with the former Auckland Regional Council ended on 30 June 2011.

To set up a direct debit

Download the relevant direct debit form for your former council area, complete it and post it to us at

• Auckland Council
  Private Bag 92300
  Victoria Street
  Auckland 1142

Auckland central (former Auckland City Council) application form (175kb PDF)Franklin application form (35kb PDF)
Manukau application form (50kb PDF)
North Shore application form (87kb PDF)
Papakura application form (40kb PDF)
Rodney application form (135kb PDF)
Waitakere application form (503kb PDF)

• If you have multiple properties in Auckland central, please complete the separate  schedule. Each property can be listed separately on your bank statement but each will incur associated bank fees.

Auckland central schedule for multiple properties (49kb PDF)

Please send the original form back to us as we are unable to accept faxed, photocopied or scanned forms.

If you have properties in more than one of the former council areas you will need to complete a form for each area.

If you have multiple properties in any area please provide a list of all rate account numbers and property addresses to be paid by each direct debit authority.

Cancelling or changing direct debits

To cancel or change the frequency of your payment or to change any other details please contact us.

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Automatic payment

An automatic payment is an arrangement with your bank to pay your rates automatically. You can choose the amount and frequency of payments.

With an automatic payment:

• you will need to contact your bank to set up the arrangement
• please ensure the payment amounts and frequency will clear the rates due by the penalty due date (including penalties and arrears). If rates are not cleared by the due date you will incur a penalty
• you will need to modify the arrangement each year when you receive your first rates bill.

Internet/telephone banking

You can pay your rates online or over the phone on or before the due date.

If you pay by internet or telephone banking on the day the instalment is due, the payment will be treated as received on time. Please be aware that banks have different cut-off times to process transactions, so make sure your payment is processed before 5pm on the due date to avoid incurring a penalty.

If you have paid by internet or telephone banking in the past to your former council and have it set up as a bill payment, you can continue to use your bill payment. There have not been any changes made to existing Auckland Council bank account names or numbers.

To set up

To pay rates on one property:

1. Select the relevant legacy council as the payee (or provide your bank with the Auckland Council bank account details).
2. Enter (or provide) other details
• Payer particulars: Your name
• Payer code: Property address
• Payer reference: Rates assessment number (including any leading zeros as per your rates notice).

If you pay rates on more than one property, you will need to set up individual bill payments and select the relevant former council as the payee for each property.

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Pay online by credit card

Credit cards payments for rates are only accepted online.

The following offer a service to pay rates by credit card online:

• Auckland central - pay your rates now (for properties in the former Auckland City Council area)
• North Shore - pay your rates now (for properties in the former North Shore City Council area). Please note: If you experience problems with completing your online payment for North Shore, the issue may be your internet browser. If possible, please try using a different browser or alternatively you can choose one of the council’s other payment methods.
• Rodney - pay your rates now (for properties in the former Rodney District Council area)
• West - pay your rates now (for properties in the former Waitakere City Council area)

Credit card payments are not currently accepted for properties located in the former Papakura District, Manukau City and Franklin District councils.

Pay in person

Payments can be made by cash, cheque or eftpos.

You can pay your rates at most PostShops or BNZ stores. You will need to take the original invoice, remittance advice or overdue letter with you as the original barcode is required for your payment details to be scanned directly to the correct rate account.

Please note: Avondale, Greenmount, Grey Lynn, Parnell, Symonds St and Triton Plaza PostShops as well as North Shore Mail Centre have now closed. You can find your nearest PostShop, where rates bills can be paid here.  The easiest way to pay your rates is by Direct Debit.

You can also visit us at one of our customer service centres. Please note, you will need your original remittance slip for each account you are paying.

Henderson drive-through booth

There is a drive-through booth located at the western end of the Henderson Service Centre nearest to Smyth Road open at these times:

• 15-31 August, 2011 - 8.30am-4pm, Monday to Friday
• 14-30 November, 2011 - 8.30am-4pm, Monday to Friday

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Post a cheque

Use the reusable envelope included with your rates notice and post your cheque and the remittance slip.

Cheques should be made out to Auckland Council.

In order for us to match your payment to the correct property, please ensure the remittance slip is included with your cheque. If you pay rates on multiple properties you can write a cheque for the total amount payable and attach the individual remittances to ensure the correct allocation of payments.

If you have lost your envelope your payment may be posted to:

• Auckland Council
  Private Bag 92300
  Victoria Street
  Auckland 1142

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