Both sit in section 74 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, in Part II of that Act, which is the Scottish part rather than the English one.

The ranges have never been amended. The proportions were last changed with effect from 1 April 2017, and challenging a band is a separate process with its own deadlines.

Below is the full table, what each band actually costs against band D, why the valuation date is still 1991, and who to speak to about which part of the bill.

Bands A to H, running from values not exceeding £27,000 to values exceeding £212,000 at 1991 prices. The bands are set by section 74(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the ranges have never been amended.

The bands, the value ranges and the statutory proportions

The first two columns put a property in a band. The third and fourth are what fix its cost against band D.

The proportions come from section 74(1) of the same Act, as substituted with effect from 1 April 2017 by the Council Tax (Substitution of Proportion) (Scotland) Order 2016. The final column is arithmetic on those figures, each one divided by the 360 that band D carries.

How the statute words a range

The statute says ‘exceeding £27,000 but not exceeding £35,000’. The Scottish Government’s own published table renders that as ‘£27,001 to £35,000’, which comes to the same thing.

So a 1991 value of exactly £35,000 falls in band B rather than band C. Each boundary figure belongs to the band beneath it.

A band H property pays 2.450 times a band D property in the same council area, and a band A property pays 0.667 of it. Those ratios are fixed by statute, so only the local level of the charge changes from one council to the next.

What each band costs against band D

Your council sets the level of the charge. Section 74(1) fixes the relationship between the bands, so once the band D figure is set every other band follows from it.

The third column is the one to read when you are comparing two properties. Moving up a band is not a flat percentage, because the steps are uneven.

The sharpest step on the scale is band D to band E

Band D to band E is a jump of 31.4%, the largest single step from one band to the next. Band C to band D is 12.5%, the smallest.

That is the 2017 substitution showing through. The proportions for bands E to H were increased then and the proportions for bands A to D were not.

Why the same band costs different amounts in different council areas

Each council sets its own charge, so an identical band in two areas produces two different bills. The proportions are national and the level is local.

Water and sewerage charges are billed alongside council tax and are handled separately from it. Our billing and collection guide covers how a bill and its instalments are put together.

Every Scottish dwelling is banded on what it would have sold for on the open market on 1 April 1991, under regulation 2 of the Council Tax (Valuation of Dwellings) (Scotland) Regulations 1992. There has been no revaluation since.

What the valuation date means for a newer property

A house built in 2015 still carries a value as at 1 April 1991. The test is what the dwelling might reasonably have been expected to realise if it had been sold in the open market by a willing seller on that date.

The rule sits in regulation 2 of the Council Tax (Valuation of Dwellings) (Scotland) Regulations 1992, which came into force on 1 July 1992.

Today’s market does not move your band

What you paid last year, and what the property would fetch now, are not the measure. The band follows the 1991 figure.

A fall in the market is expressly not a material reduction in value for challenge purposes either. The grounds that do open a challenge each carry their own window, set out under the challenge heading below.

Whether there will be a revaluation

There has been no revaluation in Scotland since. The Scottish Government has published on revaluation and reform, and treats the continued use of 1991 values as a live design question.

The Assessor. Scotland’s regional Assessors band every dwelling and coordinate through the Scottish Assessors Association, while your council bills and collects on the band it is given.

The Assessor values and the council bills

Banding is done by regional Assessors, coordinating through the Scottish Assessors Association. The council issues the bill on the band the Assessor has placed on the list.

Who is liable to pay that bill is a separate question from which band the property is in, and what makes you liable for council tax works down the statutory hierarchy. Official guidance on council tax covers the council’s side.

The Valuation Office Agency does not band Scottish property

The Valuation Office Agency is the English body. A tool that asks for an English postcode is not looking at the Scottish valuation list at all.

Scotland’s route is the Assessor. Anything pointing you somewhere else for a Scottish band is describing a different country’s system.

Which body does what

The split matters when you pick up the phone. The band is the Assessor’s, and the bill, the discounts and the arrears are the council’s.

The proportions for bands E to H were increased with effect from 1 April 2017, by the Council Tax (Substitution of Proportion) (Scotland) Order 2016. The value ranges attached to each band were not touched then and have never been amended.

What the 2017 order did

It substituted the words in section 74(1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, leaving the proportions now in force of 240, 280, 320, 360, 473, 585, 705 and 882. The change took effect on 1 April 2017.

Bands A to D still stand in a 6:7:8:9 relationship to one another. Bands E to H sit above that line, which is why the step from D to E is the sharpest on the scale.

Why the ranges have stayed where they are

Section 74(2) carries no amendment footnote on any band range. The two textual amendments recorded against section 74 both operate on the proportions in subsection (1) instead.

So a table of Scottish band ranges published in the 1990s still matches the statute today. A table of proportions published before April 2017 does not.

You make a proposal to the Assessor rather than to the council. Three grounds run for six months from a dated event and four more are open at any time.

The windows, in one line each

• Within 6 months of becoming the owner or the liable person for the property.
• Within 6 months of the Assessor altering your band.
• Within 6 months of a First-tier Tribunal decision on a comparable property in the area.
• At any time for a material reduction in value, a material increase from building work, a change in the balance of domestic and non-domestic use, or a dwelling wrongly on or missing from the list.

The Assessor must acknowledge a proposal within 14 days and has 6 months to determine it. Every deadline, including the onward appeal to the Local Taxation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, sits in our guide to challenging a band.

When building work feeds through to the band

A material increase in value from building work takes effect only on the next sale. On that wording the band would not be expected to move while the owner who carried out the work is still there.

Discounts, exemptions, the disabled band reduction and Council Tax Reduction all come off the figure the band produces. Council Tax Reduction is worth up to 100% of the council tax liability under the Scottish scheme.

Reductions that sit on top of the band

• The single person discount of 25%, where only one adult is counted at the property.
• Disregards and exemptions, including full-time students, apprentices, care leavers under 26 and live-in carers, which are mapped in what council tax discounts are available.
• The disabled band reduction, charging the bill one band lower, with a band A property getting a reduction equivalent to one band. How to apply for it covers the three qualifying conditions.
• Council Tax Reduction, the Scottish scheme that replaced Council Tax Benefit, explained in what Council Tax Reduction is.

Council Tax Reduction does not touch water and sewerage charges, which run through their own scheme. A property nobody lives in is treated differently again, and council tax on an empty property covers the exemptions and the premium.

What happens if the bill goes unpaid

Miss an instalment and the council usually issues a reminder about two weeks later, and paying within 7 days of it puts the account back on track. A council may issue up to two reminders in a financial year.

After a further default a final notice follows, and if that is not paid within 7 days the right to pay by instalments is lost and the whole remaining year’s balance falls due.

The council can then apply for a summary warrant, which adds a 10% statutory surcharge to the outstanding council tax, and instruct sheriff officers.

Non-payment cannot lead to imprisonment in Scotland. It is a civil debt rather than a criminal offence, and there is no criminal record.

Where to start if the arrears have already built up

Deal with the entitlement question first and the balance second. Our council tax debt advice page covers what to put in an offer to a council, and a special payment arrangement spreads what is left.

A reduction applied now cuts what has to be repaid later. Free help is available from Citizens Advice Scotland, StepChange, Money Advice Scotland and National Debtline.