DH away, council tax discount?

SparklyClean

Hello
I was hoping someone on here could help answer my question,
My dh is in the forces and is on tour for 7 months with 2 weeks r & r, can I claim a council tax discount as only me and my 2 children under 6 live in our house?
I have been to the council previously when he has been away and they say ' we won't discount it, claim it back from the forces' and likewise when dh has asked at work they say 'go to your council tax office' (whatever its called) and get it from them' !
So can we claim anything?
Thankyou in advance

Andy_L

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/defencenews/defencepolicyandbusiness/counciltaxrelieffortroopsonoperations.htm

either a discount from the Council or, if they won't play ball then a flat rate from the MoD

DUTR

technically perhaps not, besides they have found Osama, so your DH may be back even sooner

CIS

Your husband is still classed as resident so no council tax discount can be given - he needs to claim from the MOD.

SparklyClean

Thanks for you replies, I will check out the website x

herewegoagain2010

I know they do give a discount if you're living in quarters and I think you get 25% of the CILOCT back. It should be done automatically through JPA, but saying that my hubby has been back several weeks and it's not shown up in the payslips yet.

bumblebeebaby

You get a rebate of about £145 for 6 months, you are not entitled to 25% discount as previous poster correctly said its still classed as your husbands main residence. If you live in your own property you will need to get the council to write to say they are unable to give you a refund/discount. This is then presented to the clerk who will update JPA.

Trying_to_be_good

But the Prime Minister said it's being looked at again - during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. Might be more back in future, or expect the council's to take the hit?

herewegoagain2010

http://http://www.aff.org.uk/linkedfiles/aff/families_journal/journalissue79-summer2010.pdf

OP, I found this confirming how much the discount is and the JSP reference you need. If you have a look on Page 7 there's the Council Tax Relief Scheme, which does confirm that its "£145 for a 6month tour, which is the equivlant to a 25% discount on the average Council Tax bill"

SparklyClean

thankyou : )

Veryskint

In case this is any help, I had the same issue. The council told me no discount, go to MOD, the Army told me to go to the council for the discount.

Turns out our regiment (wrongly) thought that the council tax rebate applied only to army houses and that we had to apply to the council for a rebate.

I wrote to my MP cos I was fed up with it and he sent me something that confirmed it was the MOD to pay it.

To confirm, the Army pays the discount, in the paypacket your DH gets when he returns from his sunshine break, it's a set amount regardless of how much council tax you pay, and it's applicable to army houses and your own house. Our regt required us to get a letter from our council that confirmed that we did not receive any discount from the council, but other than that, it's for your welfare office, or regt accounts or clerk, to deal with.

You might have to nag nag nag, but you should get that back.