council tax

trailingspouse

My OH is going to be working abroad (for at least 10 months). This will mean that I am the only person living in our house. Would I be entitled to a 25% reduction in Council Tax?

He will continue to be on the deeds of the house, he will have his name on the mortgage, and he will be coming home for visits (but only for a maximum of 4 weeks in the 10 months). He will be considered a resident of the country he's working in for tax purposes - he can't be resident in two countries at the same time, so my feeling is that I should be able to get a Council Tax reduction, but I could be wrong. I had a look at the Council Tax website, but it wasn't very helpful for this specific situation.

Any ideas?

Cocobay71

I think he would not have to reside in your property for the full year to claim the discount.

paddedjohn

If he's resident elsewhere then you should be ok, when he comes home for a few weeks he's only a guest.

CIS

This will mean that I am the only person living in our house. Would I be entitled to a 25% reduction in Council Tax?

No, his 'sole or main residence' has not changed for council tax purposes and therefore for council tax purposes you cannot have claim a single person discount.

Whilst working abroad, even if he is away for several years, he is regarded in most cases as being resident in the property. The prime case law for this is Ward v Kingston upon Hull.

If he's resident elsewhere then you should be ok, when he comes home for a few weeks he's only a guest.

Its not that simple.

trailingspouse

Many thanks - I thought there would be some reason why I couldn't claim the discount. He'll be counted as resident abroad for tax purposes - seems unfair that he should also be counted as resident at home for council tax purposes!! Especially as he most obviously won't be at home!!!
Now, just to confuse things further - I won't actually be moving into our 'home' until after he's left to take up his contract (we're renting at the moment) - so it won't ever have been his 'sole or main residence'. Seems a bit rough to have to pay council tax if you're never actually lived there!!

CIS

I won't actually be moving into our 'home' until after he's left to take up his contract (we're renting at the moment) - so it won't ever have been his 'sole or main residence'.

Ah, that's an important point you missed out.

In this case a person cannot have their 'sole or main residence' in a property in which they've never actually been resident - the main case law for this is Horsham v Williams, 2004 and Bennett v. Copeland 2004

trailingspouse

Sorry CIS!! Didn't want to muddy the water on my first post, but thought it might possibly make a difference.

I'll be talking to the local council, but thanks for the advice - just knowing that it's quite complicated is helpful!!

John_Pierpoint

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trailingspouse wrote: »

He will be considered a resident of the country he's working in for tax purposes - he can't be resident in two countries at the same time.

Are you sure this is correct ?
Is your husband a foreign national ?
What job will husband be doing ?
In which country ?
How long has he been living in the UK?

I don't for one minute hold myself up as an expert and the UK's rules for "tax residency" have been subject to a lot of "consultation" recently.

Can you quote chapter and verse for an absence of only 10 months conferring loss of UK residency, especially as he seems to be leaving behind a property and a "family".

agrinnall

I suspect JP is right, I can't see how he can be UK non-resident if he's only out of the country for 10 months. I can see how he might be considered resident for tax in the country where he is working but that wouldn't make him non-resident in the UK, rather he would need to find out what double taxation agreements exist between the UK and that country.

trailingspouse

He will be working in India. He is a UK citizen by birth, but will be in India for more than 183 days, so will be considered an India resident and will pay Indian taxes. Residency changes very quickly - in Ireland, it's 4 months, in India it's 6 months. He doesn't cease to be a UK citizen, but he becomes resident in India. I'm not concerned about the income tax position, and I know all about double taxation, having lived abroad myself for 4 years - we've got that sorted. What I'm interested in is the position re Council Tax, as this will be the first time one of us has stayed in the UK while the other one worked away.
I feel that, as he's not resident (as in, not living in the house), I should get the 25% single adult discount - but I'm sure there'll be plenty of reasons why that doesn't apply in this case

trailingspouse

A quick thank you to everyone who has made suggestions. I've now been able to talk to the local council, and (after they'd gone off to think about it for a bit) they decided that yes, I would be entitled to 25% discount - until such time as OH comes home to visit. Once he's spent a night in the house, the council tax becomes payable for ever more. He suggested that we should spend OH's leave in a Travel Lodge - classy, huh?