Council Tax - how to split in a shared house if 1 person gets Council Tax reduction?

pennyhale

Hypothetical Council Tax question:
In a household of 5 people consisting of 1 COUPLE and 3 singletons, 1 member of the COUPLE gets a 25% discount on the council tax. This discount is obviously passed on to the rest of the house, but the bill is being paid between 4 people, meaning that the person who got the 25% discount essentially pays nothing (or him and his partner pay 1/8 each, giving the person who isn't entitled to a benefit/discount, a further discount).
Should he still pay a proportion? After all he is not a student and has no disability, and hypothetically if he were living alone he would receive a 25% discount for single person benefit, plus the extra 25% reduction, but he would still have to pay something.
Using this formula as anexample:
Council tax = £2000
25% discount = £1500
£1500 / 5 = £300
£300 – 25% = £225
£1500 - £225 = £1275
£1275 / 4 = £318.75
So the person with the discount pays £225 and the other 4people pay £318.75.
Or is it correct that the person with the discount pays £0 and the other 4 people pay £375?
If there was no discount applied at the beginning, then the £2000 would be split between 5 people, each paying £400.
My head is hurting trying to work this out! Any advice/opinions/expertise would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

marliepanda

Edited as read it as him being a student

fed_up_and_stressed

Why does the half of the couple get this discount ..what is this discount for ?

You have stated the household is 5 people. It is pointless to think about what if he was single ...he isn't he is living with 4 others who are liable to pay full council tax in their own right.

If the Household was 5 people and one was disregarded (not liable) for council tax purposes full council tax would still be due to be paid as there are still 4 liable parties (who are fully and seperately liable to pay the WHOLE bill).

To illustrate example mum dad and son live in property, son is full time student so is disregarded for council tax but because mum and dad live at property then full council tax to pay as mum and dad are both liable parties.

If Dad then left the mum, son would still be disregarded so in effect not counted for billing purposes. As son is not liable and disregarded so in effect mum is only liable party so gets 25% single person discount as Mum is the ONLY liable party ...and it is mum who has to pay.


in your case how you split the bill is up to you. If the one person has been fully disregarded then the council would not pursue them but would come after all the other parties. How you split payment is a matter for yourselves but legally all liable parties are responsible for the billed amount not a "share"

marliepanda

It seems odd to discount £500 for just one person in a 5 person household. This would not be the case if he was a student.

Why do they get the 25% reduction?

toomuchinfo

This is my opinion

The person who got the discount should pay nothing as their share is less than the £500 discount. Also, as the balance of the discount is £200, this should be taken off the partners share, so the partner pays £100.

marliepanda

toomuchinfo wrote: »

This is my opinion

The person who got the discount should pay nothing as their share is less than the £500 discount. Also, as the balance of the discount is £200, this should be taken off the partners share, so the partner pays £100.

Leaving everyone else to pay almost £500 each?

I don't see why one person should pay nothing, and another pay only £100 for absolutely no reason other than that they are the partner of that person.

I know you said it was just your opinion but this seems pretty unfair. I would say the first example where its about £325 vs £225 is much more fair. I would not be happy if I was one of the three 'payers' in your version.

StormyWeather_2

£2000/5 = £400

Partner gets discount of £400
He has to pay £300 as there's £100 25% discount left over.

CIS

In a household of 5 people consisting of 1 COUPLE and 3 singletons, 1 member of the COUPLE gets a 25% discount on the council tax.

Why are they disregarded ?

pennyhale

I don't know why he receives a discount, I think it's due to being low-ish income.

'fed up and stressed' surely he is liable to pay a proportion of the council tax because as I stated he is not a student, has no disability and is over 18.

If you were to consider the same situation in a property with 2 people, one of whom received a 25% discount, how would this be worked out?
£2000 - 25% = £1500
£1500 / 2 = £750
£750 - 25% = £562.50 - to be paid by the person getting the discount
£1500 - £562.50 = £937.50 - to be paid by the other person

Or according to 'toomuchinfo' would the person entitled to the benefit only pay £62.50 (because the discount totalled £500) leaving the other person to pay £1437.50? Because that is definitely giving the person with the benefit a greater discount than 25%. They get £500 OFF, they still have to pay 75% of something??

Head still hurting...

StormyWeather_2

pennyhale wrote: »

I don't know why he receives a discount, I think it's due to being low-ish income.

'fed up and stressed' surely he is liable to pay a proportion of the council tax because as I stated he is not a student, has no disability and is over 18.

If you were to consider the same situation in a property with 2 people, one of whom received a 25% discount, how would this be worked out?
£2000 - 25% = £1500
£1500 / 2 = £750
£750 - 25% = £562.50 - to be paid by the person getting the discount
£1500 - £562.50 = £937.50 - to be paid by the other person

Or according to 'toomuchinfo' would the person entitled to the benefit only pay £62.50 (because the discount totalled £500) leaving the other person to pay £1437.50? Because that is definitely giving the person with the benefit a greater discount than 25%. They get £500 OFF, they still have to pay 75% of something??

Head still hurting...

The person who gets the discount pays nothing.
Their partner gets a 25% discount on their share. £300 rather than £400.
The other 3 pay £400 each.

CIS

I don't know why he receives a discount, I think it's due to being low-ish income.

So he's in receipt of council tax support (prev council tax benefit) which means that , unless there's fraud, the claim is joint with his partner and the council tax support is paid for both of them (not just one of them)