council tax

deejay1960

Hi Martin and the team

I was Disregarded for council tax last year and my council backdated it 5 years, then sent me a bill for 50% of the council tax as they say 2 adults live in the property (myself and my carer) who is my 19year old son. It states if your carer lives with you they are also exempt, I have wrote to them contacted my M.P and have now contacted my local councillor as how can you be exempt then told to pay do you have any other lines of enquiry I can go down to get this resolved?. They have also told me if my son moves out then I will have no council tax to pay? So to be fully exempt I would have to tell carer to go and live somewhere else and just come in a morning and maybe stay 3/4 nights a week? Surely this can’t be right.

CIS

deejay1960 said:

Hi Martin and the team

I was Disregarded for council tax last year and my council backdated it 5 years, then sent me a bill for 50% of the council tax as they say 2 adults live in the property (myself and my carer) who is my 19year old son. It states if your carer lives with you they are also exempt, I have wrote to them contacted my M.P and have now contacted my local councillor as how can you be exempt then told to pay do you have any other lines of enquiry I can go down to get this resolved?. They have also told me if my son moves out then I will have no council tax to pay? So to be fully exempt I would have to tell carer to go and live somewhere else and just come in a morning and maybe stay 3/4 nights a week? Surely this can’t be right.

Carers are not exempt, they are disregarded - a major difference for council tax purposes.

A carer plus a disregarded as SMI only gives a 50% discount, that's the way legislation is written. A claim for council tax reduction would then be needed to help with the difference.

The only way around it, other than if he moves out, is if he was a student for council tax purposes (assuming this is England or Wales).

deejay1960

Hi on the Gov.uk website it states "you'll get a 100% discount if you qualify as SMI and one of the following applies.
. you live on your own
. the only other person you live with is a carer (and they're not your partner, spouse or child under 18) my son is 19
. any other adult in your household either qualify as severely mentally impaired or are full-time students.

now can you understand why I'm confused? if this is wrong then my son is going to have to move out as I can't afford to pay my mortgage and council tax. if this is the case do you know how many nights he can stay with me before he is classed as living with me.

CIS

deejay1960 said:

Hi on the Gov.uk website it states "you'll get a 100% discount if you qualify as SMI and one of the following applies.
. you live on your own
. the only other person you live with is a carer (and they're not your partner, spouse or child under 18) my son is 19
. any other adult in your household either qualify as severely mentally impaired or are full-time students.

now can you understand why I'm confused? if this is wrong then my son is going to have to move out as I can't afford to pay my mortgage and council tax. if this is the case do you know how many nights he can stay with me before he is classed as living with me.

The government website is very lax on what it says - it's by no means anywhere near a full statement of the legislation and, in places, is actually wrong. My day job is dealing with council tax appeals, disputes etc and I see this sort of issue all the time, and not only with the .gov.uk site. The problem is that they're trying to simplify the legislation, and it just doesn't work in many cases - tax legislation, which is what council tax is, is far more complicated than many give it credit for.

The Class U exemption is quite clear on what it covers, and carers are not included in the exemption. This means that the best that can apply is a discount based on you both being disregarded.

Your son would affect the exemption for each & every single day he is resident.

CIS

The wording of the Class U exemption states;

	(1) a dwelling occupied only--
		(a) by one or more severely mentally impaired persons, where, but for this Order, either such a person, or a relevant person, would be liable to pay the council tax; or
		(b) by one or more severely mentally impaired persons, together with one or more relevant persons.
		(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) above--
		(a) 'relevant person' has the meaning given by paragraph 2(a) of Class N above, and
		(b) 'severely mentally impaired' has the meaning given in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Act;

2(a) and 2(b) set the details of who can be resident for the Class U exemption to apply - it covers only parties who are students and parties who are SMI.