council tax benefit..

Deals_2

a friend has asked me about council tax benefit as they are stuggling and have not a penny to live because their clients (they are self employed) have not paid them. They own their UK property but have no money to keep thsi going so are trying to sell this. They also own a run down property abroad which actually costs them money to keep but as the market is a bit slow they are waiting to get the house sorted and then they can flog it. they also have a lot of debts linked to the house abroad too as they had to borrow against their Uk property, family put in money so they will come out with very little. the uk forms for council tax ask if one owns other property - should they or not put this down as they dont see how this owuld be even relevant?

dmg24

The house abroad is classed as capital, so they need to put this on the forms. If they do not they will be going into the area of fraud ... not worth it! x

Deals_2

they have to pay for any profit made in the other country anyway.

dmg24 wrote: »

The house abroad is classed as capital, so they need to put this on the forms. If they do not they will be going into the area of fraud ... not worth it! x

dmg24

Deals wrote: »

they have to pay for any profit made in the other country anyway.

The rules on capital held abroad are not simple, but AFAIK they are based upon the value of the property now, not when the person sells it (they may never sell it!).

To get more information they will need to contact the LA, but there is no doubt that they have to declare it.

Deals_2

everso for any advice.

dmg24 wrote: »

The rules on capital held abroad are not simple, but AFAIK they are based upon the value of the property now, not when the person sells it (they may never sell it!).

To get more information they will need to contact the LA, but there is no doubt that they have to declare it.

dmg24

LA = local authority/ council.

AFAIK = as far as I know (took me ages to work that one out too!) x

Francesanne

Your friends should be completely truthful when filling in the form, otherwise they'll be guilty of fraud.

lil_me

They should be completely honest on the forms, it's not worth getting caught.

They should also be trying to recover the monies owed to them by clients, there are companies who specialise in recovering and insuring against things like this.