Editing Council Tax (section)

==Reductions==

===Exemptions===

Some dwellings are automatically exempt from Council Tax liability; these are officially organised into a number of distinct classes. Most of these exemption classes only apply when the property is completely unoccupied; these are as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Class !! Description
|-
! B
| Furnished dwellings owned by a charity (up to six months). 
|-
! D
| Where the previous occupant(s) have been imprisoned, except where they are imprisoned for non-payment of Council Tax.
|-
! E
| Where the previous occupant(s) have moved into a hospital or care home, and the dwelling had been their sole or main residence. 
|-
! F1
| Where the previous occupant(s) have died (lasts for as long as it takes until F2 applies)
|-
! F2
| Where the previous occupant(s) have died and their estate has been granted probate or letters of administration (up to 6 months - 50% of tax applies thereafter)
|-
! G
| A dwelling where occupation is prohibited by law
|-
! H
| Where the future occupant would be minister(s) of any religion. 
|-
! I
| Where the previous occupant(s) have moved elsewhere in order to receive personal care, and the dwelling had been their sole or main residence. 
|-
! J
| Where the previous occupant(s) have moved elsewhere in order to provide personal care to a 3rd party, and the dwelling had been their sole or main residence.
|-
! K
| Where the owner is a student, who last lived in the dwelling as their main home. 
|-
! L
| Where the dwelling has been repossessed by a mortgage lender. 
|-
! Q
| Where the person who would ordinarily be liable is prevented from making use of the property, because it is with a trustee in bankruptcy. 
|-
! R
| An empty caravan pitch, or a boat mooring not in use. 
|-
! T
| A ''[[granny flat]]'' which, due to planning restrictions, cannot be let separately from other parts of the same single overall property. 
|}

The remaining exemption classes apply not only when the property is unoccupied, but also when certain categories of people are living there:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Class !! Description
|-
! M
| A hall of residence provided predominantly for the accommodation of students. 
|-
! N
| A dwelling which is occupied only by students, the foreign spouses of students, or school and college leavers. 
|-
! O
| Armed forces's accommodation. 
|-
! P
| A ''[[granny flat]]'' within a single overall property, within which at least one person who would otherwise be liable has a relevant association with a visiting force. 
|-
! S
| A dwelling where all occupants are aged under 18. 
|-
! U
| A dwelling occupied only by a person, or people, who is or are [[Severe mental impairment|severely mentally impaired]] and who would otherwise be liable to pay Council Tax, or on exclusion of such occupants would be in exemption class N. 
|-
! V
| A dwelling in which at least one person who would otherwise be liable is a diplomat. 
|-
! W
| A ''granny flat'' occupied by a dependant relative of a person in another dwelling within the same single overall property.
|}

Other classes existed historically and are no longer mandatory.  Councils may still offer 100% discount; some discount or no discount at all at their discretion.  Once a property has been vacant for over 2 years, they have the right to levy a surcharge of up to an additional 50% on the standard Council Tax rate for the property.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Class !! Date abolished !! Description
|-
! A
| 1 April 2013
| Vacant dwellings where major repair works or structural alterations are required, underway or recently complete (up to twelve months). 
|-
! C
| 1 April 2013
| A vacant dwelling (i.e. empty and substantially unfurnished) (up to six months). 
|}

All persons normally resident in a property are counted for Council Tax liability. However, certain classes of person are treated as 'disregarded persons'. Such persons do not count towards occupancy. If a property is occupied entirely by disregarded persons then it is taxed as an empty property (50% discount) unless it otherwise qualifies for total exemption.<ref>[https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/council-tax/paying-council-tax/#h-properties-exempt-from-council-tax "Paying council tax"]. 6 January 2020. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225010124/https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/council-tax/paying-council-tax/ |date=25 February 2023}} Citizens Advice. Accessed 7 March 2023.</ref>

A person is disregarded if they are:
* aged 17 or under (but S above may apply).
* aged 18 and someone is entitled to draw [[child benefit]] for them.
* a school or college leaver aged under 20 who left after 30 April in any year (disregarded until 1 November in the same year even if employed and counts toward exemption N above).
* a full-time student on a qualifying course of education (but N above may apply).
* a foreign language assistant on the official British Council programme (but N above may apply as this counts as being a student).
* a spouse, partner or dependent of either of the above two classes who is not a British citizen and is prohibited from working or claiming benefit by the immigration rules (but N above may apply).
* a young person on a government training scheme or in certain kinds of apprenticeship.
* a prisoner or someone who has been detained for deportation or detained under the [[Mental Health Act]].
* someone who is [[Severe mental impairment|severely mentally impaired]] (but U above may apply).
* a long-term patient in a hospital or resident in a care home.
* living in a hostel which provides care or treatment because of old-age; physical or mental disability; past or present alcohol or drug dependence; past or present mental illness.
* living in a bail or probation hostel.
* a live-in carer (exemption J may apply to their original home).
* staying in a hostel or night shelter.
* a member of any religious community.
* a member of a visiting armed force.
* a dependent of a member of a visiting armed force.

===Statutory discounts===

====Low occupancy====

A fixed discount, currently set at 25%, is available when there are fewer than two residents; this is known as the ''Single Person Discount''. Though it is often concluded that the full Council Tax charge must, therefore, be based on two or more adults being resident at a property, this is not strictly true.

Some people are automatically disregarded when counting the number of residents for this purpose, such as full-time students. The legislation also provides that, to count as a resident of a property, an individual should have the property as their sole or main residence; case law has established that no single test may be used to determine whether this condition is met.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/39.html |title=Williams v Horsham District Council [2004&#93; EWCA Civ 39 (21 January 2004) |publisher=Bailii.org |access-date=5 February 2013 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016212751/http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/39.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

As part of the National Fraud Initiative, every other year, the Audit Commission analyses metadata deriving from Council Tax accounts together with the full electoral register to produce lists of people it believes should be subjected to an investigation on the basis that there is a risk that a discount is being received when an adult who does not fail to be disregarded is actually resident in the dwelling.<ref>The National Fraud Initiative 2008./2009 Members' Briefing.  May 2010. Published by the Audit Commission.</ref>

====Disabled occupancy====

If a property has been adapted to meet the needs of a disabled occupant, then, after applying in writing, and provided the adaptations are of a certain extent, the property will be rebanded to the band immediately below its normal Council Tax band. If the property was in the lowest Council Tax band, it will be placed into a Band Z (the band below A).

===Discretionary reductions===

Under the [[Welfare Reform Act 2012]], local councils were given powers to create new deduction rules for their Council Tax. As these rules replace the former statutory rebate schemes, the Act has also restricted the councils from increasing, by more than a certain amount, the net Council Tax bill for any individual who previously received a rebate.

Since 2013, explicit Council Tax discounts have been provided, now officially known as ''Council Tax Reduction'' schemes, though many councils market them to residents as ''Council Tax Support''; the choice to market the rules as a tax cut, rather than a benefit, may be an ideological one.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}.

Many local authorities choose to use similar or identical rules to the former statutory rebate schemes, while others took the opportunity to levy a small level of tax on people with low incomes.<ref>{{cite news |author=Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor |url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jan/14/poorer-households-postcode-lottery-council-tax |title=Poorer households face postcode lottery as council tax benefit cuts bite &#124; Money |newspaper=Guardian |date=14 January 2013 |access-date=5 February 2013 |location=London |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509012923/http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/jan/14/poorer-households-postcode-lottery-council-tax |archive-date=9 May 2015  }}</ref> In particular people in receipt of the ''Guarantee Credit'' element of [[Pension Credit]] (or who would meet the same qualifying rules) must continue to receive a 100% discount (that is, a Council Tax bill of £0).