Editing Council Tax (section)

===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).