Council Tax

[jw47]

My recently widowed friend has been told she does not have to pay council tax. I'm curious to know why, her pension is £990 a month and she has less than. £16k in savings

[Peter Pedant]

No idea. Ask her

[barry1010]

Does she now live alone? Does she have a severe mental impairment such as dementia?

[Peter Pedant]

google "exemptions from council tax" for your area

I find for mine: she cd be a govt assassin or other member of the  armed forces. or an ambassador, and a few other conditions less likely than the above

[davebro3]

I think it varies a bit from council to council. Council tax support (discount) can be up to 100% depending on circumstances. You would have to check the particulat council's criteria on their website.

[Peter Pedant]

blimey dave bro  and I agree for once

[davebro3]

PP - I don't necessarily disagree with you - I just can't understand what you post most of the time!🤣

[bookbinder]

I have looked into this situation of your friend, and I cannot find anything that says a single person does not have to pay council tax. The single person in a property can get a 25% discount on the tax, but that is as far as I've got. Nowhere is the single person's income mentioned as a reason for not paying council tax.

[newmodarmy]

Does her pension amount include pension credit? ( seems too high but maybe your figure is wrong). If so, that can be a gateway to zero council tax 

[Karamia]

Perhaps, if they had paid in full as a couple for the whole year, she may now be in credit if recently widowed and council are using the over payment to cover her costs for remainder of the tax year.

When my council tax was looked into for previous 5/6 years we got huge reimbursement and told no longer needed to pay for rest of that tax year.

[davebro3]

I have run those numbers through the "turn2us" benefits calculator (for my local council) & it says I would be entitled to council tax reduction of about £850 on the bill of £1080.

(The £1080 is after deduction of 25% for single occupancy.)