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Benefits
More council tax information
Part 2: Discounts and reductions Part 3: Weekly income and capital Part 4: Crucial calculations Part 5: Special benefits
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Discounts on council tax - part five
One final calculation...
Even if your income or savings are too high to get the normal Council Tax Benefit, you may be able to get a special Council Tax Benefit. You can get it if you are single (or, if you have a spouse or partner, you are not living with them) and have someone else living in your home who meets all the following conditions:
· is aged 18 or over
· is not paying you rent
· is not your husband or wife or civil partner
· is not living with you as if you are married
· does not have to pay council tax themselves
· has a low income
This reduction goes by the unwieldy name of Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit and seven out of eight people who could get it don’t.
If the person living with you gets any Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, then your council tax is reduced by 25 per cent. If their gross weekly income, before tax is deducted, is less than £157, your council tax is reduced by 15 per cent. If their gross weekly income is less than £204, your council tax is reduced by 7.5 per cent. If the person living with you is a student and you get pension credit then you will get your council tax reduced to zero.
The savings of the person living with you are ignored but any interest they get (before tax is deducted) counts as part of their income. If they get Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance those amounts are ignored when calculating their income. The rebate applies to the council tax due for each day they live with you and fulfil the conditions.
You may get Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit even if there is more than one person living with you (such as two grown-up children). They must all meet the conditions listed above and their incomes added together must be below the limits set out above. If everyone living with you is on Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, then you get a reduction of 25 per cent.
If you think you may be eligible for Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit you must apply to your local council. It can be backdated up to a year in some cases. It used to be called Second Adult Rebate.
If you qualify for normal Council Tax Benefit and for Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit, you cannot get them both. You will get whichever is higher.
Finally...
Well done if you’ve got this far. One reason two million people do not claim the help they could get is because it is so complicated. Don’t waste the journey. Apply for your discount now.
Back to page one of Discounts on Council Tax
This article was created: 15 November 2006.
This article was last edited: 19 March 2007.
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