Most readers are probably already aware that council tax payers who live on their are entitled to a 25% discount on their annual bill.
To ensure that they are receiving the full amounts due, it’s this time of year when the Isle of Wight council carry out their review of council tax discounts.
The purpose of the review is to make sure that only those eligible to the discount are claiming it.
People’s situations often change over the course of a year. Lucky love birds who once lived apart may now be sharing their love nest and forgotten to let the council know.
At the moment, around 23,000 residents claim the single person council tax discount on the Island.
How will they check?
Contacting every resident that claims the discount would be a very long process, so instead the council will undertake “a residency check that will enable it to most efficiently target those residents whose circumstances differ from those recorded on its systems and who may therefore no longer be eligible for the discount”.
Councillor Peter Bingham, Isle of Wight Council Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “The council has a legal and social responsibility to ensure that it collects all council tax that is due so that everyone on the Isle of Wight gets value for money. Any discount given to residents reduces the revenue we are able to collect, so therefore we need to ensure that only those people due a discount are awarded one. It is not fair on those who are paying the full amount that some people do not pay their dues by not declaring that they live with someone else.”
If you claim the discount and think you no longer apply, make sure you get in touch with the council tax department on 01983 823901.
Image: Alan Stanton under CC BY-SA 2.0
