Naturalisation (as Spouse of British) - Council Tax issue

Dear Friends,

I need your help on this matter. Kindly assist me with the query.

Scenario: I got British Citizenship last week. The question is about my wife's application (I intend to make her Naturalisation application as spouse of British - sometime soon)

My wife joined me in UK in 2010 April. We moved to 5 different addresses until now. I have paid council tax in all those places but my wife hasnt paid any council tax to date. I have recently seen on the forum that it is mandatory for applicants to pay council tax to meet good character requirement.

1. Please could you advise how I can deal with this situation as it is impossible for me to pay her council tax from Aprl 2010 (for different regions) to date.
2. Has anyone's application been rejected just because they have not paid council tax?
3. Also, for applicantion as spouse of British - do we have to provide 5 years address history or last 3 years only, please advise

Thnaks in advance

If you were both living at the same address and you were paying council tax, there is no need for your wife to pay, provided you didn't benefit from a single person discount of course while she was living with you. It would not be common sense to expect a spouse to suddenly have to pay the same council tax her husband already pays on the same property.

I applied as spouse of BC and put 5 years addresses, just so that they don't write and ask if I had only put 3 years.

Just to make it clear - there is no requirement to pay council tax to qualify for naturalisation. There is a requirement not to avoid paying tax if your are required to do so. In your wife's case, she wasn't required to pay council tax under her name (if you paid it and declare her residence in the property) so not an issue.

Just call the council and request them to add your wife name in the account. You'll get the bill in both names.

Dear All,

Thanks for your reply.

Please bo noted that I didnt declare that my wife was living with me wherever I stayed (to avoid paying excessive council tax) or did I claim single person discount. If I call all the 5 councils and declare now that my wife lived with me then I might end up paying huge bill, please advise what is the right way forward.

Just add your wife in the current proprty and start paying full council tax. That's the only way forward. You don't HAVE to attach all those old council tax bills. Just attach the current one with your wife's name on...

theprideofpak wrote:Just add your wife in the current proprty and start paying full council tax. That's the only way forward. You don't HAVE to attach all those old council tax bills. Just attach the current one with your wife's name on...

This is a such a pointless thing to do, do not create trouble for yourself.

If you wife has never had a council tax bill in her name then she owes nothing and she cannot be refused on this. The rule is only if you owe council tax and don't pay it. Even if she lived with you and the council bill was in your name and you didn't pay, they would still not reject her.

The correct answer here is don't do anything.

CR001 wrote:If you were both living at the same address and you were paying council tax, there is no need for your wife to pay, provided you didn't benefit from a single person discount of course while she was living with you. It would not be common sense to expect a spouse to suddenly have to pay the same council tax her husband already pays on the same property.

I applied as spouse of BC and put 5 years addresses, just so that they don't write and ask if I had only put 3 years.

is this a requirement? i have been in the UK for 4 years. should i only include the address details covering the 3 year period?

is this a requirement? i have been in the UK for 4 years. should i only include the address details covering the 3 year period?

You can put the address details for the 3 or 4 years, they will be able to check if they really wanted to.

thank you is it worth writing down my overseas address to make up the five years?

What is important is that there is no debt in the applicant's name. However, it does not mean that there is a requirement for each individual applicant to pay council tax.

adnanjamil wrote:Dear All,

Thanks for your reply.

Please bo noted that I didnt declare that my wife was living with me wherever I stayed (to avoid paying excessive council tax) or did I claim single person discount. If I call all the 5 councils and declare now that my wife lived with me then I might end up paying huge bill, please advise what is the right way forward.

So are you saying you committed fraud? You can be jailed for Council Tax fraud you know.

t123456789 wrote:

theprideofpak wrote:Just add your wife in the current proprty and start paying full council tax. That's the only way forward. You don't HAVE to attach all those old council tax bills. Just attach the current one with your wife's name on...

This is a such a pointless thing to do, do not create trouble for yourself.

If you wife has never had a council tax bill in her name then she owes nothing and she cannot be refused on this. The rule is only if you owe council tax and don't pay it. Even if she lived with you and the council bill was in your name and you didn't pay, they would still not reject her.

The correct answer here is don't do anything.

Apologies, I didn't see he later said he's been deliberately avoiding paying council tax. Yeah, that's fraud. Go straight to jail, do not collect citizenship. You are deliberately breaking the law and are worried that it'll affect your application!

t123456789 wrote:

t123456789 wrote:

theprideofpak wrote:Just add your wife in the current proprty and start paying full council tax. That's the only way forward. You don't HAVE to attach all those old council tax bills. Just attach the current one with your wife's name on...

This is a such a pointless thing to do, do not create trouble for yourself.

If you wife has never had a council tax bill in her name then she owes nothing and she cannot be refused on this. The rule is only if you owe council tax and don't pay it. Even if she lived with you and the council bill was in your name and you didn't pay, they would still not reject her.

The correct answer here is don't do anything.

Apologies, I didn't see he later said he's been deliberately avoiding paying council tax. Yeah, that's fraud. Go straight to jail, do not collect citizenship. You are deliberately breaking the law and are worried that it'll affect your application!

Please could someone advise what is the possible alternative to tackle the above problem?

Tough one.

If you contact them to admit your transgressions they could take action against you. However if you crawl a little and plead ignorance they might be accommodating.

However if you don't, and UKVI check, that would put the cat amongst the pigeons.

If I were you, I'd do the honourable thing.

1. I have been paying council Tax for my wife for the last 1 year for the existing property - no issues here
2. TWO years prior to this, I didnt pay any council tax for my wife (but paid for myself). This term is in the Residenicy Requirement for Spouse of British (probably this is where the checks are carried out - Good Character requirement). During this term she was outside UK for at least 4 months.
- Can I say that during this period she was with her friend studying for her exams (she is a MBBS graduate from Sri Lanka) about 4 days a week and hence didnt pay council tax?
or
- Ring the local council and pay for this 2 year period?
3. TWO years before the above mentioned time period, again, I didnt pay any council tax for my wife (but paid for myself). Hope they dont check this time period for Council tax non-payment. Can I skip these addresses in the application form?

OR - shall I just ignore paying council tax for point and 3 above and continue with point1 payment?

Please advise.

adnanjamil wrote: TWO years prior to this, I didnt pay any council tax for my wife (but paid for myself). T

Man, why are you going in circles? You don't pay council tax per person, you pay council tax per property. If there is only a single person in the property you claim 25% discount.

Have you claimed a single person discount for this period?

I have never claimed Single Person Discount anywhere

adnanjamil wrote:I have never claimed Single Person Discount anywhere

Then you are clear, no action needed! Just your posts weren't clear and caused us (well, me!) to reach a wrong conclusion!

Like others have mentioned.

You don't need to do anything.
You pay council tax per property.

You are clear. Don't worry.

Thanks again.Could I please ask another query.

Do you recommend me to write anything in the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION for my wife - because my name appears on all the councils and hence I was given Naturalisation. But, my wife's name doesnt appear on any of those corresponding bills (as you know I have not received any single person discount as well).

Or - just declare all the address and dont write anything in the additional information for my wife when I make her application as spouse of BC?

Please advise.

Sorry, I thought you said you were claiming a discount.

You don't need to mention anything, just write your last 5 years of addresses.

If it helps, I've never had a council tax bill in my name and have therefore never paid council tax and my application was successful. This is the same situation your wife is in.

Thanks a lot all your enthusiastic and supporting feedback.