Council Tax Benefit- Dependent Tier1(General)

[velukurthi]

Hi

I am on Tier1 General visa and will be applying for ILR in May. My wife is on Tier1 general dependent Visa and she is a full time student and we both live together in the same flat.

As she is a full time student she had applied for Council Tax exemption which was accepted by the council and we do not pay any Council Tax.

She is claiming the Council tax benefit, will this fall under public funds ?
secondly she did not declare with council that i am living with her, does Home office check if i had been paying council tax ?

Is it a matter of concern ? if so how to rectifty this?

Please advice me.

Thank you

Velukurthi

[z18runway]

This might help you


Do you mean student discount or exemption ?

I think you are not entitled to get council tax benefit.

[velukurthi]

Hi z18runway,

Thank you for the reply, I am not sure in my wife's case if this is allowed. My wife is on Tier1- General dependent Visa.

As she dont need a student visa for taking any course in university. She joined a fulltime course in university and applied for student council tax exemption and this had been accepted by council.

But what confusing me is her visa is not Student visa but she is still considered as a international student and on the grounds of Student she got 100% council tax exempted.

Does the above student council tax exemption is considered as Council tax Benefit ? Again her visa is Tier1 -Dependent Visa.

Experts and senior members please Advice.

Thank you
Velukurthi

[z18runway]

Does the above student council tax exemption is considered as Council tax Benefit ?

no


she should have included your name on the exemption form and should have left it for council to decide whether to give exemption for spouse or not.

[velukurthi]

Council will never give anything for free. But i want to include myself on the council tax and will only pay for myself And my wife continue remain on Student Council tax Exemption.

Once again thank you for your response.

Velukurthi

[z18runway]

Council will never give anything for free.

No, they do give exemptions for spouse as well, I have read many articles regarding this and different councils have different policy and its all about argument and citing the law.

There is a reason to add your name, If you apply for housing benefit, the HB application form asks how long the spouse lived in this country, if less than 5 years please give date entered UK, but you might have entered UK before that, just because your name wasn't included on the council tax exemption form there you might have conflict.

[jeyanthzj]

Council will never give anything for free.

I agree with z18runway. You are entitled for a full council tax exemption.
I am in the same situation as yours. I am on Tier 1 general and wife on dependent visa but is a full time student. Council has give us full council tax exemption based on the following rules.
See 10.a.(ii) in http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997 ... ph/10/made

Also see this high court judgement about no recourse to public funds but in employment
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Adm ... /1200.html

It does not matter what visa your wife is on, the only thing that matters is that she is a full time student and you are her spouse who is not a British national nor settled and that you have no recourse to public funds OR not permitted to work.

So it is perfectly acceptable that you get a full exemption for you and your wife.

[velukurthi]

Hi z18runway & jeyanthzj,

Thank you for your valuable replies, in the current situation i hope i am not going against the immigration rule and claiming Student council tax.

When i fill the ILR application do i have to declare as my wife is claiming student council tax exemption?

Thank you

Velukurthi

[z18runway]

Hi z18runway & jeyanthzj,

Thank you for your valuable replies, in the current situation i hope i am not going against the immigration rule and claiming Student council tax.

When i fill the ILR application do i have to declare as my wife is claiming student council tax exemption?

Thank you

Velukurthi

To my understanding

council tax benefit and council tax discount/exemption are similar but different.

Council tax benefit:

Visa nationals having leave to remain are not entitled for council tax benefit as they are considered as public funds.

Council tax exemption/discount:

any one can apply if the dwelling is occupied by full time students and more ( get more info from your council website)

[z18runway]

When i fill the ILR application do i have to declare as my wife is claiming student council tax exemption?

There is no such declaration or question on SET(0) form, As per my knowledge there is a question of council tax benefit, but you are not claiming that, so you don't need to worry about

[jeyanthzj]

When i fill the ILR application do i have to declare as my wife is claiming student council tax exemption?

No. You only need to declare any council tax benefit and other benefits classified as public funds. Student council tax exemption is not a benefit.
See the below link for more info
http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/info_s ... nts_spouse

[velukurthi]

Hello All,

I really appereciate all your replies this had given me enough information

Thank you very much.

Velukurthi