to feel insulted by this letter from the council and to go and "speak" to them about it?

[mateysmum]

OK Ladies, my first AIBU, but I have been stewing about this and want your wisdom please before I make an idiot of myself.
Background... I live in the UK with DS but DH lives and works abroad and has done for years. He is non resident for tax purposes and comes here every few weeks for a day or two. I am the sole owner of my home. Therefore I claim council tax allowance for a single person. I recently moved house and notified the council. On Sat I received a letter from them querying why if I am living singly am I paying council tax from a joint account. (never been queried at the old house). Then what got me going was the following questions:

1. What is your relationship to the joint bank account holder?
   
2. If this is a spouse are you still in a relationship and if not why do you continue to use a joint bank account?
   3)Where does the joint bank account holder live?
   
   Now I know that benefit fraud is common and that as a tax payer I should be grateful that the council are trying to stop people cheating the system, but I just found the whole tone insulting - especially ? 2. None of their business. It also asks me to reply straight away. If I wanted to cheat I could easily have paid from my personal account and no problems.
   
   So AIBU. Should I just meekly send a reply answering all their questions or do I politely let them know that their letter could be "improved"...
   
   TIA.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

What are your intentions towards him living in your home in the future?

Be careful that it can not be classed as a temp absence, it would be odd if they classed 10 years as temp but you never know.

[PollyEthelEileen]

Resident means being in the country for 183 days in a year.

There is also not-ordinarily resident and ordinarily resident, which I believe is based on being either in or out of the country for four years (or having the intention when you come through passport control).

Then there is domicile, which is usually your country of citizenship.

If a single person has house guests, they still get the council tax reduction, right. It sounds like her DH is a houseguest to me.

[CandyCrushed]

mateysmum. Oh, sorry I wasn't clear. It was just a few posters seed to be under the impression that where you pay tax is where you are resident when that isn't nessecerily the case.

We were expats in several countries for 16 years and became far too familiar with all the confusing and contradictory tax and residency laws in different countries.

We were in a similar situation in that we had no UK residence but were employed as ExPats 'from' the UK with our pensions etc being based here. It is a bit of a no mans land but I dont think it is that unusual these days.

[Lockedout434]

Goady by saying just pay full council tax.

From what the op has written her husband stays a couple of days every 2 weeks
This has now reduced to 25 days they have a joint bank account, they have a relationship.
She is not a single person with one income ( I have presumed that she has children, sorry for the asumptiion if that's not the case)
Her husband has use of the amenities in the house and surrounding area why on earth is stating that I think she should pay full wack out of the joint account goady. All this wheedling and dealing for about £250 which apparently she can easily afford from her personnel account.
What's the dig at specialist subject as well.

[mateysmum]

Sounds familiar Candy. There are all sorts of unexpected consequences from living abroad aren't there. Such as living in a country where there is no doorstep postal delivery, therefore no postcodes - which completely stumps any UK computer based systems "computer says NO". Makes internet shopping a nightmare!

[makemineamalibuandpineapple]

Assuming this isn't an April Fools, YABU. You are griping about being asked legitimate questions. Just answer the questions.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Locked goady by intentionally misrepresenting the rules and implying the op is doing something wrong.

It does not matter if you are single or not what matters is who is resident in your house.

You know there are 52 weeks in a year half of 52 is 26 that would be roughly a day or two every few weeks.

[mateysmum]

OK Locked out I will say it yet again. The fact that I am not a single person with one income is not relevant. Income and marital status have no impact whatsoever on entitlement to council tax discount. That is the legal position.

Weedling and dealing - er... I made a claim, the council sent me a letter to which I will reply honestly and in full. Not much weedling there.

Again you are assuming I can easily afford things from my personal account. Maybe I would need to set up a regular transfer from the joint to the individual account to be able to make the payments.

[Lockedout434]

But that is my main gripe it's semantics just because its it's not based on income doesn't mean that you should claim .

You have a joint income your husband does visit you he does make use if the amenities so its right that there should be some giving back.

At the most it's about what, £250 £300 quid. Unless you are in a higher band which leads me down a completely different path,

I am still smarting about the specialist subject though.

Which leads me on to the other specialism of mine ;) he may be ok for now with private medical care whilst employed but if he is non resident for over 4 years ( i think) that might bite him on the bum if he retired to uk and got sick. A good few expats I know got badly caught out on their return from Middle East (gulf war forced them home )

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Locked that is a risk he takes.

And one it sounds like nobody is complaining about, it sounds like both people in this set up are quite happy to take the disadvantages as well as the advantages that's exactly how it should be.

If your problem is the rule itself then complain about that,don't attack the op for following the rules especially when she's also following the ones that negatively impact on her. That's called being honest.

[EuroShaggleton]

matey I can see why the council wants to query it, as living as a single person and being married with a joint account are not common. The tone is quite accusatory, but I think that is standard.

I know of two married couples with similar arrangements though - one couple live in different counties in this country and another live in two different US states, both primarily for work reasons. They live completely separately and maintain two separate households.

[cumfy]

No, why would you feel insulted ?

[NadiaWadia]

I can't see why so many people are getting their knickers in a twist.

The OP's DH DOES NOT LIVE HERE. He lives, and pays taxes etc, in another country. Fair enough. So she should be able to claim the single person's discount. Otherwise you are saying that everytime a relative or friend comes to stay for a few days, our Council Tax bills should be adjusted.

It is quite an unusual situation though, so I think its understandable the council want to investigate. But when they get the info from HMRC I as sure they will back down.

[Pandemoniaa]

If you are entitled to the single occupancy discount you need to answer the council's questions honestly and take it from there. Don't get defensive about them investigating something that could come across as fraud.

[AmberLeaf]

Surely you can see why they are asking those questions though?

Paying from a joint account when claiming to live as a single person is a big red flag.

Joint accounts are usually used by married couples and married couples usually live together.

So if I were in your position, I wouldn't be surprised at that letter at all.

[mateysmum]

I do see why they are asking and tomorrow will write to them to explain and "prove" the situation. It was just the tone that got me. Just starting this thread has calmed me down!

[sleeton]

Just come upon this thread and was wondering mateysmum if your DH is on the Electoral Register in the UK and, if so, is this at your UK property or is he specifically registered as an Overseas Voter?
It may be that your local authority would look at what was considered to be your DH's country of Domicile, rather than his country of Residence (indeed you can be 'Resident' in more than one country at the same time).
In that case it may be that being 'resident/non-resident for tax purposes' will not supply all the 'evidence' you need. If he is registered as an Overseas Voter that might be helpful to you in presenting your circumstances to you LA.

[mateysmum]

He isn't on the UK register sleeton. Not sure re the overseas. The UK is still his country of domicile. You never know, but I'd be upset if the council have a stiffer test of residency than HMRC as council tax is principally for the use of local services and is dependent upon owning and/or living in a UK property. DH does neither.

I know you can be resident in more than 1 place at a time and indeed for one year this was the case (neither country was the UK), but currently it's only one.

I have drafted a letter to the council stating the facts, but not getting into any discussion and I will attach DH's foreign utility bills and his residency visa and see what they say.

[WafflyVersatile]

Is it only those frightfully common people they should check up on? If it's not ok to check up on your claim then why is it ok for them to check up on others claims?

[mateysmum]

Waffly please read the thread. I have said more than once that I don't mind being checked up on. It was the tone that got me.

And me...I'm as common as muck luv. Your class prejudice is showing

[WafflyVersatile]

It's the same tone and sorts of questions they would ask anyone else. You're no different from anyone else.

[round2]

This is a collection of a tax and therefore any questions that need to be asked will be. The Local Authority have a duty to ensure that discounts/exemptions are applied correctly.

As a married couple, you will not qualify for a single person discount, regardless of whether or not he lives/ works away. You choose to live separate. If he was not working abroad where would he be living?

[mateysmum]

Feel free to feel offended too waffly.

[houseworkhater]

I don't think your post is correct Round.

No expert but even so I think you are wrong.