Council tax benefit claim question

[dollparts]

I am in the process of applying for council tax benefit as my income gone down a fair bit recently. I'm self employed. I have received a declaration which I need to send back together with documentaion they have asked to see; proof of id, address and so on.
They have also asked for my accounts for the last financial year which is fine except that they are saying that they need to be certified by an accountant
I have always completed my own tax return as I'm a simple one man band and have never earned a great deal from my business. Does anyone know if they will accept this or refuse my claim because I can't provide them with what they need?

Anyone in the know with this one?

we made application for CT benefits, too for the same reason: DH and I both self employed and things are dire at the moment.

neither of us needed to have the accounts certified. we only had to submit bank statements. DH's business has only been going since July 2008 so he has yet to have accounts drawn up in any event. I am a childminder and the council has certain rulings for CMs to make it a bit easier.

call the council and talk to someone to explain your situation. ask to speak to a manager. while i found everyone at our council to be very helpful, it was clear that some of the employees did not know very much about the process at all. i was also given incorrect information sometimes.

good luck. gettinge these benefits has helped us enormously.

Thanks for that, I must say the criteria seems to vary each time I call them and they never seem to be bothered one way or the other whether I am clear on what is being asked of me.

I must say I never knew what to expect as this would be the first time I have ever made a claim but I was surprised at the amount of proof/documentation they need to see.

It is fine to just submit a statement of your income and expenditure for the last 12 months, even if it hasn't been certified by an accountant. They may review your claim every 3 to 6 months though, so be prepared to have to submit more evidence every so often ( this is normal with self employed claimants).