another council tax question

Hello! I've been in London (I'm American) for about 3 months on a tourist visa, staying
with my boyfriend who I just married (yes I'm leaving soon to get the
student dependent visa). He is council tax
exempt, as he is a full time student. We just moved into a flat and put my
name on the lease and just got the council tax bill. My partner is confident
that we won't have to pay council tax (as I said he's a full time student and I
really have no status at all). I've been careful not to do anything illegal but
I am wondering about this- I'm just hanging around on his little salary. Once I
move here I'll be entitled to work, but even then will I have to pay the
50 percent of council tax when I have "no recourse to public funds"? I'm not
married to a Brit (my husband is Russian) and will have few rights other than to work
and receive emergency medical treatment, I think.

Unless you are both full-time students, you still have to pay your portion of council tax.  Your bf is exempt because he's a student, you are not.  If your name is on the lease, you are liable to pay your portion of the council tax. 

Unless you are both full-time students, you still have to pay your portion of council tax.  Your bf is exempt because he's a student, you are not.  If your name is on the lease, you are liable to pay your portion of the council tax. 

Even if your name isn't on the lease, you'll still need to pay council tax.  The only way you'd be exempt from paying would be if you were a full-time student (or on benefits, etc., which I assume you're not..since you're not allowed!).  When I moved over after we got married, DH had to report my presence in the flat to the council (thus losing his 25% single person's discount).  My name wasn't added to the lease until we renewed it several months later.

Actually, I was looking into this before, and I'm pretty sure I read that if you are a 'foreign visitor' you are exempt from council tax.  I'll try and see if I can find the link for you....

Once you are a student dependent, I think you probably will have to pay.

I found the link:  http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/images/tax.pdf . 

Interestingly, it sounds as if you won't have to pay council tax as a dependent of someone holding a student visa.  According to the page given above:

"Students living only with their spouse or family
If the only non-student adult in your dwelling is your spouse (husband or wife) and/or an adult dependant, the dwelling may still be exempt.  It will still be exempt if the spouse or dependant is not a British citizen and has been admitted to the UK (given ‘leave to enter’ or ‘leave to remain’) with a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition or a prohibition on employment stamped in their passport. This will apply to almost all spouses and dependants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who come to join an international student in the UK.

If your non-student spouse or adult dependant who is living with you in the dwelling is a British citizen, EEA national or has ‘settled status’ (indefinite leave to enter or remain), the dwelling will not be exempt."

Thanks for the info.

Above is actually the EXACT question that I have....

I am a full-time postgraduate student in Glasgow, so I should therefore be exempt. My wife and I are living in a flat and I just recieved a council tax bill. If she is my dependant and not working, according to this document (http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/images/tax.pdf) we should be exempt from the council tax, correct?

If the only non-student adult in your dwelling is your
spouse (husband or wife) and/or an adult dependant, the
dwelling may still be exempt.

It will still be exempt if the spouse/civil partner or
dependant is not a British citizen and has been admitted to
the UK (given ‘leave to enter’ or ‘leave to remain’) with a
‘no recourse to public funds’ condition or a prohibition
on employment stamped in their passport. This will apply
to almost all spouses/civil partners and dependants from
outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who come to
join an international student in the UK.

I just wanted to be sure about this and find out if anyone had experience with this situation. If you could let me know, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

It does sound exactly like what you said - she should be exempt as the dependant of a full time registered student.  But as a post-graduate student make sure that you are able to fulfill the council's definition of a student that is exempt.

I'll tell you why.  I am here on a work permit.  My husband is a full time registered student in  Chicago, although he lives here with me as my dependant.  He is finishing his dissertation and doing research here as well at British Library, SOAS, etc.  Thus he is what you'd call post-graduate over here (grad student in the US).

We applied for a council tax exemption for him due to his being a full time student and (in essence) not being able to work.  Our council rejected the application, saying he did not fit their definition of a student, which was something about being registered for X number of hours at a recognized university, blah blah.  Basically what they were saying was he could get a job if he wanted to because he wasn't required to be in classes all day.

We appealed it, saying although he was not attending classes for X number of hours, he was still full time registered at a university and could not very well work a job when he was required to do research full time as part of his degree program.

To make a long story short, it worked and we got the exemption!     I was floored - given the British bureacracy's love of following rules to the letter with absolutely no room for bargaining - I couldn't believe they said ok to it!

ha....thanks for the reply

I should have no issues with the requirements, as I am in class all day every day! haha....

Did you go to the Council Tax Office to apply for the exemption or did you do it by mail?

We applied by mail...hope it works out for you!!