Scottish Council Tax?

Does anyone have any knowledge about Scottish Council Tax? My hubby and I  have found loads of 'legislation' which leads me to believe that I am exempt from paying the tax (due to my status as a migrant to the UK, a spouse of a citizen/full-time student, and having 'no recourse to public funds' on my visa). However, we keep getting bills in the mail. We have called and spoken with 2 people who have said I am exempt, but when we continued to recieve bills, we called yet again. The third time, we were told we do owe the money. We've researched and emailed (as we were told to do) in contest of the fees - stating the legislation and how I fall into the categories of 'exempt.' We have not heard back from them. I've read in several places about people in my position who were told the same thing, and to not pay - just be persistent about it until a conclusion can be made. I don't want to pay it if we're not due to, but I also don't want to keep defaulting on the payment if we will inevitably owe it anyways. Thoughts?

Immigrants still have to pay council tax unless they are full-time students. If you are not a student but your husband is, you get a 25% discount on your council tax, but no full exemption. Having no recourse to public funds means you can't claim council tax benefit, not that you don't have to pay it.

Yes, your husband is the one who gets a discount due to his full-time student status, not you. You owe the tax.

......so, none of this matters:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1198171

On page 9 of the document, it states "You will not be counted (to pay council tax) if you are the spouse, civil partner or dependant of a student, are not a British Citizen, and are prevented by the terms of your permission to be in the UK either from taking paid employment OR from claiming benefits."

-->While I am capable of attaining paid employment, I am not able to claim benefits, and thus as the spouse of a student, and not a British Citizen, should I not be exempt from paying council tax as I meet all the aforementioned criteria?

Additionally, see: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/files/pdf/info_sheets/council_tax_print.pdf

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

The dwelling should still be exempt if your spouse, civil partner or dependant is not a British citizen, and has been given permission to be in the UK (given ‘leave to enter’ or ‘leave to remain’) with a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition or a prohibition on employment endorsed in their passport, or on their UK
identity card ('Biometric Residence Permit' or 'Identity Card for Foreign Nationals'). This covers almost all  spouses, civil partners and dependants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland who come to join an international student in the UK. The UK government's Department of Communities
and Local Government publication, "Council Tax: A guide to your bill", sets out the entitlement to exemption in the section on page 9 which refers to full-time students.


Some local authorities refuse to recognise that a dependant who has permission to work in the UK but has a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition is exempt from Council Tax. This generally happens because while the law says that the concession is for a dependant who is prevented from taking paid employment
or from claiming public funds, the local authority may interpret the word "or" to mean "and" rather than "either .. or..."..

--> I'm certainly not trying to be combative here, but really do wish to make sure we either do or don't owe this money according to the documents we've found online.

Thoughts still the same? Thanks for your time and effort in helping me to understand this!

Hmm, I have never seen either of those documents before, so I will retract my comment until someone else comes along to respond!

I believe that those documents are not relevant to you because you are in Scotland and this is a devolved matter. On the Scottish government website that exemption is not listed (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1070/0100563.pdf). Unfortunately UKCISA doesn't seem to recognise the differences.

I must say I'm very surprised that this exemption exists anywhere though. It seems to go against the current government's ideals and it certainly has never come up on here as an immigration question; the maintenance calculations always assume council tax needs to be paid, even if the sponsoring spouse is a student. Weird.

Okay, thank you very much for the advice!!

I know I wrote this a while ago, but we finally head back from the council & it turns out we are NOT due the money!! What a huge relief for us! Because the only other person in our household is my husband, who is a student, combined with the fact that I am here on a visa with no rights to public funds, we will not be due any council tax until after my husband graduates. This is only about a year away, but this makes us happy for now! 

I'm in England but the rules in this respect are identical or nearly so, and I wish I'd taken the time earlier to look into some of the details around partners of students. My wife has been a student for the past 2.5 years and I am on a Tier 2 visa. I had originally read the rules to mean that the partner of the student is exempt from council tax only if they have BOTH no recourse to public funds AND no entitlement to work, rather than just one of those. We've got a 25% discount because she's a student, but we've still paid a few thousand pounds in council tax when we shouldn't have done.

So I have just applied to our council for an exemption backdated the past 2.5 years. I fully expect it to be rejected on the grounds of timeliness, but you never know!

Oh wow, I can imagine how much that hurts!! I would think that they would reimburse you the money, but I would expect them to take their pretty little time. As with everything, they're always quick to take your money, never quick to give it back!

When we did our research, the biggest issue we found other people had with the council was the difference between AND and OR. The law states that you are exempt (with regards to  being a foreign spouse to a full-time student) if you are not working OR have no recourse to public funds. They initially tried to just give us the 25% off and tell us to go away, but we persisted, and after about 1.5 months, we finally heard back and got a pretty bill for 0 pounds due. We read many stories of people in our shoes who were being made to pay the money until they persisted and persisted. I would advise you and your wife to do the same! It pays to know your rights

Thanks for your support! I'm still awaiting the reply from our council, but I think the most likely result is that they'll grant us the full exemption going forward, but not refund all the tax we've paid so far. We'll push for it though!

Keep us posted on how it goes politicfool!

I have an update. I received an amended bill from Cambridge council for the financial year that starts in April, and it shows we're exempt from tax for the upcoming year and also that we're in credit by an amount equal to all the tax we've paid since we've lived here. This took a little over a month from the date when I applied for the exemption. I was very surprised (but pleased!) that they handled it without any fuss. So now I just need to contact the council to arrange a refund.

Most sincere thanks to the OP for highlighting this aspect of the council tax rules and saving us a very substantial amount of money. If you and/or your husband are ever down in Cambridge I would be delighted to get you both a round of drinks at my local.

Wow! Result! I am definitely going to pursue this with my council. Thanks for posting your good news!

Wow! Result! I am definitely going to pursue this with my council. Thanks for posting your good news!

Definitely do and let us know! Also, I should mention it was super easy in my case. My council's exempt property form is a single page and it mainly just wants to know where you live and what class of exemption you are requesting and why. There's no need for any fancy cover letters or sob stories. In terms of supporting documentation all I sent was a photocopy of my visa and my wife's student certificate which she got from her university for this purpose.