South Lanarkshire Council to tackle £12m-a-year tax fraud

Nov 3 2011 Hamilton Advertiser

SOUTH Lanarkshire Council are set to crack down on tax cheats said to be costing them £12million a year.

The authority are to conduct a review of residents who claim Single Persons Discount (SPD) on their council tax.

It entitles householders living alone to a 25 per cent discount under the council scheme.

Households with only one working adult are also eligible for the council tax discount.

Those not counted when calculating the number of people living in a home include students, student nurses, apprentices, Youth Training trainees and people such as those who are severely mentally impaired or living in residential care.

However, the council believe many of the 55,000 homes are wrongly claiming this discount, which costs the authority some £12m annually.

This equates to almost £220 per household.

The council will be working in conjunction with their software supplier, Northgate Information Systems.

Officials insist they will only investigate cases where there is an indication the discount may not be warranted.

In these cases, the council will write to residents asking them to complete a new form and verify the information they have submitted.

They expect to write to around 11,000, a fifth of all those claiming the discount in South Lanarkshire.

Council Leader Eddie McAvoy said: “We believe there are quite a number of people who do not declare that a second person is living in the house.

“People who live themselves and abide by the rules have nothing to fear under these proposals.

“The only people who should be worried are those who are claiming a council tax rebate when they shouldn't be.”

He added there were a number of ways they were able to snare tax cheats.

“If someone gets a repair done at their property they quite often say they won't be in but their wife or partner will be, and that naturally sets alarm bells ringing,” he added.

“People often put two names on the electoral register and we work quite closely with tax officers to cross-check income tax being paid from a bank account in the name of someone who shouldn't be living at a property.

“Some people also get a pension or social security paid to an address.

“There are a number of things that can trigger an investigation and we will be taking all steps.”