Part 2 – Council Tax
Section 16 – Overview of Part 2
83.This section provides an overview of the sections in Part 2.
Section 17 – Calculation of tax for different valuation bands
84.This section amends section 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“
85.Before the amendment, the meaning of the letter “D” in both formulae is fixed as the proportion for Band D.
86.After the amendment, new subsection (4B) gives the Welsh Ministers a power to change the valuation band referred to in the meaning given to “D” by sections 36 and 47. New subsection (4B) also restates, for the Welsh Ministers, the existing powers under subsection (4) to substitute another proportion in relation subsection (1A), and to other valuation bands in relation to subsection (3) (which contains the list of valuation bands for dwellings in Wales). And new subsection (4C) repeats, for new subsection (4B), the equivalent clarification, in respect of subsection (4)(b), in subsection (4A).
Section 18 – Discounts
87.This section disapplies existing provisions in the 1992 Act about discounts from council tax in relation to chargeable dwellings in Wales and inserts new provision about such discounts that are applicable in relation to Wales only.
88.Sections 6 and 9 of the 1992 Act contain provision about liability to council tax in different circumstances. Section 18(2) and (3) amend these sections in so far as they provide for certain persons to be disregarded for the purposes of establishing liability where those persons would otherwise be joint and severally liable. Under sections 6 and 9 as they are amended by section 18(2) and (3), persons will be disregarded for these purposes if they are disregarded for the purposes of a discount in relation to a dwelling in Wales under new section 11E(5) (see below) and are of a description prescribed by the Welsh Ministers in regulations. Section 11 of the 1992 Act provides for nationally set council tax discounts. Section 18(4) amends section 11 of the 1992 Act so that it continues to apply only in relation to England and section 18(5) inserts new section 11E which makes provision in relation to discounts in relation to Wales.
89.Section 11E(1) provides powers for the Welsh Ministers to prescribe by regulations the amount of a discount to which a chargeable dwelling may be subject (or the method for calculating that amount) where either the criteria set out in section 11E(2), or such other criteria as may be prescribed by regulations under section 11E(3), are met in respect of that dwelling. Section 11E(4) clarifies that regulations under section 11E(1) may prescribe a different amount of discount (or different provision for calculating an amount of discount) in relation to different criteria. It also confers on the Welsh Ministers a power to make provision about the amount of council tax payable in respect of a dwelling in respect of which more than one discount applies.
90.The criteria set out in section 11E(2)(a) are equivalent to those set out in section 11(1) and (2)(b) of the 1992 Act but section 11E(2)(b) enables the Welsh Ministers to provide by regulations for other conditions or criteria that must be met for the amount of council tax payable on a chargeable dwelling to be subject to a discount under section 11E(1). Section 11E(6) provides that these conditions or criteria, and also any that are prescribed under section 11E(3), may prescribed by reference to:
the type or physical characteristics of, or other matters relating to, dwellings;
the circumstances of, or other matters relating to, any person who is liable to the amount of council tax concerned.
91.Section 11E(5) confers a power on the Welsh Ministers to prescribe by regulations who is disregarded for the purposes of the discounts stated in section 11E(2) of the 1992 Act. This power replaces the power in section 11(5) of the 1992 Act which will continue to apply in relation to England only.
92.Section 18(5) also inserts new section 11F into the 1992 Act. This replaces section 12 of the 1992 Act which is omitted by section 18(6). Under section 11F(1) and (3), the Welsh Ministers may, in respect of a financial year, prescribe classes of dwelling to which a discount under section 11E applies by reference to:
the type or physical characteristics of, or other matters relating to, dwellings;
the circumstances of, or other matters relating to, any person who is liable to the amount of council tax concerned.
93.Under section 11F(2), for any financial year in respect of which such a class of dwellings is prescribed, a billing authority may determine to disapply or reduce the discount in question in relation to dwellings in its area (or such part of its area as the authority may specify).
94.Section 11F(4) to (7) make supplementary provision including a requirement that any determination made by an authority under this section is published electronically.
95.Sections 12A and section 12B of the 1992 Act provide billing authorities with discretionary powers to charge higher amounts of council tax to long term empty dwellings and dwelling periodically occupied respectively.
96.Section 18(7) amends section 12A of the 1992 Act, which makes provision for billing authorities to determine that the amount of council tax payable is increased by a percentage of up to 300. As amended, section 12A will no longer require the billing authority to disapply the no-resident discount as the flip side of the billing authority determining to increase council tax under section 12A (because the no-resident discount is repealed for Wales). Instead, section 12A is amended so that the authority must calculate the amount of council tax payable by, first, adding the percentage increase and then subtracting any discount that applies (see section 12A(1)). A discount will apply for these purposes if it has been prescribed by the Welsh Ministers in regulations made in accordance with section 11E(3) and has not been disapplied by the billing authority under section 11F(2)(a). The amount of the discount that the billing authority subtracts will be the amount of discount as prescribed by the Welsh Ministers in regulations made under section 11E(1) or, if less, as determined by the billing authority under section 11F(2)(b). Section 18(8) makes the same amendment to section 12B of the 1992 Act in relation to properties that are periodically occupied.
97.Subsections (9) to (11) make consequential amendments to other provisions in the 1992 Act.
Section 19 – Reduced amounts
98.Section 19(2) of the Act amends section 13 of the 1992 Act by changing the Welsh Ministers’ power to make regulations which prescribe the conditions and circumstances in which a person is eligible for a council tax reduction in to a duty to make such regulations.
99.Section 19 also removes the Welsh Ministers’ power to make regulations under section 13A of the 1992 Act requiring that billing authorities make a council tax reduction scheme, and makes various consequential amendments – including the omission of Schedule 1B to the 1992 Act, which made further provision in relation to council tax reduction schemes pursuant to regulations under section 13A.
100.Section 19(6) amends section 66(2) of the 1992 Act, which lists matters within that Act that cannot be questioned except by judicial review, by adding to this list matters contained in regulations made under section 13.
Section 20 – Procedure for the compilation of valuation lists
101.This section makes provision for new council tax valuation lists to be compiled every five years, beginning in 2028, by amending section 22B of the 1992 Act.
102.Before the amendment, the Welsh Ministers may specify, by order, the year in which a new council tax valuation list is to be compiled. There is no requirement for a new list to be compiled at regular intervals.
103.Section 22B(3) of the 1992 Act is amended so that the Welsh Ministers can only exercise their order-making power to specify a year no later than 2027. Section 20(1)(b) of the Act inserts new subsections (3A) to (3C) into section 22B. These set out the new arrangements for the compilation of council tax valuation lists after 2029:
section 22B(3A) provides that a listing officer for a billing authority in Wales must compile a new list on 1 April in the revaluation year;
section 22B(3B) sets the revaluation year as 2028 and every fifth year afterwards;
section 22B(3C) confers on the Welsh Ministers a power by order to amend a revaluation year, or the interval between valuation years.
104.Section 20(1)(d) of the Act inserts subsection (7A) into section 22B of the 1992 Act. This enables the Welsh Ministers to specify, in an order, the date by which listing officers must send a copy of the proposed valuation list to their billing authorities. If the Welsh Ministers do not make such an order, the deadline will be the 1 September before the date on which the list is to be compiled.
105.Section 20(1)(e), (f) and (g) change the system of depositing valuation lists in Wales, for future lists, by disapplying section 22B(10) of the 1992 Act and inserting new subsections (8) and (10A). After the amendment, a billing authority in Wales must:
keep, electronically, a copy of a list proposed by a valuation officer and take steps to give notice of it;
deposit, at its principal office, a copy of a list compiled under section 22B(3);
keep, electronically, a copy of a list compiled under section 22B(3A).
106.Subsection (10) of section 22B of the 1992 Act continues to have effect after the amendment in relation to any Welsh list deposited before section 19 comes into force (because of sections 34 and 37 of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019). This means that references to ‘a list deposited under subsection (10)’ that appear elsewhere in the 1992 Act (for example, in section 24(9)) continue to include Welsh lists previously deposited under that subsection.
