The Council Tax (Transitional Reduction Scheme) (Scotland) Regulations 1993

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide for the reduction in certain cases of the amount that a person is liable to pay to a levying authority in Scotland by way of council tax. They have effect in relation to the financial year beginning on 1st April 1993 (regulation 3).

The amount that a person is liable to pay will be calculated in accordance with Part II of the Regulations for any day as regards which his liability relates to a dwelling which is on that day the sole or main residence of an individual, provided that someone was also solely or mainly resident in the dwelling on 31st March 1993 and the dwelling was not an exempt dwelling on 1st April 1993 (regulation 4).

Broadly, the amount of the reduction allowed under the Regulations will be the amount by which the scheme council tax for the dwelling in question exceeds the sum of the personal community charges which would have been payable for 1992-93 by persons resident in that dwelling on 31st March 1993 if the circumstances on that day had persisted throughout the preceding year and a prescribed amount which varies according to the valuation band applicable to the dwelling in question (regulation 5).

The scheme council tax for a dwelling in the area of an islands council is the council’s applicable council tax for the relevant valuation band. In any other area it is the sum of the appropriate district and regional councils' applicable council taxes for the relevant valuation band. The applicable council tax is the lower of a council’s actual council tax and the product of a formula prescribed in the Regulations (regulation 2 and the Schedule).

Part III of the Regulations provides for appeals in connection with the Regulations to be considered by a review board of the levying authority rather than a valuation appeal committee. Regulations 7 and 8 relate to the appeal procedure.