Commentary on Sections Schedule7: Minor and Consequential amendments Section 76: Billing authority’s power to reduce amount of tax payable
150.Under the LGFA 1992, dwellings may be exempt from council tax if they fall within one of the exempt dwelling classes set out in an order made under section 4 of that Act (S.I. 1992/558). The amount of council tax payable may be subject to a discount under section 11 (where there is one or no resident, or all, or all but one of, the residents fall to be disregarded), or in Wales, under section 11 to the extent that the authority has not exercised the discretion under section 12 to reduce the discount. Finally, the amount may be reduced through the effect of regulations made under section 13 of the LGFA 1992, e.g. where it is occupied by a disabled person: see the Council Tax (Reductions for Disabilities) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/554). All of these exemptions, discounts and reductions are prescribed in orders or regulations made by the Secretary of State, or in Wales, the National Assembly for Wales.
151.Billing authorities do not, at present, have a discretion to grant further discounts and exemptions, or to remit or waive council tax on hardship grounds. Authorities do not have the power to respond to hard cases which do not fall within any of the centrally prescribed categories.
152.Section 76 inserts a new section 13A into the LGFA 1992 which will give billing authorities in England and Wales a broad discretion to reduce the amount of council tax payable as respects a dwelling, to such extent as they think fit. Subsection (2) of the new section 13A provides that this may include reducing the amount payable in respect of a day to nil.
153.Authorities may exercise this power in individual cases (e.g. individual hardship, in cases where the taxpayer is not eligible for council tax benefit, for example, where the dwelling is not their sole or main residence). Or they may determine classes of case in which liability is to be reduced (i.e. the equivalent of authorities determining exempt dwellings classes, or reductions in circumstances other than those prescribed in regulations under section 13 of the LGFA 1992).