Purbeck Joins National Initiative To
Tackle Council Tax Discounts Fraud
Purbeck residents are being urged to tell the Council of
any change in circumstances that may affect their entitlement to a
council tax discount ahead of the Council taking part in a national
initiative by the Audit Commission to reduce fraud.
The Audit Commission has carried out a pilot
exercise to detect fraudulently claimed single person discounts for
council tax through a sophisticated data matching exercise and have
so far identified savings of £1.4 million.
Following the success of the pilot exercise
this initiative is now being extended to other local authorities
including Purbeck District Council with information being collected
from October onwards.
Councillor Bill Trite, Leader of Purbeck
District Council said: “"We take the problem of fraud extremely
seriously because it is other Council Tax payers who suffer as a
result of it. Consequently we strongly support this national
initiative. Exercises like this help to ensure that everyone pays
the correct amount of Council Tax, so it will help us to prevent
the law-abiding majority of taxpayers being exploited. If you're
one of the exploiters the message is this: tell the Council now if
you want to avoid being found out."
Anyone who is found to be falsely claiming a
discount as a result of the Audit Commission exercise faces the
prospect of a fine in addition to any backdated charge.
Contact
Those needing to declare a change in their
circumstances to the Council should immediately contact the
Revenues Office on 01929 557244 or 01929 557248.
Links:
Visit the Council Tax pages of the
website for more information.