Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1996/1880 |
| Year | 1996 |
1996 No. 1880
CONTRACTING OUT
The Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996
Made 17th July 1996
Coming into force 18th July 1996
The Secretary of State for the Environment, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 70(2) and (4) and 77(1) of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 16 to, the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 19941, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, after consultation with the representatives of local government appearing to them to be appropriate, hereby make the following Order, a draft of which has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:
PART I
GENERAL
Title, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Tax Billing, Collection and Enforcement Functions) Order 1996 and shall come into force on the day immediately following the day on which it is made.
(2) In this Order, “contractor” means any person to whom an authorisation is given by virtue of Part II, Part IV or Part VI of this Order, and includes the employees of that person.
PART II
COUNCIL TAX: CONTRACTING OUT
Interpretation of Part
2.—(1) In Parts II and III of this Order—
“the Act” means the Local Government Finance Act 19922;
“authority” means a local authority which is a billing authority for the purposes of Part I of the Act;
“the Regulations” means the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 19923, and any reference to a regulation is to be construed as a reference to a regulation of those regulations; and
“the Schedule” means Schedule 1 to the Regulations.
(2) Subject to any provision to the contrary made in this Order—
(a)
(a) the expressions “chargeable amount”, “demand notice”, “joint taxpayers”, “liable person” and “Part II scheme” have the same meanings in Parts II and III of this Order as in Part V of the Regulations;
(b)
(b) the expressions “debtor” and “liability order” have the same meanings in Parts II and III of this Order as in Part IV of the Regulations; and
(c)
(c) any other expressions used in Part II or Part III of this Order which are also used in the Regulations have the same meaning as they have in the Regulations.
Functions of local authorities
3. The functions of an authority conferred by or under the Act and the Regulations in relation to the administration and enforcement of council tax may, to the extent provided for in this Part and subject to the provisions of Part VIII and article 73 of this Order, be exercised by, or by the employees of, such person (if any) as may be authorised to exercise them by the authority whose functions they are.
Notices
4. Where under an authorisation given by virtue of this Part a contractor is authorised to serve any notice which is required or authorised by the Regulations to be served on any person, the contractor may also be authorised—
(a) subject to articles 64, 65 and 66, to determine the form and the manner of service of the notice in question;
(b) to determine any period which is required or authorised by the Regulations to be specified in the notice; and
(c) where the notice requires the person on whom the notice is served to make a payment, to accept any amount paid in compliance with the notice.
Information about properties
5.—(1) In this article, “listing officer” means the person appointed for an authority in accordance with section 20 of the Act (listing officers).
(2) An authority may authorise a contractor to exercise the functions of—
(a)
(a) supplying any information which relates to property and is requested in a notice served under section 27(1) of the Act (information about properties); and
(b)
(b) determining whether, in the course of the exercise of any functions of the authority, any information coming to the notice of the contractor would assist a listing officer in carrying out any of his functions, and supplying such information to the listing officer in compliance with section 27(6) of the Act.
Information from residents, etc.
6. An authority may authorise a contractor to exercise the functions of—
(a) requesting the person who appears to be the resident, owner or managing agent of a particular dwelling to supply information for the purposes of identifying the person who is liable to pay council tax in relation to the dwelling;
(b) specifying in the request the form in which the information is to be supplied; and
(c) identifying the person who is, or is in its opinion, liable (whether solely or jointly and severally) to pay council tax in relation to the dwelling.
Information from public bodies
7. For the purpose of carrying out its functions under Part I of the Act (Council Tax: England and Wales), an authority may authorise a contractor to request any public body or public officer mentioned in regulation 4 to supply information in accordance with that regulation.
Inquiries as to dwellings
8. An authority may authorise a contractor as regards each financial year commencing with the financial year beginning on 1st April 1993, to take such steps as the contractor considers reasonable to ascertain whether any dwellings in the authority’s area will be or were exempt dwellings for any period during the year.
Assumptions as to dwellings
9. An authority may authorise a contractor who is authorised to take such steps as are mentioned in article 8 to exercise the functions of—
(a) determining whether there is reason to believe that a particular dwelling will be or was an exempt dwelling for any period in a financial year; and
(b) making the assumption that the dwelling will be or was either a chargeable dwelling or an exempt dwelling for the period in question.
Notification of assumption and billing particulars
10. An authority may authorise a contractor to exercise the functions—
(a) of giving notice of an assumption made as mentioned in article 9(b);
(b) of preparing and supplying with such notice a statement of the matters specified in regulation 10(3); and
(c) for the purpose of such statement, of making the assumption mentioned in regulation 10(4).
Information relating to exempt dwellings, etc.
11.—(1) An authority may authorise a contractor to exercise the function of requesting the person who appears to be the resident, owner or managing agent of a particular dwelling to—
(a)
(a) supply information for the purposes of identifying the person who, in respect of any period specified in the notice, is or will be liable to pay council tax in relation to the dwelling, or would be so liable if the dwelling were not or had not been an exempt dwelling; and
(b)
(b) supply the information in any form specified in the request.
Ascertaining entitlement to discounts
12.—(1) In this article and in article 13, the expression “chargeable amount” has the same meaning as in Part IV of the Regulations.
(2) An authority may authorise a contractor for the purposes of calculating the chargeable amount in respect of any dwelling in the authority’s area to—
(a)
(a) take such steps as the contractor considers reasonable to ascertain whether that amount is subject to any discount under section 11 of the Act (discounts) or, in the case of a dwelling in Wales, that section or section 12 of the Act (discounts: special provision for Wales), and if so, the amount of that discount;
(b)
(b) determine whether there is reason to believe that the chargeable amount in respect of a dwelling for the financial year in question is subject to a discount; and
(c)
(c) make the assumption that the chargeable amount either is or is not subject to a discount.
Ascertaining entitlement to reduced amounts
13. An authority may authorise a contractor for the purposes of calculating the chargeable amount in respect of any dwelling in the authority’s area to—
(a) serve a notice on any person requesting information for the purpose of considering whether, by virtue of regulations under section 13 of the Act (reduced amounts), the person on whom the notice is served is liable to pay an amount in respect of council tax which is less than the amount it would be apart from those regulations; and
(b) where information is supplied in response to such a notice, determine the amount, if any, by which the liability in respect of council tax of the person concerned is less than the amount it would be apart from those regulations.
Demand notices and council tax payments
14.—(1) In this article—
(a)
(a) the expression “aggregate amount” has the same meaning as in Parts I and II of the Schedule; and
(b)
(b) “liable person” means a person who is, or in the opinion of the authority or a contractor will be, solely liable to pay to the authority an amount in respect of council tax in respect of a particular dwelling and a day.
(2) For the purposes of Part V of the Regulations, an authority may authorise a contractor to identify the liable person or the joint taxpayers with respect to any dwelling and any day.
(3) An authority may authorise a contractor to prepare and serve demand notices and any notices required to be served under paragraph 9(6) of the Schedule, and where appropriate for these purposes to exercise the functions—
(a)
(a) of estimating the chargeable amount on the assumptions referred to in regulation 20(3), and determine the amount, if any, by which that estimated amount...
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