Source: http://manuals.voa.gov.uk/corporate/publications/Manuals/CouncilTaxManual/council_tax_man_s3_England/c-ct-man-sect3-eng-pt2.html
Timestamp: 2017-06-23 08:41:18
Document Index: 772714975

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 2', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3']

c-ct-man-sect3-eng-pt2
Part 2: Invalid Proposals and Invalidity Appeals – England2.1 Introduction2.2 Recognising invalid proposals at point of receipt2.3 Initial Registration2.4 Serving Notice of Invalidity2.5 Appeal against Notice of Invalidity2.6 Original Proposal now considered valid 2.7 Examples of Changes to validity status - IT and VTE implications2.8 Activity Codes 2.9 Invalidity hearing at Valuation Tribunal2.10 Settlement by Valuation Tribunal England decision Part 2: Invalid Proposals and Invalidity Appeals – England
VO letters and forms which are not included as appendices are available as MS Word Templates Legislation for the application of Appeals Direct in England can be found in Statutory Instrument 2009 No 2269 The Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax & Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009 No 2269) and
Statutory Instruments 2009 No 2270 The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists & Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009 No 2270).2.1 Introduction
A decision on whether or not to serve a Notice of Invalidity must be made by the LO within 28 days of the receipt of the proposal form or of the letter purporting to be a proposal. Specific guidance is given in Section 3 part 1 and Appendices 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4.
iv) it is not made in any of the circumstances outlined in Reg 4 of the 2009 Regulations (2009 No. 2270) for England.
All invalid proposals need to have had a code of grounds allocated to them, and added in manuscript to the appeal form in accordance with Section 3 part 1.16.
It should be noted, in the context of time limits, that for a proposal as a 'new taxpayer' to be accepted as within time to be valid (i.e. 6 months from becoming the taxpayer), the clock starts ticking from the date they first became liable (solely, jointly etc.) to pay council tax in respect of that dwelling, which may be later than the date they acquired an interest in the property. Occasionally the two dates may not tally. Where this becomes a particular issue advice should be sought from the Head of CT Technical.
2.1.1 Following the VTE decision in Alexander VO v Imperial Tobacco, certain principles were accepted concerning determining invalidity, and all advice in this section is subject to these principles. In summary, defects in proposals will come within four categories and this will determine LO action as follows:
For more detail please see Appendix 3.3 to this section - Basic requirements for a valid proposal.2.2 Recognising invalid proposals at point of receipt
● The owner (if neither the taxpayer or occupier) providing he has a material interest in the dwelling AND at least part of the property is not subject to an inferior interest ie has not been let out and part is retained available for occupation. (See definition of owner in LGFA 1992 S.6(5)).
In accordance with Reg 5 (1) (d) (ii) of SI 2009 No 2270, the proposer must include a statement of the reasons they believe that a 'material reduction' has occurred. Where this involves a 'change in the physical state', that change must be identified. If that change is within the 'dwelling's locality' then the proposal is valid. Whether the change is band significant cannot often be determined at the point of receipt, but the fact that you don't think it has much affect at all on value is not a reason for challenging the proposal as invalid.
Every invalid proposal needs to be registered in the Council Tax application immediately following the decision on validity. Ensure that the case type (which defaults to ‘’P’’ in England) is overwritten with ’N’’ on each occasion. A working docket VO7456 should be requested on the day following registration and added to the originating proposal. Owing to the limitations of the application, it is not possible for this to be output on the same day as registration.
If Part D of VO7455 (Dwelling Details) has been completed, the opportunity should be taken to check the individual property details held against the address within Property Details, and to input/amend them as necessary.2.4 Serving Notice of Invalidity
When a LO considers that a proposal is invalid, a notice must be served on the proposer under Regulation 7(1) (England) within 28 calendar days stating:-
ii) the rights of the proposer, if he/she disagrees with the LO’s opinion.
When a proposal is input as invalid, an Invalidity Notice will be generated automatically within the Council Tax Application (CDB). The Invalidity Notice gives a formal decision on the validity of a proposal and sets out the rights to appeal the decision to VTE. 2.5 Appeal against Notice of Invalidity
Following the introduction of ‘’Appeals Direct ‘’ under Statutory Instrument 2009 No 2270 The Council Tax (Alteration of Lists & Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009, the proposer, should he/she decide to appeal, is required to make this appeal directly to the VTE within four weeks from the date of the LO‘s decision. 2.6 Original Proposal now considered valid Where the LO has reviewed their decision and considers that the original invalidity notice was incorrect, a fresh case for the valid proposal should be registered in accordance with Section 3, part 3. The date of the LO’s decision to treat it as valid should be input as the date of receipt. This will not affect the effective date of any alteration resulting from the appeal; this will still relate to the date the proposal was originally received. If a hardcopy register is maintained, it should be noted accordingly. Letter VO 7740 should be sent to the appellant to inform him/her that the Invalidity Notice has been withdrawn. This letter also provides the name of the caseworker. A copy should be kept with the papers and the whole cased up in accordance with Section 3 part 3. VO7740 is available from the Council Tax Appeals Direct Resource Kit
An acknowledgement letter VO7705 will be output automatically for the valid appeal. This is not required and should be destroyed; the acknowledgement is included in the VO7740. The working docket for the (now valid) appeal should be endorsed with the date of the VO7734 (letter to accompany Notice of Invalidity) as the date of acknowledgement. Where a proposal is treated initially as invalid and the proposer successfully appeals, the VTE notifies the VOA that the proposal should now be treated as valid. A fresh valid proposal case must be raised (with a new case number) with suitable case remarks and reference to the previous 'invalid' case number and VT decision, with the date of the decision being input as the date received. The working docket for the (now valid) appeal should be endorsed with the date of the original VO7734 as the date of acknowledgement.
2.7 Examples of Changes to validity status - IT and VTE implications
It is not possible to convert a valid proposal to an invalid proposal (or convert an invalid proposal to a valid proposal) within the current IT. Essentially the IT handles proposal cases in such a way that once the validity of the case has been set, it is not possible to change it. This has always been the case and has not changed due to the implementation of appeals direct.
The following examples set out what to do when the decision on validity is changed, and clarifies the 'date received' to be used.
Example 1: Invalidity change within 28 days
Proposal received and considered at first to be validly made but, within the 28 day period for issuing an invalidity notice, and prior to issuing the substantive decision notice, it is identified that the proposal should have been treated as invalid. The current 'valid' proposal must be cleared using code 13 (for the decision notice reason) with appropriate text entered along the lines of:
"this proposal was registered as valid, but is now considered to have been invalidly made"
On production of the decision notice, the notice should be shredded.
A fresh case must be raised but marked as invalid ('n') which will provide a new case number. The 'new' invalid proposal should be progressed in line with existing guidance on handling invalid proposals.
The correct date of receipt should be the date on which the proposal was first received.
Example 2 : Invalidity indentified after 28 days
Proposal received and considered at first to be validly made. After 28 days from the receipt of the proposal, and prior to issuing the substantive decision notice, it is identified that the proposal should have been treated as invalid. There is no provision for late service of an invalidity notice. The list entry should be reviewed and dealt with in the normal way (as a valid proposal) in the decision notice. Code 13 should be selected and the following statement should be included:
"Having reviewed your proposal I do not believe that it was made within one of the limited circumstances in which a proposal can be accepted as valid. As a consequence, if you appeal this decision notice to the Valuation Tribunal, I will initially ask the Tribunal to determine whether the proposal has been validly made. If the Valuation Tribunal agrees with me that your proposal been invalidly made, it will not be possible for other aspects of your case to be heard."
No further work is needed unless the taxpayer seeks to appeal the decision to the VT. Case remarks should be recorded on the 'valid' proposal case to the effect that the VOA contend the proposal is invalidly made.
If the taxpayer appeals to the VTE, they must be contacted and advised:
● why the proposal was considered to be invalidly made
● that at the VTE hearing, the validity will need to be determined first ● that if the VTE agree the proposal was invalid, no consideration will be given to the banding decision
At the hearing, the validity will be considered first. In the event that the VTE find it valid, under regulation 33 of the VTE 2009 procedure regs, the VTE must not proceed to consider value without agreement of all the parties. If the LO has not prepared a valuation defense case previously, the clerk should be informed of the LO’s objection to the case proceeding to valuation stage.
There is no need to raise an additional invalid case, because the validity issue will have already been determined at VT.
Example 3: ‘Invalid’ proposal now considered valid
A proposal is received which is considered to be invalid and the appropriate invalidity notice has been issued. After the issue of this invalidity notice, through discussion with the taxpayer, it is considered that the invalidity notice was incorrect, and the proposal should have been treated as validly made. No appeal has been made to the VT against the Invalidity Notice.
Advise the taxpayer that there is no need to appeal our invalidity notice to the VT because we now agree that the proposal should have been registered as valid. The invalidity decision notice should be withdrawn. The letter vo7740 (0508) should be utilised to confirm the withdrawal of the invalidity notice.
Raise a fresh valid proposal case. In case remarks reference must be made to the 'invalid' proposal case number and a brief note as to why validity decision changed.
The list entry is considered and the appropriate decision notice is then issued.
The correct date of receipt for the new valid proposal will be the date on which the invalidity notice was withdrawn. The decision notice to be issued on the new valid proposal, must be issued within 2 months from this date (internal target). Example 4: Invalid proposal made valid by VTE decision
An invalidity decision notice has been issued on an invalid proposal, and this decision notice has been appealed, by the taxpayer, to the VT. The appeal is given a full hearing by the VT who subsequently determine that the proposal had been validly made. A fresh valid proposal case must be raised (with a new case number) with suitable case remarks and reference to the previous 'invalid' case number and VT decision
The new valid proposal should be progressed in the same manner as existing guidance.
The correct date of receipt for the new valid proposal will be the date when the VT arrived at their decision. The decision notice to be issued on the new valid proposal, must be issued within 2 months from this date (internal target). 2.8 Activity Codes Under Appeals Direct, an Invalid Proposal no longer requires an activity code. 2.9 Invalidity hearing at Valuation Tribunal
‘VT Presentation for Invalidity Appeals’ (Appendix 3.9) has been designed to assist caseworkers prepare cases for invalidity hearings. The scenarios cover a range of invalidity possibilities, paragraphs, subject heads, and the relevant regulations are set out to cover the specific circumstances applicable to each case. Regulation 33 of the 2009 VTE procedure regs prohibits a VTE proceeding with the valuation hearing straight away without the agreement of all the parties.2.10 Settlement by Valuation Tribunal England decision When the VTE has issued its decision, the case should be cleared on the computer using settlement code 'I' or 'J' as appropriate.
When this decision is that the appeal is invalid, a review of the band should be carried out if this has not already taken place. If the review has already taken place, no further action need be undertaken. In both instances the papers should be kept with the LO Report.
When this decision is that the appeal is valid, a fresh case for a valid appeal should be created in accordance with Section 3 part 3, with the date of the decision being input as the date received. Letter VO7719 should be obtained from MS Word Template and issued instead of the automatically generated VO 7705; the latter should be destroyed. The working docket for the (now valid) appeal should be endorsed with the date of the original VO7734 as the date of acknowledgement.	© Crown Copyright | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy