We encourage everyone to report fraud whenever they are aware of or suspect it is taking place. You can report council tax or business rate fraud to our Veritau Team; they investigate all suspected fraud, on our behalf.
Council tax fraud
If someone knowingly gives incorrect or misleading information, or fails to inform us of a change in circumstances in order to pay less or no council tax, they are committing council tax fraud.
For example, they may claim to be the only person living in a house, when more than one person lives there; or they may falsely claim to be a student, when they're not. It's also an offence to claim a Single Person Discount for a property that's not classed as your main home.
For further guidance, see council tax discounts and exemptions and property discounts and exemptions.
Non-domestic (business) rates fraud
If a business attempts to gain relief/exemptions from business rates they're not entitled to either by making a false statement or failing to disclose information, they are committing business rate fraud.
Reliefs and exemptions from non-domestic rates include: Small Business Rate Relief, Empty Rate Relief and charitable exemptions.
In order to receive these reliefs/exemptions, the property should be occupied and fulfil the national criteria.
For further information about business rate relief, see mandatory and discretionary reliefs.
Fraud prevention and data matching exercises
We carry out regular fraud prevention and data matching exercises to protect ourselves against fraud.